Potential energy, future trends

Despite the history of UPs at solvent/solvent interface is rather old, the area is still opened for scientific novelty. This results from the endless diversity of mixed solvents and less predictable trends in applied electrochemistry. Namely, new challenges arise from the development of lithium batteries [21], and it is natural to assume that future trends in electrochemical energy conversion will be also nonaqueous because of the crucial role of wide potential windows. It is difficult to predict whether molecular or ionic liquids will dominate in these future applications, but the background for LJP phenomena in both media goes from the basic knowledge of UP for molecular solvents. 

The amount of sulfur in automotive fuels varies presently in the range from 0.01 to 0.10 wt% a typical value is 0.03 wt%. Even in a vehicle with a fuel economy of 27.5 miles/gal, mentioned earlier, the amount of sulfur passing through the catalyst in 50,000 miles will be of the order of 1500 g. Since sulfur emissions from vehicles equipped with oxidation catalysts are a matter of environmental concern (6, 7), one might anticipate some reduction of the fuel sulfur in the future through more extensive desulfurization in refining. On the other hand, such trends may be offset by energy-utilization considerations. However, even a tenfold reduction in fuel sulfur will not completely nullify the effect of this potential poison with respect to some catalysts. 

The future we describe is not predestined by this history. While the processes behind these trends are central to modernizing societies, they are also the product of human decision making and social forces. The future we evoke in this chapter will help researchers, policymakers, and ordinary citizens calibrate ideas about future energy use and lifestyle as well as illuminate potential market pathways for hydrogen and FCVs. 

Large drops, with their greater kinetic energy, can cause problems as they impact on crops. Drops greater than 200 im diameter (Brunskill, 1956) have the potential to cause spray runoff and contamination of the soil. With the lowering of spray volume rates, and the use of more fine nozzles, this problem has reduced in importance in recent years, but the trend towards the use of coarse sprays for drift reduction may reintroduce the problem in the near future. 

With these developments in mind, the IAEA recommended preparation of a new status report on innovative SMRs, with a focus on their potential to provide solutions in the specific areas of concern associated with future nuclear energy systems. To support the preparation of this report, an IAEA technical meeting on Innovative Small and Medium Sized Reactors Design Features, Safety Approaches and R D Trends was held on 7-11 June 2004 in Vienna, and its final report was published as IAEA-TECDOC-1451 in May 2005 [7]. This TECDOC presents a variety of innovative water cooled, gas cooled, liquid metal cooled and non-conventional SMR designs developed worldwide and examines the technology and infrastructure development needs that may be common to several concepts or lines of such reactors. Both, the technical meeting and the IAEA-TECDOC-1451 provided recommendations on the objectives, structure, scope and content of this report. 

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