430 The Education of Environmental Engineering using Stirling Engine

Abstract

In recent years, fossil fuels such as petroleum, coal, and natural gas have become limited resources. In addition, global warming due to carbon dioxide (CO_2) emission has become a serious environmental issue. For these reasons, renewable energy such as solar, wind, and biomass will be required as substitute fuels. Since current living and economical standards depend strongly on fossil energy sources, it is necessary to realize a new society that utilizes biomass as a source of energy. With this background, the engineering colleges and universities in Japan have tried to design and manufacture educational Stirling engines. We manufactured a practical Stirling engine using biomass fuels in 2005. In this report, we introduce the educational challenge of environmental engineering using this Stirling engine.