fuel

An island in Japan has revolutionized its vehicles. They have turned cow droppings into hydrogen fuel

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If we talk about hydrogen and mobility, we would possibly have to Add to Japan In the equation. Few companies have tried to make it a real alternative to the electric car like the Japanese Toyota, although it is true that in recent times the idea was Much more than in doubt. An island has shown that technology is still there. Of course, with the invaluable help of tons of cows excrement. The solution in Hokkaido. On the island of HokkaidoJapan, a key region for country production of the countryan innovative project seeks to convert the Hydrogen cow manurethat clean fuel with the potential of feed vehicles, homes and agricultural machinery. With More than one million cows Currently generating 20 million tons of manure per year, this source of waste represents an environmental problem due to its methane emissions and its impact on the Water quality. He Shikaoi Hydrogen Farmlaunched in 2015 by the Ministry of Environment of Japan, addresses this challenge by transforming waste into a sustainable energy resource. As? The manure and urine of cows are Farm collected local and sent to an anaerobic digester, where bacteria break down organic matter to produce biogas and liquid fertilizer. Then, biogas is purified in methane, which later becomes, hydrogen. Sustainable mobility. The plant has a production capacity of 70 cubic meters of hydrogenenough to supply up to 28 vehicles with hydrogen cells per day. In addition to cars, the fuel is currently used In tractors and forklift of the island, whose electrification with batteries is more complex. It is also stored in Canisters that are transported to provide energy to a sturgence fish and Obihiro Zoo. Challenges Several, of course. The main one is logistics, since it must be stored in high pressure tanks, which does so susceptible to leaks and degradation of materials, in addition to requiring specialized infrastructure for transport and distribution. Your acryogenic lmacement at -253 ° C is energetically expensive, which hinders its scalability. In spite of this, the project continues to advance, mainly with subsidies that equate the price of hydrogen with that of gasoline, to promote its adoption in cities such as Sapporo and Muroran. In fact and as we said at the beginning, Japan leads the hydrogen industryalthough the electric cars still They are more profitable than those driven by this gas. Hydrogen from waste. The truth is that the concept of producing hydrogen from waste is not limited to Japan. Other initiatives in the world explore alternative sources such as Pork manurepoultry and even Coconut peels. For example, in Thailand Toyota investigates hydrogen production From chicken excrement. In the United States the University of Illinois developed A METHOD TO MANUFACTURE HYDROGEN With manure, sugarcane residues and corn cobs, significantly reducing the energy consumption of the process. And in Fukuoka, Japan, a wastewater treatment plant produces hydrogen From human wastesupplying a fleet of garbage trucks without emission. All initiatives show that bioenergy from waste can play a key role in the global energy transition. However, the lack of infrastructure and high costs remain barriers for large -scale expansion. Uncertain future. He Project in Shikaoi It is an innovative example of circular economy, where waste becomes energy, reducing emissions and promoting sustainability. However, the viability of hydrogen as an alternative to fossil fuels will depend on technological advances that reduce their cost of production, storage and distribution. Although manure and cow droppings will hardly be the main source of hydrogen in the future, especially worldwide, initiatives such as these can lay the foundations for a new energy industry based on waste recycling, with potential applications in transport, agriculture and clean energy generation globally. Image | Japanexpeter, Nara In Xataka | Remote solar self -consumption: When you can’t install panels on your roof, you ask for remote In Xataka | Solar tiles: What are they, what is their price and what they offer in front of conventional solar panels

Cruises will save a lot of fuel through the sun through their balconies: a new German proposal

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Solar balconies have proven to be effective in terms of self -consumption in countries such as Germany, Netherlands And even Spain. But what would happen if we took them to the middle of the sea? Not in the form of floating panels, but integrated into a cruise. A cruise with solar panels. An investigation has developed A simulation to check the installation of photovoltaic in the cruise cabin. The objective of the project is to feed public services and, at the same time, reduce the environmental impact. The initiative raised by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and Siemens Energy Global have taken cruise data that navigated the Caribbean already along the Norwegian and Danish coasts. These routes were not randomly selected: the differences in solar radiation between tropical and northern European regions offered an ideal range to evaluate the performance of photovoltaic systems in very different climatic conditions. The design. The study has raised a system that integrates solar panels of 250 W and 22 % efficiency in the boots of the cabins. In addition, each cabin would be equipped with two panels: one integrated into the glass barrier of the balcony at an angle of 90 ° and another placed at an angle of 30 °, between the ship’s covers. The scientists themselves have explained that if a cruise of the Helios class with 1,655 shots with balcony is extrapolated, in terms of scalability the maximum photovoltaic capacity would be at 827.5 kW, which is a significant step towards a cleaner energy in high high sea. The networks. Currently, cruises are adopting continuous current (CC) networks to facilitate the integration of renewable energy sources. In each case, the researchers evaluated three integration approaches for solar panels. First, a network of 48 volts, which directly feeds the cabins, but its high cost and maintenance makes it less practical. On the other hand, the 350 volt network, which acts as a secondary distribution network, balancing security, efficiency and operational simplicity. Finally, the 700 volt network, which connects with the machine room to be a primary network, but has greater energy losses. After evaluating these options, researchers have concluded that the 350 V network combines security measures, lower cost and simplicity in maintenance for the integration of panels into the balconies. In addition, the system is complemented by iron and lithium phosphate batteries (Lifepo4), specifically designed to store energy in case of emergency, cushion demand peaks and guarantee a stable supply. The results. Scientists have performed simulations with Python taking into account more than 100 energy demand scenarios in the cabins during two cruise routes: a 15 -day tour of the Caribbean in March and an eight -day route along the coasts of Denmark and Norway during the months of August and September. With that recreation they have discovered that photovoltaic systems managed to cover 45% of the needs in the Caribbean and 47% in northern Europe. As for energy savings, it was an average of 3.2 MWh in the Caribbean and 3.8 MWh in Norway and Denmark. Finally, the environmental impact would reduce CO2 emissions between 1,500 and 1,800 kg per day, depending on the route. Other boats with solar panels. The study not only highlights the potential of solar balconies to improve the energy efficiency of cruises, but also ask questions about their scalability and future applications. However, it is not the first time that we see solar panels in ships, we have already seen progress in future candles with photovoltaic and, even, there are many millionaires who They bet on ideas more sustainable. Despite being a sector that It presents challenges For the autonomy of their batteries or the lack of load infrastructure, but this German idea in the cruises promises to open new possibilities of high seas efficiency. Image | DLR Institute of Networked Energy Systems CC BY 4.0 Xataka | The solar panels have conquered the balconies of Germany. With this invention they can also store the energy surplus

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