Difference between revisions of "Greenwash"

From ScienceForSustainability
Jump to navigation Jump to search
 
Line 5: Line 5:
 
Greenwash, snake oil, misleading and exaggerated claims etc
 
Greenwash, snake oil, misleading and exaggerated claims etc
  
 +
''See also [[Hans Free Electric Bicycle]]''
 
== Fuel economy devices ==
 
== Fuel economy devices ==
  
Line 44: Line 45:
 
''(Copy on [https://web.archive.org/web/20170428083913/http://www.dailytech.com/Debunked+Beneath+the+Lies+Nigerian+Pee+Generator+Is+Still+Pissing+Into+the+Wind/article37511.htm Internet Archive Wayback Machine])''
 
''(Copy on [https://web.archive.org/web/20170428083913/http://www.dailytech.com/Debunked+Beneath+the+Lies+Nigerian+Pee+Generator+Is+Still+Pissing+Into+the+Wind/article37511.htm Internet Archive Wayback Machine])''
 
: Microbial Fuel Cell and Nigerian "urine-powered" generator
 
: Microbial Fuel Cell and Nigerian "urine-powered" generator
 
== Bicycle generator ==
 
[https://www.healthyfoodhouse.com/60-minutes-on-this-bicycle-can-power-your-home-for-twenty-four-hours/ 60 Minutes On This Bicycle Can Power Your Home For Twenty-Four Hours] hfhadmin; Healthy Food House; 28 Jan 2019
 
 
: Have you ever dreamt of powering your household without paying the huge costs? Can you imagine achieving it, and take care of your body figure at the same time?
 
 
: Well, this was the amazing idea of the founder of the Free Electric hybrid bike, Manoj Bhargava.  He uses mechanical energy in the simplest way possible in order to transform an hour of exercise into supplying a rural household with energy for 24 hours.
 
 
: His mechanism is simple- the flywheel is activated when you pedal, and this powers the generator and charges a battery.
 
 
: “The Free Electric is made with standard bike parts, which makes it easily fixable by any mechanic around the world. The bike is cheap, clean, and practical in terms of providing energy to those who need it most on a global scale.
 
 
: Bhargava says:
 
 
: “Our target is to begin with India, but really it can be used anywhere. There are 1.3 billion people around the world who are still living without access to electricity.”
 
 
: Moreover, he claims that the Free Electric essentially creates “better health, more leisure time, better access to education, and opportunities for entrepreneurship—it could literally change the world.”
 
 
: Have you ever heard of a better motivation to start exercising? The featured video gives you an opportunity to see this bike in action:
 
: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cgb9lfKW_d4 The Hans Free Electric™ bike: Solution overview] Billions in Change; YouTube; 30 Sep 2015
 
 
=== What about the claims? ===
 
[[File:Hans free electric bike output.png | 240px | right ]]
 
 
The video shows the bike generator producing 10 amps at 12 Volts = 120 Watts.
 
 
60 minutes on the generator will produce 120 Watt-hours.
 
 
If electricity costs 15 pence/cents/etc per "unit" (kWh) this energy will be worth a bit under 2 pence/cents/etc.
 
 
Pedalling for 60 minutes once a day will generate enough energy to supply an average of 5 Watts over the day.
 
 
The average electricity consumption of European homes is approximately 500 Watts, and North American homes more than double that.
 
 
So the claim on a website clearly aimed at a Western, developed-world audience, that "60 Minutes On This Bicycle Can Power Your Home For Twenty-Four Hours" is clearly misleading by a factor of 100: it would take more than 4 such machines, with riders pedalling them 24*7, to power a European home, about 10 for a North American home.
 
 
The suggestion in the video that it could be a back-up for mains power in European or American homes is equally misleading.
 
 
However there is no reason to think that the machine doesn't work, and it could indeed – as the developer claims – provide a useful source of energy in parts of the developing world without access to mains electricity. Although solar panels might be an alternative option.
 
  
 
== Solar roads ==
 
== Solar roads ==

Latest revision as of 12:44, 2 August 2020

Greenwash, snake oil, misleading and exaggerated claims etc

See also Hans Free Electric Bicycle

Fuel economy devices

HHO

The Ultimate Cell

Claims: "The Ultimatecell is powered by direct fused current from the vehicles 12v battery. The UltimateCell powers itself on-and-off and only creates minute-quantities of hydrogen gases On-Demand-when the engine is running. This technology, unlike others, does not rely on the large storage of fuel.
“When the engine starts, the UltimateCell initiates an electrolysis process that is electronically controlled. This results in the safe chemical separation of the Hydrogen molecules from the Water that will be fed into the engines air intake”
"The hydrogen produced within the vehicle works as a catalyst inside the engine head. This allows a faster and more complete combustion of the fuel. The result is an engine with optimum performance– always. This results in a cleaner, greener, smoother running engine. Power band torque is optimised resulting in easier, quicker driving through the gears. It would be found easier to remain in a higher gear for longer periods of time, thus resulting in less fuel been used and also reduced harmful tailpipe emissions. This saves you money and it is much greener to our environment."

