Stirling and Thermal-Lag Engines: Motive Power Without the Co2

Existing literature focuses on the alleged merits of the Stirling engine. Certainly, these virtues are indeed latent but, decades on, are yet to be fully realised. This is despite the fact that Stirling, and other closed-cycle prime-movers offer a genuine contribution to an ultra-low carbon economy. In contrast with solar panels, the initial manufacture of Stirling engines makes no demands on scarce or exotic raw materials. Further, calculation of embodied carbon per kWh favours the Stirling engine by a wide margin. C02 emissions of an installed solar-energised Stirling are zero.The market penetration of Stirling engines to date has never matched the potential claimed on the subject and rational explanations have not been provided to explain this anomaly. Stirling and Thermal-lag Engines is the first text on the subject to identify, quantify, and address the shortcomings of the genre as part of an overdue approach of cutting the remedial measures needed to make up lost time in addressing climate change. By identifying and quantifying the Achilles Heel of every embodiment of the Stirling engine working principle since its first prototype in 1818, this book offers a design embodying a remedy costed in detail for environmental impact. In the process, a disparate, objective body of technical opinion is coerced into something approaching a coherent design methodology.The sun does not always shine. But neither will the oil always flow. This new title offers an entre to technology appropriate to the twenty-first century.