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Exploring Transportation. Where it started. Steam Engines. http://vulpeslibris.wordpress.com/2010/07/02/riverboat-the-evolution-of-a-television-series-and-the-steamboat-era-both-by-s-l-kotar-and-j-e-gessler/.
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Steam Engines http://vulpeslibris.wordpress.com/2010/07/02/riverboat-the-evolution-of-a-television-series-and-the-steamboat-era-both-by-s-l-kotar-and-j-e-gessler/ http://chuckmanchicagonostalgia.wordpress.com/2012/11/25/photo-chicago-train-chicago-st-paul-minneapolis-and-omaha-railroad-steam-engine-93-and-crew-early/photo-chicago-train-chicago-st-paul-minneapolis-and-omaha-railroad-steam-engine-93-and-crew-early/
Internal Combustion Engine • Nikolaus August Otto, patent 1876 • Part of nearly all private passenger vehicles • Plentiful petroleum led to use of gasoline in the engine • Fuel mixed with air then injected • Uses electric spark for explosion • 250+ million cars now registered in U.S.
Diesel Engine • Rudolph Diesel, invented 1878 • Another form of internal combustion engine • Direct fuel injection • No spark plug • Fuel ignites at its flash point • More efficient than gasoline engines of day
Current IC Engines • Thermal efficiency (26-34%) • Mechanical efficiency (94%) • Overall efficiency (20%) • Emissions • Particulate matter • NOx • Sulfur oxides • Carbon monoxide • Carbon dioxide
Alternatives to Petroleum-based Fuels • Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) • Cleaner, does not emit nitrogen and sulfur oxides, or all the particulate matter • Still releases carbon dioxide • Hydrogen fuel cells (used at Vancouver Olympics) • Only emission is water vapor • Lots of energy required to generate hydrogen • Lack of infrastructure • Currently prohibitively expensive
Alternatives to Petroleum-based Fuels • LNG • Fuel blends (Ethanol, biodiesel) • Hybrid vehicles • All Electric vehicles
For More Information The NEED Project www.need.org info@need.org 1-800-875-5029 Energy Information Administration U.S. Department of Energy www.eia.gov