Internal combustion engine Essay Example for Free

Internal combustion engine Essay ?1. The seven suspects who may have contributed to the failure of GM’s EV1 program are: a. Customers (guilty) a. i. Consumers wanted a three hundred mile range and eighty-five mile per hour speed on their electric cars but this was not plausible when running off of a battery. a. ii. When customers compare cars they don’t care much about the environmental risks they only care about the price, the miles per gallon, and the mileage range. Customers had a difficult time seeing the difference between regular cars and electric cars so there was not enough demand. b. Battery Technology (not guilty). b. i. Batteries were too weak to make the car go as far as consumers were hoping so they bought the less expensive gasoline vehicles that could go the desired distance. c. Oil Companies (guilty) c. i. Oil companies got very involved with electric cars because if everyone were to switch to battery operated vehicles, there would no longer being a large demand for gasoline. d. Car Companies (guilty) d. i. The GM car didn’t seem to be catching on and there did not seem to see a profit in electric or hybrid cars so they didn’t see it as effective to keep manufacturing the car. e. Government (guilty) e. i. Government officials did not approve of the electric car so they did nothing to assist General Motors in selling it. e. ii. President Carter supported clean energy but President Nixon cared so little about clean energy he had the solar panels taken off the roof of the White House. f. C. A. R. B. California Air Resources Board (guilty). f. i. Lloyd was elected chairman of the board four months before they got rid of the electric car and he persisted to demolish it. g. Hydrogen Fuel Cells (guilty) g. i. Hydrogen Fuel Cells seemed more appealing to consumers because Shell stations could provide hydrogen. g. ii. Hydrogen Fuel Cells had General Motors beat because their cars could travel 100-125 miles per fill up while the EV could only travel about 75 miles. Also, hydrogen cars have about three to four times more energy than a car running on batteries. 2. The suspect I feel is most responsible is the consumers because they only look at the simple facts; they couldn’t care less whether or not their car is destroying the environment. Consumers only care about the price, mileage, and miles per gallon of a vehicle which all lacked on the EV because car companies saw it fair to lose a bit of the â€Å"basic car features† in order to improve the environment. 3. The nickel metal hydride battery enabled the GM EV1 to have a real world range of 250 km and the Chevrolet S10 achieved a range of 110 to 130 km with full charge and can usually last for years on end depending on how many times you have to recharge the full battery. Today, nickel metal hydride batteries are commonly used for cameras, camcorders, cell phones, pagers, medical instruments, etc. An interview published last year in the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists said that there was going to be a new approach to photovoltaic thin-film production that would allow factories to make enough solar panels in a year to produce at least one gigawatt of electricity annually—roughly the scale of a nuclear power plant—at the price of coal. The argument for thin-film solar panels is that thin-film solar can actually be cheaper than one dollar a watt, low price solar panels are opening up new markets (which could lead to a surge in demand), and the fastest, cheapest way to meet that demand could be building thin-film solar factories, since you can build those factories for a third as much as silicon solar panel factories. Although this seems beneficial, the main arguments against thin-film solar panels are the cost of everything else that goes into the final cost of solar power (including installation costs, which are now higher than the cost of panels themselves), you can save much more money if higher efficiency solar panels are put in because the company would have to buy less panels, and thin-film solar panels are actually less efficient than silicon ones. Because of the strong points of the argument, I do not think that putting in thin-film solar panels is worth the trouble when time and money could be saved with more efficient panels. 4. The goal of Plug in America is to get Americans to switch to a car that uses clean, affordable, domestic electricity for some or all of its energy. The best way to reduce carbon emissions is to utilize the ever cleaner, greener, more renewable grid to power transportation. Only grid-rechargeable cars can attain the end goal of zero-emissions and ensure fuel price stability. Plug in America works with General Motors, Nissan, and Mitsubishi all of which sell electric vehicles. The main Plug in America is based out of San Francisco, California. Around 2005, all of the major automakers planned to call back their leased electric vehicles (which were only available in California) and crush them. A group of drivers formed to stop them and wanted to buy the cars they had been driving. They were unsuccessful with the GM EV-1; this was the subject of the movie Who Killed The Electric Car. But GM did not crush the S-10 pickups, and the protestors saved half of the Toyota RAV4-EVs. Plug In America then kept up a continuous campaign to convince automakers that there is demand for electric vehicles, and that they should build them instead of crushing them. There are now several electric vehicles in the marketplace, and by the end of 2012 there will be dozens of models. Plug In America no longer needs to protest; instead they now consult with the automakers and offer training to auto dealers. 