Half GM Cars On Ethonol By 2012

[Ron61]

Ernie,

They have done 3 studies up in Lassen about using Thermal power and decided it is to expensive. They don't have to worry about the stink if you remember the Sulphur Works area where everything is colored and the steam is so full of sulphur you can't hardly breathe it. I don't see why it would be so expensive to use thermal power there where they already have active steam vents.

Ron

[Excaliber]

They had to drill a pretty deep hole to get a clean power flow for the Geo, and then the scrubbers, filters etc. to use it within emission guidelines. It's way more complicated than I would have thought, Gov regualtions being a major hurdle.


I was in the Engergy Consultant business for about 20 years and have worked internationally on some cutting edge stuff, some of it works, some of it doesn't. It's over the long term (years) that you begin to see the problems, which aren't readily apparent when you first start off.

I've worked on Deisel power generating systems as well (Marshall Islands group, Gaum, Hawaii) and there 'complex' in the long run as well, though commonly used. Sulphur in the fuel remains a problem, again, it clogs and eats things up in time.

I kind of wish I was involved in this new 'wave power' approach it looks real good. But consulting was another life in a galaxie far away, I mostly just drive my Cobra these days.

[Ron61]

I think that when the oil is gone you will suddenly see a big change in emission guidelines. Coal will last for a while but it isn't renewable and will run out eventually. Food will be non existent as the farmers will take care of their own families first. I don't see any quick and permanent way out of what we have wasted away. Wish I had an answer.

Ron

[Excaliber]

...come to think of it, were going to need plastic/glass 'generators' for the wave power approach. They make those yet? You know how corrosive that salt air is? Man give that $hit a few years and theres nothing left!

[Ron61]

Ernie,

How is Israel generating power from the Dead Sea? They use a layer of the salt and cool water or something some way. I just got in on the end of the show on TV about that.

Ron

[Excaliber]

Could be like a 'brine chiller' affect, which essentially uses salt water. Yet another heat transfer medium that goes WAY back in time. Something like the salt water captures the heat, separate the water and salt (using heat no less) and you end up with cool water again, rinse and repeat.

[Wayne Maybury]

All of the world's problems can be traced back to over population. This planet cannot support ever increasing human population so sooner or later, famine, war, or diease is going to reduce the numbers.

Wayne

[GlynMeek]

Wayne...EXACTLY the point, but once you try telling that to all the 'god botherer' religious zealots (mormons, catholics, moslems and fundamental christians to name but a few) out there, whose essential message is "go forth and multiply", the VEHEMENTLY negative response you will get is demonstrative of why "we are all doomed".




PS I am having bumper sticker made with "Agnostics of the world unite to save everyone else" printed up right now!!!!

[Ron61]

Glyn,

"Agnostics of the world unite to save everyone else"

Do you mean that the agnostics don't multiply also. At least in my case I can't be held to blame for that. I am the last of my family line and have no children, wives, girlfriends, or relatives to carry on.

Just joking with you about the first line and I agree the world over population is going to cause the downfall of what we call civilization. but what about China and other countries where they not only have no control but encourage more babies to increase the work force. How do we address that issue.

Ron

[Wes Tausend]

...

"Agnostics of the world unite to save everyone else"

That's how religions get started. Towards the end of any great catastrophy, the ones left are "believers" and holy rollers. There are no atheists or agnostics in foxholes ...whence they just came.

In regard to hydrogen power, Chevy is soon releasing an Equinox vehicle that they claim has 200 mile range. ( