Issue 6 of the FGCSIC’s journal Lychnos looks at the topic of energy in the automotive industry. This is an area which, in view of its impact in terms of the interaction between human beings and their environment, is included in the Foundation’s strategic line on Human ecology and development.
The FGCSIC’s Analysis Unit introduces the subject in an article which summarises the study it is currently carrying out on R&D into energy in the automotive industry.
Next, in chapter two, an article on the impact of energy and the automotive industry by Carme Millares-Guasch, doctor in Geography at the Barcelona Autonomous University, describes personal mobility habits and patterns in cities; this is followed by an interview with Javier García Martínez, director of the Molecular Nanotechnology Laboratory at the University of Alicante, who discusses a range of topics including the decisive role nanotechnology will play in socioeconomic development, and the opportunities it offers for the production, use and saving of energy; and finally there is an article by Emilio Larrodé, Jesús Gallego and Alberto Fraile (University of Zaragoza) on the optimisation of transport networks through route planning to saving energy.
The third section of the journal is dedicated to the topic of energy sources for automotive applications. Cristina Otero, researcher at the CSIC’s institute of Catalysis and Petrochemistry, describes how producing biofuels for automotive applications is one of today’s big research challenges. Antonio Leyva and Gonzago Ruiz de Guana, from the Asociación para el Fomento de la I+D en Genómica Vegetal (INVEGEN) and Plataforma Tecnológica de Biotecnología Vegetal (BIOVEGEN), give an overview of various different energy crops used to produce biofuels. In his article, José Luis G. Fierro, research professor at the Institute of Catalysis and Petrochemistry (CSIC), examines the production of hydrogen from various inputs as a means of transporting energy. Finally, José Ignacio Pérez Arriaga, Carlos Mateo and Pablo Frías (Comillas Pontifical University, ICAI) analyse the impact of integrating the electric car with electricity distribution grids.
The fourth chapter of Lychnos focuses on electricity transport. The journalist Ignacio Coll takes us through the innovations in the automotive industry being developed at major car manufacturers. Ricardo Santamaría Ramírez, a researcher at the Spanish National Coal Institute (CSIC), gives and introduction to solid-state batteries. Finally, Domingo Guinea, from the Institute of Industrial Automation (CSIC), analyses the future of transport: solar energy, hydrogen, fuel cells, etc.
In the forum section, María Luisa Soria García-Ramos, general secretary of SERNAUTO, discusses the need for a change in the energy paradigm in the automotive industry.
