Using Ceramics to Produce More Fuel Efficiency and Release Less Pollutants into the Air

The future of the world's energy conservation policies may well have quite a lot to do with something that you use today to cook food inside your oven. Remember that scene in The Graduate when the fella has just one word to say to young Benjamin Braddock regarding his future: plastics. For the graduates out there today looking for a one word answer to their future, that word may be...ceramics.

If you are currently thinking on in terms of the earthenware products have been used for centuries, it is time to expand your horizon. The type of ceramics that may one day be central to regaining a little control over the energy consumption throughout the world contains carbon fibers that make them just shy of being completely shatter-proof. This latter day version of that primal earthenware material is currently used in power stations that operate at temperatures in excess of 1100 degrees. Ceramics are also used for gas turbines that face temperatures over 2000 degrees. The ultimate proof that the type of ceramic under discussion is made for more than cooking a string bean casserole is the fact that this material is used on the nose of the Space Shuttle to protect it from the heat and friction the spacecraft faces during re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere. You may be more familiar with space age ceramics as part of your automobile's braking system. Ceramic disk brakes are far more efficient at resisting the abrasion of pulling a car to a stop and adds in the benefit of resistance to corrosion.

What really makes the word "ceramics" the early 21^st Century analogue of the plastics whispered to Benjamin in The Graduate is the fact that ceramics already provide an amazing ability to withstand heat and stress. Scientists are currently experimenting with various methods of making ceramic withstand ever greater stress and ever higher temperatures. The ultimate outcome of raising the standard for modern day ceramics is that it would lead to greater efficiency of the power stations around the country. More efficient power generation means the ability to exploit fossil fuel's productivity. The better the ceramics get at withstanding heat and stress, the more energy can produced from the same amount of fossil fuels that currently produce far less energy. The best part about the use of ceramics in this way is that the process actually reduces the amount of carbon dioxide that is released into the atmosphere.

Since there appears to be no way that politicians and the oil industry are going to allow us to use cheaper and more efficient energy like solar, wind and hydroelectricity, the best thing we can hope for is more efficient and cleaner use of fossil fuels until the last drop is squeezed from a buried T. Rex. Ceramics. Keep that word in mind, young graduates.

Date: 2023-04-10     hits: 516    Return