Why Water Won't Improve Your MPG: A PM and Dateline NBC Investigation Mike Allen; Popular Mechanics; 27 Mar 2009

More than once, Popular Mechanics senior automotive editor Mike Allen has debunked the myth that you can triple your fuel economy by burning the hydrogen from water in your car. Now, he's teamed up with Dateline NBC and an EPA-certified emissions lab to test hydrogen generators, fuel heaters, fuel-line magnets and acetone fuel additives, once and for all.

Kinetic plates

Sainsbury's brings green power to the checkout with 'kinetic plates' Press Association; The Guardian; 15 Jun 2009

A supermarket chain will open its first "people-powered" store this week using technology that captures energy from vehicles to power its checkouts.
In a European first, Sainsbury's will install the invention at its new store in Gloucester, opening this Wednesday.
Energy will be captured every time a vehicle drives over "kinetic road plates" in the car park and then channelled back into the store.
The kinetic road plates are expected to produce 30 kWh of green energy every hour — more than enough energy to power the store's checkouts. The system, pioneered for Sainsbury's by Peter Hughes of Highway Energy Systems, does not affect the car or fuel efficiency, and drivers feel no disturbance as they drive over the plates.

Pavegen technology powers Christmas lights Institution of Mechanical Engineers; 2 Dec 2015

British technology firm Pavegen Systems has installed a power-generating pavement in Brighton to help promote the nation’s small, independent shops.
The company has installed 120 tiles along Meeting House Lane, one of the country’s oldest independent high streets, as part of Small Business Saturday on 5 December.
The power-generating pavement tiles will harness the kinetic energy of 41,000 shoppers' footsteps over the period of a week and convert it into renewable energy which will power Christmas lights along the street.

KINETIC PLATES Vilnis Vesma; The Energy Management Register; 19 Nov 2017

When this “kinetic plate” was installed in 2009, the Guardian published an article which suggested that it would harvest up to “30 kWh per hour” of “green energy” from the traffic passing over it. Rubbish, of course. Firstly (as was acknowledged in a muted disclaimer at the foot of the article) it wasn’t free energy; it was contributed by the passing drivers. But what about the 30 kWh per hour claim? That’s the equivalent of harnessing the output from engine of this Peugeot and running it flat out for 15 minutes in the hour.

Hydrogen from Urine

Debunked: Beneath the Lies, Nigerian "Pee Generator" Is Still Pissing Into the Wind Jason Mick; Daily Tech; 19 Oct 2015 (Copy on Internet Archive Wayback Machine)

Microbial Fuel Cell and Nigerian "urine-powered" generator

Solar roads

The World's First Solar Road Has Officially Crumbled Into a Total Failure by James Pasley of Business Insider in Science Alert on 16 Aug 2019 [article]

In July, the French daily newspaper Le Monde reported that the 0.6-mile (1 kilometre) solar road was a fiasco.

In December 2016, when the trial road was unveiled, the French Ministry of the Environment called it "unprecedented". French officials said the road, made of photovoltaic panels, would generate electricity to power streetlights in Tourouvre, a local town.

But less than three years later, a report published by Global Construction Review says France's road dream may be over. Cracks have appeared, and in 2018, part of the road had to be demolished due to damage from wear and tear.

Even at its peak, the road was only producing half of the expected energy, because engineers didn't take into consideration rotting leaves falling on the road.

...

It was a bold move beginning a solar panel trial in Normandy, France, since the region doesn't have the most sunshine. Caen, a city in Normandy, only has 44 days of strong sunshine in a year. Thunderstorms also reportedly broke solar panels on the road.

The trial road was meant to produce about 150,000 kWh a year, which is enough power to provide light for up to 5,000 people, every day. Instead, it was making just under 80,000 in 2018, and fewer than 40,000 by July 2019.

Colas, the company that built the road, said in 2016 that the solar panels were covered with resin containing sheets of silicon to make them capable of withstanding all traffic. But since the opening, panels have come loose or broken into little pieces.

In May 2018, 300 feet (90 metres) of the road had to be demolished since it wasn't salvageable.

The engineers also didn't take into account the effects of leaves, which caused damage and limited the amount of electricity the panels could produce. They also didn't think about the pressure and weight from tractors, two locals told Le Monde.

And now the trial looks like it's all over. Wattway's managing director Etienne Gaudin told Le Monde that it would not be going to market.

"Our system is not mature on long distance traffic," he said. The company would focus on creating electricity for smaller things, like CCTV cameras and lighting bus shelters.

Photos show the world's first solar road that's turned out to be a colossal failure because it's falling apart and doesn't generate enough energy by James Pasley in Business Insider on 15 Aug 2019 [article]

In December 2016, when the trial road was unveiled, the French Ministry of the Environment called it "unprecedented." French officials said the road, made of photovoltaic panels, would generate electricity to power streetlights in Tourouvre, a local town.

But less than three years later, a report published by Global Construction Review says France's road dream may be over. Cracks have appeared, and in 2018, part of the road had to be demolished due to damage from wear and tear.

Even at its peak, the road was only producing half of the expected energy, because engineers didn't take into consideration rotting leaves falling on the road.