Internal Combustion Engine

Bill Walker

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Was developed around 150 years ago. Now there are of course millions of them.
If it had been around for say 400 years, would our planet now be sort of dead due to global warming ?
 
I doubt it - mankind is resourceful something would have been done. Problems come and are solved and we move on. If you look at engine pollution there have been a series of incremental fixes - catalytic converters and various Euro and world pollution levels set that despite car makers cheating around are all gradually making the combustion engine cleaner. It has to be remembered almost no method of propulsion is perfectly clean from oxen pulling carts farting methane to horses shitting to exhaust fumes. Even electric is only truly clean if the power it consumes is derived from a renewable source and used immediately say by solar panels on the roof powering motors because even storage leads to the disposal of "dirty" batteries on end of life battery vehicles.

Also there are billions of internal combustion engines working on the planet right now - to manufacture affordable "clean" replacements in numbers will probably take over a hundred years and in itself the manufacture creates pollution as does the disposal of the redundant units. I suspect diesel and petrol motors are around for many many years to come.
 
I doubt it - mankind is resourceful something would have been done. Problems come and are solved and we move on. If you look at engine pollution there have been a series of incremental fixes - catalytic converters and various Euro and world pollution levels set that despite car makers cheating around are all gradually making the combustion engine cleaner. It has to be remembered almost no method of propulsion is perfectly clean from oxen pulling carts farting methane to horses shitting to exhaust fumes. Even electric is only truly clean if the power it consumes is derived from a renewable source and used immediately say by solar panels on the roof powering motors because even storage leads to the disposal of "dirty" batteries on end of life battery vehicles.

Also there are billions of internal combustion engines working on the planet right now - to manufacture affordable "clean" replacements in numbers will probably take over a hundred years and in itself the manufacture creates pollution as does the disposal of the redundant units. I suspect diesel and petrol motors are around for many many years to come.
Yachts & Sailing Ships propel without polluting :)
Im just watching War & Peace, early 19th century, what a wonderful world without cars & Trucks everywhere , clean air.
 
Yachts & Sailing Ships propel without polluting :)
Im just watching War & Peace, early 19th century, what a wonderful world without cars & Trucks everywhere , clean air.

Steam powered mills with coal burning boilers - every home that could afford it at least one coal or peat fire - loads of industrial processes involving burning of fossil fuels or wood - far from the utopia you thought you were watching - cleaner yes but had there been 6-7bn folk on the planet using the current technology applicable to that age I doubt things would be much better if at all.
 
I doubt it - mankind is resourceful something would have been done. Problems come and are solved and we move on. If you look at engine pollution there have been a series of incremental fixes - catalytic converters and various Euro and world pollution levels set that despite car makers cheating around are all gradually making the combustion engine cleaner. It has to be remembered almost no method of propulsion is perfectly clean from oxen pulling carts farting methane to horses shitting to exhaust fumes. Even electric is only truly clean if the power it consumes is derived from a renewable source and used immediately say by solar panels on the roof powering motors because even storage leads to the disposal of "dirty" batteries on end of life battery vehicles.

Also there are billions of internal combustion engines working on the planet right now - to manufacture affordable "clean" replacements in numbers will probably take over a hundred years and in itself the manufacture creates pollution as does the disposal of the redundant units. I suspect diesel and petrol motors are around for many many years to come.
Very intellegent post summarizing the bigger picture. Too bad most of the world’s population just don’t really comprehend this.
 
I doubt it - mankind is resourceful something would have been done. Problems come and are solved and we move on. If you look at engine pollution there have been a series of incremental fixes - catalytic converters and various Euro and world pollution levels set that despite car makers cheating around are all gradually making the combustion engine cleaner. It has to be remembered almost no method of propulsion is perfectly clean from oxen pulling carts farting methane to horses shitting to exhaust fumes. Even electric is only truly clean if the power it consumes is derived from a renewable source and used immediately say by solar panels on the roof powering motors because even storage leads to the disposal of "dirty" batteries on end of life battery vehicles.

Also there are billions of internal combustion engines working on the planet right now - to manufacture affordable "clean" replacements in numbers will probably take over a hundred years and in itself the manufacture creates pollution as does the disposal of the redundant units. I suspect diesel and petrol motors are around for many many years to come.
The advances in ICE technology are impressive but there will always be a need to cater for the lowest common denominator. The third-world or the developing world (call it what you will) will always have a need for the most polluting engine types e.g. basic 2 stroke petrol engines because of their easy maintenance and simplicity...

One of the most exciting engines I ever worked on was a two stroke diesel. The power from such a small unit was impressive as were the adjustments that could be made electronically to compensate for issues or increase / decrease power or emissions when needed
 
The advances in ICE technology are impressive but there will always be a need to cater for the lowest common denominator. The third-world or the developing world (call it what you will) will always have a need for the most polluting engine types e.g. basic 2 stroke petrol engines because of their easy maintenance and simplicity...

One of the most exciting engines I ever worked on was a two stroke diesel. The power from such a small unit was impressive as were the adjustments that could be made electronically to compensate for issues or increase / decrease power or emissions when needed

Yeah but can you stick it in a new Golf produce data showing it doesn't gas rats and sell it offering £2k "scrappage" allowance on my 51 reg Citroen lol? Thats the big problem whilst there are advantages in new developments the car making business is more interested in the here and now and piling them high and selling cheap - the environment is a Governmental thing as they see it
 
I often think about hypothetical events such as all oil companies saying "we have exactly 3 years of oil left" and such, how would we react? I always come back to necessity in most cases.

The best one to think about (imo) is if the sun had a hissy fit and smashed every electrical circuit on earth. Transformers take months to make for example, we simply are not prepared to react to such an event. Months of no power in a world setup to live of it, how would we cope. All those preper types would be alright for a bit but would governments stay strong or would anarchy break out, stuff like that.
 

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