There are currently a number of different fuels being proposed as alternatives to fossil based fuel petrol and diesel. These include - electricity, hybrids, biodiesel, ethanol, methanol, hydrogen, solar power and others. Could a new prototype energy source be the final solution?
Infra Red
Infra Red or IR energy is the conservation of energy from the sun and background radiation on earth into electricity via infra red collection antennae which could possibly be used to power an electric car.
Like Solar power IR power is extracted from light energy that is emitted from the sun and from any object heated from the sun. It is beyond the visible spectrum but can be seen by special heat source cameras. Unlike visible light it is in a very narrow band and needs antennae to those used to capture radio or television waves to extract the power from around us.
Until recently this was very difficult as the antennae needed to be one hundredth of a millimetre in length and you need a lot of them. However one university in Idaho has managed to develop a working prototype which is a metre square array of billions of antennae which can extract the energy from the invisible light spectrum around us.
Advantages
IR energy is abundant and free, has no pollutants, no need to refuel and would be free to run. It can work equally as well on damp drizzly days as on summer days as Infra red energy penetrates cloud cover. It can also work at night, because as the earth cools it emits even greater levels of IR energy. Thus it could take away the disadvantages of many other alternative car energy sources which need constant recharging or like solar only works on a hot summer's day. Also, it has one other environmental plus - it is totally recyclable - as the conversion of the energy into electricity produces additional IR heat sources which can be recycled from other cars or houses using power.
Disadvantages
There are very few as it is free, environmentally friendly etc. but at this point the technology needs to improve the conversion rates to make it viable. The antennae arrays need to be able to convert low levels of IR energy otherwise it will never be practical.
So are Infra Red electrically powered cars the answer to conserving fossil fuels and the environment? Possibly, it is the most promising but is 5 to 10 years in the future. However that is the same time span the car companies are talking about hydrogen fuel cells.
Hugh McDubhgaill is the publisher of http://www.leaseBamIreland.com - the online resource for car leasing and contract hire in Ireland.
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