CHP engines were designed for the lowest possible overall environmental impact compared to any alternative, including electric.
This objective included an engine's life cycle from mining and transporting ore, to casting and machining components, to component assembly, product installation, engine use, and eventual recycling. This is the real environmental impact, as opposed to selectively measuring emissions, for example, only from a tail pipe.
The path to lowest overall CHP engine emissions covered every facet of its life cycle that could be controlled by the corporation, leaving fuel as the only uncontrolled variable.
Currently, fuel and batteries have emerged as the only viable power source solutions, with old alternatives such as nuclear energy and compressed air being abandoned as unfeasible. Fuel and batteries each have their own advantages, however the key factor concerning preference continues to be fuel because of its higher energy density. Simply, fuel has more power by weight and volume than any other alternative, so fuel has retained a global market share growing at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 9.24% which is projected to exceed US $6.1 billion annually by 2029 with a 92% market share.
With fuel there are incidental benefits. The sourcing, production, transportation, storage and sale of petroleum fuel are all well established. No funding is needed to implement any of these business requirements. Similarly, consumers are widely familiar with fuel powered products, including vehicles, and are confident of their performance.
The only issue with fuel, is inherent internal combustion engine inefficiency in respect to converting fuel to power. This is because internal combustion engines cannot continuously maintain the ideal stoichiometric combustion ratio of fuel to air for clean combustion. The CHP engine has solved this technical barrier with all fuels by providing an unlimited amount of air to the combustion event.
However, is there is an “ideal” alternative to petroleum based fuel, and the answer appears to be hydrogen. Converted from water by electrolysis, or stripped from natural gas, there is an unlimited supply of hydrogen. When ignited, it produces emissions free water vapor. Like petroleum, it can be produced, transported, stored and sold. Where the United States and Canada planned a Hydrogen Highway on the west coast in the 1990s, today major countries including China, India and Brazil are all working toward a clean hydrogen based alternative.
The only issue is a strategy which will ensure a rapid, economically balanced conversion from petroleum to hydrogen engines, because internal combustion is again a technical barrier.
CHP engines remain the ideal solution because they can seamlessly use any fuel, including petroleum and hydrogen. Otherwise, the alternate would be to 1) invest billions of dollars in fuelling stations, and losing money while vehicle production slowly increases, or 2) invest billions of dollars in building thousands of hydrogen vehicles which are unusable until a sufficient number of hydrogen fuelling stations are operational. Either alternative is costly, and carries a high degree of risk.
Instead, CHP engines can power vehicles built now and generate income now on petroleum fuel. When it becomes available, those vehicles would immediately and seamlessly switch over to hydrogen fuel. This is the only way that hydrogen supply and hydrogen demand can balance, and be economically self-sustainable.
By example, China has indicated the intent to build 100,000 hydrogen trucks by 2030, and up to 800,000 soon after. Although no decision has been made, some advocates are promoting fuel cells to power hydrogen vehicles. Inherently however, they cannot operate on both hydrogen and petroleum fuel. Similarly, no internal combustion engine can seamlessly operate efficiently on both petroleum and hydrogen fuel. CHP engines remain the only solution.
In summary, the CHP engine can be manufactured now, representing built-in demand as the use of petroleum continues, and then seamlessly implemented when hydrogen is available. It is intended as a balanced, practical solution which can economically and environmentally provide vehicle power now, and later in the long term for decades to come.