5. The newest electric cars are: a. The 2013 Smart fortwo electric car couple/convertible a. i. This car is available in select dealers across the country. a. ii. This car gets 122 miles per gallon equivalent (1 gallon of gasoline=33. 7 kW-hr) in cities and 93 miles per gallon equivalent on highways.a. iii. Over a five-year span, someone with a Smart fortwo electric car would save about $8,750 because the annual fuel cost is only $600. a. iv. The driving range of this car in is 68 miles. b. The 2013 Scion iQ EV b. i. There will be approximately 90 iQ EVs available for fleet and car-sharing applications at select dealers across the country. b. ii. This car gets 138 miles per gallon equivalent (1 gallon of gasoline=33. 7 kW-hr) in cities and 105 miles per gallon equivalent on highways. b. iii. Over a five-year span, someone with a Scion iQ EV would save about $9,250 because the annual fuel cost is only $500. b. iv. The driving range of this car in is 38 miles. c. The 2013 Honda Fit EV c. i. This car is available in California and parts of Oregon c. ii. This car gets 132 miles per gallon equivalent (1 gallon of gasoline=33. 7 kW-hr) in cities and 105 miles per gallon equivalent on highways. c. iii. Over a five-year span, someone with a Honda Fit EV would save about $9,250 because the annual fuel cost is only $500. c. iv. The driving range of this car in is 82 miles. d. The 2013 Fiat 500e d. i. At this time, this car is only available in California. d. ii. This car gets 122 miles per gallon equivalent (1 gallon of gasoline=33. 7 kW-hr) in cities and 108 miles per gallon equivalent on highways. d. iii. Over a five-year span, someone with a Fiat 500e would save about $9,250 because the annual fuel cost is only $500. d. iv. The driving range of this car in is 87 miles. Since the ranges of these electric cars are actually quite good, I would be able to drive an electric car in my daily life. On average, I don’t drive very far but for days I do I think I would need to have a gasoline powered car that can be refilled quickly and easily at a gas station. At night, I would just have to plug my car in so that it could be fully charged in the morning and it would be sufficient enough to get to school and work. 6. The arguments for and against electric cars are: a. One criticism of electric cars is that they often just replace one source of carbon pollution with another. Instead of a combustion engine that burns gasoline, you get a plug-in vehicle that depends on electricity from burning coal. All in all, electric cars still look pretty good in comparison, especially since they’re not burning any gasoline and putting additional carbon in the air, but it looks like it’s not, strictly speaking, true that â€Å"It takes more electricity to drive the average gasoline car 100 miles, than it does to drive an electric car 100 miles. † This probably explains why Nissan abandoned its sticker. The energy comparison still looks positive for electric cars, but the talking point isn’t nearly as neat and clean. b. In order to support large numbers of electric cars there will have to be an infrastructure built where these cars can be recharged. Although, even with charging stations, an electric car can take up to eight hours to fully charge and this is quite the inconvenience for people traveling. The idea of a â€Å"swop† has been presented where the driver gives in their used battery for a battery that is fully charged but doing this could cost the government a lot of money. c. Yes, the batteries that power electric cars (and hybrids, for that matter) can be recycled. For decades, lead-acid batteries powered the few electric vehicles that were on the road. The latest models, with their lighter weight and longer range, use lithium-ion batteries, just like laptops and cell phones. In either case, the batteries that power electric cars can be recycled. When the battery packs in a lithium-ion-powered vehicle are deemed too worn out for driving, they still have up to 80 percent of their charge left. So before they ever get to a recycling center, these batteries are used to prop up the grid, especially alongside energy sources that may not be quite as steady, like wind or solar power. The batteries can store power to help the flow of electricity stay on an even keel rather than ebb and flow with the weather. An electric car battery is costly, but can last as much as 100,000 miles. They usually come with a 10 year or mileage limit warranty. Sources: http://www. greenbatteries. com/nibafa. html#How%20many%20times http://www. pluginamerica. org/ http://www. fueleconomy. gov/feg/evnews. shtml http://www. wlv. ac. uk/default. aspx? page=31209 http://www. howstuffworks. com/can-electric-car-batteries-be-recycled. htm http://www. technologyreview. com/view/512746/dont-count-out-thin-film-solar/

