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Onboard separation technology set to improve fuel economy:
A technology developed by researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory could pave the way for increased fuel economy and lower greenhouse gas emissions as part of an octane-on-demand fuel-delivery system.
Designed to work with a car's existing fuel, the onboard separation technology is the first to use chemistry—not a physical membrane—to separate ethanol-blended gasoline into high- and low-octane fuel components. An octane-on-demand system can then meter out the appropriate fuel mixture to the engine depending on the power required: lower octane for idling, higher octane for accelerating.
Studies have shown that octane-on-demand approaches can improve fuel economy by up to 30 percent and could help reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent. But so far, the pervaporation membranes tested for octane on demand leave nearly 20 percent of the valuable high-octane fuel components in the gasoline.
In proof-of-concept testing with three different chemistries, PNNL's patent-pending onboard separation technology separated 95 percent of the ethanol out of commercial gasoline. The materials are also effective for separating butanol, a promising high-octane renewable fuel component.
More information: Katarzyna Grubel et al. Octane-On-Demand: Onboard Separation of Oxygenates from Gasoline, Energy & Fuels (2019). DOI: 10.1021/acs.energyfuels.8b03781
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 26 2020, @03:51PM (2 children)
Hardly. LED bulbs have essentially zero lifespan. I've bought a dozen of them, far more than I ever should have, and they just don't last. About 20% of them are DOA. You get occasional DOA incandescents too, but not nearly at that rate. Then there's the lifespan of the ones that do work. Here's an example. My bathroom has two light fixtures, one for the toilet area and one for the shower/tub. They've always had incandescents. Because the bathroom only needs 30 minutes of light a day or so, a typical incandescent will last for years. Well, last year one of them burned out, and I bought a pair of LEDs to replace them both, but one of them was DOA, so I ended up only replacing one. The new LED has already failed but the old incandescent is still going strong.
This isn't atypical at all. Over the past couple of years I replaced about half of my light bulbs with LEDs and every single LED has failed except for one (which is only a couple of months old). I'm replacing the dead LEDs with incandescents and they work much better. The only exception is in my workshop and home office, where I can get bluish daylight color light. It's enough better light that it's worth the price premium and short lifespan (I have had to replace that one twice). But this only helps in workspaces, it's meaningless for living spaces where incandescent light is more pleasant.
CCFLs on the other hand don't offer nearly the energy savings they claim to, produce truly awful light, take ten minutes to warm up, have to be disposed of at the electronics recycler for $$, and if you break them they spill toxic mercury. I don't break light bulbs often, but the chance is not zero and it's a real problem.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 26 2020, @05:12PM
You are buying garbage then. I've bought cheaper bulbs too and have yet to have any failures.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 27 2020, @12:32AM
What is your line voltage?
Does your power have a lot of spikes? (for example, near large motors turning on and off)
Over 10 years ago we lost a desktop PC to a surge from lightning. Sometime after that I had a new panel put in our 1960 house (old panel was full, breakers failing, and only used-spares were available). We had the electrician add a whole-house surge protector. Have various other surge protectors around the house too. We are now mostly LED bulbs and they generally last a long time. A few failures were: one cracked across the base, another started to strobe, and another didn't quite make it's 5 year warranty (replaced by mfr.)