As the current energy crisis vividly illustrates, the withdrawal pains associated with ending the economy’s fossil fuel addiction and moving to clean, renewable sources are deeply painful. While purists and progressives champion a cold-turkey approach, reality requires the transition to alternative fuels for electricity and transportation to be more like an extended rehabilitation program.

这就是我对Mainspring Energy今天早上宣布的突破感到感兴趣的一个原因，革命性的发电机重新设计的资金充足的公司— one that will help its customers avoid investing in climate tech that quickly becomes obsolete.

What makes Mainspring’s tech unique? Rather than relying on rotating magnets to generate electricity — as most engines have for more than 200 years — its technology is linear, sliding back and forth to produce power.

天然气或沼气助长了当今现场的大多数发电机弹簧模型，包括克罗格（Kroger），谱系物流和Nextera Energy在内的公司使用的公司使用，用于现场发电和电网稳定性。突破是这样的：很快，发电机将能够与其他气体燃料直接运行100％的氢和100％的氨燃料。这是客户的选择。这意味着随着这些燃料的商业化，可以对较旧的发源单元进行改装以使用它们。早期的采用者可以更有信心对这项投资不会成为短暂的生活，而新兴的气候技术的风险通常也是如此。

"Clean fuels are essential to decarbonizing the grid and supporting the rapid growth of solar and wind power," said Mainspring CEO and founder Shannon Miller in the press release announcing its technological advance. "They provide all the advantages of fossil fuels — resilience, low-cost cross-seasonal storage and ease of transport — without the carbon."

氢和氨的生存能力是清洁或至少清洁的燃料来源，这是一个热门争论的问题。显然，支持他们减少重型运输，发电，化学生产等的潜力的支持。好用的买球外围app网站例如，韩国正在将清洁氢作为其清洁经济未来的重要组成部分，预计到2050年，它将占其能源的三分之一。但是，这些燃料如何直接与用于为其生产供电的燃料。唯一真正的“绿色”氢是由太阳能或风能产生的，仍然是一种相对罕见的商品。

When I spoke with Miller about Mainspring’s new technology, which should be part of commercial units by the end of next year, she said her company is using its fuel-agnostic future to provide more confidence to commercial and industry customers looking to get off diesel generators, responsible for coughing up both substantial emissions and soot. In California alone,the collective power of diesel generators in the field todayis about 12 gigawatts, or roughly 15 percent of the state’s total grid capacity. Ammonia, in particular, promises to be a high potential alternative for replacing diesel, she said.

One of the biggest challenges associated with running alternatives such as hydrogen or ammonia is that there can be performance disadvantages, when compared with fossil fuels sources.According to a company FAQ，在氢上运行发电机线性发生器时会有“轻微降低”。纯氨的能力是不寻常的。例如，燃料电池必须将氨转化为氢，这导致节能损失为20-30％。

To a large extent, the fuel mix used by a given Mainspring linear generator can be controlled using software, which gives it more flexibility than alternative technologies such as fuel cells or combustion engines, according to Miller. "You can move the oscillators to any position. It is all software-controlled," she said.

Mainspring的最新公告在披露后仅几周a big order from cold-storage warehouse operator Lineage Logistics, which plans to install up to 150 linear generators across its distribution facilities. In late May, the company also disclosed that it has closed more than $150 million in its Series E round from the likes of Lightrock, Khosla Ventures, Bill Gates and several other investors. That brings Mainspring’s funding total to $391 million, although the Series E fundraising isn’t over yet.

Mainspring also hasa $150 million financing partnership with NextEra Energy这为不想接受资本投资的商业和工业客户提供了能源服务合同。当我询问定价时，米勒拒绝具体，但说与线性发电机相关的成本与传统发动机相似，并且比燃料电池低。该技术的足迹大致需要停车位的大小。

燃料不足的未来？

To be clear, Mainspring Energy isn’t the only company talking up fuel flexibility. One of the world’s biggest combustion engine companies, Cummins,2月宣布了动力总成技术that will also support a transition to alternative fuels. Its new "fuel-agnostic" equipment is capable of running diesel, natural gas and hydrogen.

Here’s one benefit touted in its press release: "This means it will be easier for OEMs to integrate a variety of fuel types across the same truck chassis, and there will be minimal costs to train technicians and re-tool service locations, resulting in a lower total cost of ownership for the end user."

Some companies that use Cummins for engines include Paccar, Navistar International, Volvo Trucks North America, Daimler Trucks North America and Ford.

过渡期间的灵活性将是关键，这是发动机弹簧和康明斯都在吹捧的概念。康明斯发动机业务总裁Srikanth Padmanabhan在有关新技术的新闻稿中说：“考虑到我们所服务的许多市场的占空比和操作环境的变化，拥有各种碳选项尤其重要。”“没有单一的解决方案或'魔术子弹'可以适用于所有应用程序类型或所有最终用户。”