Planet Mechanics was a British TV program shown on the National Geographic Channel in 2008. The show has ended after the first series.
Video Planet Mechanics
Background
Planet Mechanics sees two engineers, Dick Strawbridge and Jem Stansfield, travelling in an eco-friendly workshop, previously a horse trailer, to fix the planet's most pressing environmental problems.
Maps Planet Mechanics
Episodes
Criticism
While proposing some interesting alternative technologies as ecologically friendly, the real environmental impact and actual life span were never verified. An example is the "tree powered car", which, while interestingly using wood as main power, was less efficient (being a dual transformation process wood-gas-mechanical) and produced a larger quantity of CO2 in comparison to standard gasoline (which has more energy/weight).
However, in order to "make" a tree, it collects carbon (in the form of carbon dioxide) from the atmosphere, this is the same carbon produced by burning the tree. The wood burning engine is carbon neutral over a hundred-year period as all carbon emitted by the engine would have been released by the slow natural decomposition of the tree anyway.
When the fossil fuel gasoline is burned, carbon that has been locked in long term (millions of years) storage is released creating a net increase in atmospheric carbon.
External links
- Planet Mechanics on IMDb
- Planet Mechanics Website At National Geographic UK
- Planet Mechanics Website At National Geographic AU
Source of article : Wikipedia
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