Forging a GREEN Future!

Future Home of GREEN Machinery

What is "green" machinery?

Green machinery is generally more environmentally friendly both for the general environment and the work environment. Noisy vibrating machinery causes worker fatigue, hearing damage and safety issues as well as neighborhood noise.

Use of electricity

Currently the majority of electricity is produced from fossil fuels and a significant amount from nuclear power. In the future more and more electricity will be made from renewable non polluting sources such as solar, wind and hydro power. Green machinery designed to efficiently use electricity will benefit from this change by automatically being part of a cleaner world. Green machinery that is more efficient uses less of our dwindling resources . . .

Bio Fuels

Bio fuels from plants are a form of solar energy. Plants use sunlight to convert air, water and small amounts of minerals into sugars, oils and solids that can be used directly (wood, charcoal and biomass) or converted into other fuels (alcohol and bio-diesel). Bio fuels are carbon neutral, taking carbon from the air and returning it later.

There has been a lot of bad press due to the linking of food prices to oil prices and the inefficiency of producing bio fuels. However, there is a significant difference in bio fuels. Alcohol production requires a nearly equal amount of energy to produce it and requires premium farm land to grown the fuel crops. However, bio-diesel only requires 1/3 the fuel energy to produce it and crops for the necessary vegetable oil can be grown on marginal land OR in large tank farms. Combined with the more efficient modern diesel engine this is the best solution for portable liquid fuel replacing petroleum.

The fact is, fossil fuels are a finite resource. They are far from an infinite supply. Without portable fuels heavy equipment, trucks and trains do not run. While public transportation and electric vehicles can move people in established systems, electricity is not a solution that will build infrastructure. We NEED bio fuels!

Technologies to Avoid

Even if you do not believe the rising CO2 levels in the atmosphere have to do with the burning of fossil fuels they ARE a finite resource that is going to run out. The best way to be prepared for the future is to wean ourselves from fossil fuels before they run out. Petroleum has many other uses other than fuel that our increasingly technology based civilization will need. Having consumed them all for cheap fuel will be looked back upon as one of man kind's greatest follies.

Nuclear

While there has been a resurgent interest in nuclear power the problems of nuclear waste and diversion of nuclear materials into a dirty bomb have not been solved. Currently in the U.S. every nuclear plant is a waste storage facility because there is no agreement on moving wastes to a more permanent facility. The current U.S. facility built at great expense is not sufficient in size to hold all the waste currently in temporary storage. If the transportation problems were solved the facility would immediately be filled to capacity and much of the problem would remain.

Waste nuclear fuel can be recycled into more fuel. However, this process carried out in a "breeder" reactor produces plutonium as fuel. Plutonium is a man made radioactive element that does not exist in nature and is one of the most toxic materials known. Plutonium is also the preferred material for atomic bombs.

While large scale nuclear plants are generally safe the resultant wastes are a serious problem that has not been properly addressed. There are dozens of other reasons but for this reason alone we should abandon nuclear power.

Compressed Air

This is a conversion product from electrical or mechanical prime movers. Pressurized air is used to operate air cylinders and air motors to some advantage. However, compressed air is very inefficient and should be avoided whenever possible. Anywhere an electric motor can replace air power it should be done so. Compressed air requires two and a half times as much energy to do a job than a directly applied electric motor. The inefficiency of compressed air starts as waste heat in the compression process and ends with small leaks in the distribution system. There is greater inefficiency in pipes than in electric wires. In general air compressors are a significant source of work place noise.

Many compressed air applications are hold overs from the steam era when steam was used directly in small engines and cylinder operated machinery. This was before the common use of the electric motor and the many improvements in machinery that followed.

Hydraulics

Hydraulic systems have many of the disadvantages of air as well as the hazard of leaking oil and the danger of high pressure oil spray that can cut through flesh like a knife. However, hydraulics are not nearly as inefficient as compressed air and can apply tremendous force. In many areas such as on heavy machinery there is no substitute for hydraulics.

Compressed air and hydraulics have many advantages over electric motors in certain environments and are much more economical for many linear motion applications. However, their use should be evaluated carefully by designers and users.