A zero emissions engine?

[Ironman]

Watched a video on this engine. Zero emissions seems interesting but won't appease the left.
These guys have ended the apex seal issues of wankel, but I can see oil sealing of the shafts could be a concern. We have the skills and materials to deal with it, I think.

[milomilo]

Running on NG. Clean burn that way. NG still requires drilling so, as you say, the left won't warm up to it since it is not electric.

[Shade Tree Welder]

Originally Posted by Ironman

Watched a video on this engine. Zero emissions seems interesting but won't appease the left.
These guys have ended the apex seal issues of wankel, but I can see oil sealing of the shafts could be a concern. We have the skills and materials to deal with it, I think.

Yeah the problem is H2 is not a zero carbon fuel.

[Ironman]

Originally Posted by Shade Tree Welder

Yeah the problem is H2 is not a zero carbon fuel.

Ron, I don't think there is any fuel on earth that is carbon free when you look at getting it, growing it, etc.

[JohnBoy]

If you look at total lifecycle no, nothing is zero carbon, its embodied into the manufacturing and extraction processes.

But most hydrogen today is extracted from natural gas leaving the carbon as a byproduct, just moving the carbon further from the exhaust pipe.

Until someone manages to separate hydrogen from water using renewable electricity at massive scale it's kinda pointless.

There's projects underway to try do that with off peak offshore wind in Europe but still with massive embodied carbon to start with.

[moe1942]

I see the left as the problem.. Eliminate the left...Problem solved....

[milomilo]

All this fretting over global warming and selecting humans as the primary cause is total bullshit. Burning of fossil fuels as a cause of carbon emissions is only at 3.27%. The rest comes from mother nature. Good luck changing mother nature.

[Shade Tree Welder]

Originally Posted by JohnBoy

Until someone manages to separate hydrogen from water using renewable electricity at massive scale it's kinda pointless.

Unicorn derived electricity...

Wind and solar will never supply modern demands, physics.

[JohnBoy]

Originally Posted by Shade Tree Welder

Unicorn derived electricity...

Wind and solar will never supply modern demands, physics.

the EU produced more electricity from renewables than from fossil fuels in 2020, it swung back in 2021, never say never.

I don't get your "physics" point, there's orders of magnitude more wind and solar energy available than we could ever need. I would think chemistry, or lack of elements needed to harness it all would stop us long before physics would.

[Ironman]

Originally Posted by JohnBoy

t I would think chemistry, or lack of elements needed to harness it all would stop us long before physics would.

For "elements" read crude oil

The wind don't blow and the sun don't shine when you need the power, so viability of this depends on us finding a better storage system. The biggest fail of LiFePo chemistry is that the battery will be permanently damaged by charging at or below freezing temp.
The vanadium flow battery is, IMHO, the best and simplest thing going, but it won't fit in an electric car, so meh.