Personal Narrative: Death in a Dream Essay -- Narrative Essay Dying De

Dream a Little Dream My grandmother always said, â€Å"you cannot choose between life or death while sleeping†. When you are sleeping, your body practically doesn’t belong to you. Its almost as though you have no control over anything that might happen to you in your dreams, especially if it is something dangerous. When I ask people why this happens, they theorize that a powerful force or being has entrapped your body. You could end up dying in your dreams, thus leading to your death or illness in reality. It’s possible for someone to suffer a heart attack from what they dreamt, depending on how frightening the situation was. I’ve heard of people going to bed one night and, the next morning, waking up not remembering who they are or actually becoming insane. It is with these mysterious beliefs that one becomes afraid to dream anymore. I had never actually experienced a life and death situation while sleeping, at least not until recently. It was in early November of 2001, if I remember correctly, on a Thursday night, when I was just closing my eyes to enjoy a nice peaceful sleep. I could feel myself floating almost like someone was taking me from my room. I couldn’t feel anything, since I was literally out cold. Suddenly, I was awake with my eyes closed and my body unmoved. I tried to open my eyes, but they could not open, I tried to move my body, but I would not stir. My efforts were futile; I eventuall...

Modern Technology in Daily Life

Can you imagine a world without technology? Well, back then they had no access to any type of electronic. As time went by, electronics has changed over time and influenced others, especially social life. Now technology such as video games and cellular devices has affected us both positively and negatively. Sometimes when you get bored or take a break you start to play your smartphones. You check Instagram, texting your friends, or start to play games. But then you realize you spend more time on your phone than doing what you were suppose to do before. Phones can be a negative and positive influence in your life.A positive effect of cell phones is that they have revolutionized communication and made it easier to contact someone exactly at the moment that we need. Also, phones offer features that have many other benefits. A negative effect on phones is that you get off track and when you try to concentrate again, you cannot focus or even remember what you were doing. In addition, the l ack of communication with your family and friends increases. You tend to talk to them through text instead of talking to each other. Smartphones can be a tool of convenience, but at the same time they can be a distraction.The internet is so popular nowadays that about everyone uses it. It can be accessed by users Now that we have access to internet in almost everywhere, it can be an advantage and a disadvantage. What are they? The internet on society is that it provides the ability to access unlimited information and it also allows you connect and interact with your friends worldwide. Consequently, internet can include the difficulty to remove information when you want to and it can be an absence of communication as well just like using phones. Many people have been downloading music and other copyrighted materials for free.This lead to a negative impact of music industries and several lawsuits. The internet is another factor that influence social life today. Whether good or bad, te levision has been in our lives for a long time. Some think it’s a harm to our society and some think it’s a great invention. Television provides a variety of information that includes the news, advertisements, and events. It can also provide lots of entertainment such as music, comedy, drama, shows, and movies straight to home. It is very convenient and an affordable technology to use. On the other hand, television may have violent action films that increases crime rate and  violent acts in people. Some can be addicted into watching TV and decrease the amount of exercise causing people to be obese. Television is another aspect in our society that affects us greatly.Technology and electronics have been changing a lot through the past several centuries and have a great connection in the society today. Some can be disadvantages and advantages to us. Critical technology such as television, cellular devices and the internet changed through small ideas and change the world . In conclusion, whether if it is good or bad, technology had changed the people and the society worldwide extremely.

The Sexual Revolution And The Contraceptive Pill - 1239 Words

The Sexual Revolution has been one of the most defining movements in recent world history. It is the only event other than a world war that has irrevocably shaped our global public consciousness. When we here the term, The Sexual Revolution, we unconsciously begin to associate it with several late 20th century cultural movements and philosophies. The most famous of these are its influences through music, and the contraceptive pill. On May 9th, 1960, the United States Food and Drug Admiration approved the world s first commercially produced birth-control pill, and from then on, the world would never be the same. The pill was heralded as ushering in a new age of â€Å"greater reproductive freedom to American women† and it was credited with starting the cultural paradigm shift commonly called Sexual Revolution (History.com Staff). However, the contraceptive pill itself did not have the power to change a culture, it was only an instrument to facilitate a culture in changing itself . It had no power; it only gave people a way to have greater sexual liberties without consequences. So what made the culture want to change? What truly caused the Sexual Revolution? By looking deeper into its root philosophies and causes, the Sexual Revolution can be viewed as a product of Darwinist human ‘unexceptionalism’. To understand the revolution’s underlying cause, you have to understand what The Sexual Revolution was, and perhaps more importantly, what it still represents today. The SexualShow MoreRelatedThe Birth Of The Pill962 Words   |  4 PagesThe arrival of the pill in the spring of 1960 represented both an important step towards bodily autonomy for women, and a ‘new era in the long history of birth control’. For the very first time, there would exist a method of contraception that separated brith control from the act of sexual intercourse, and allowed women total control over their fertility. 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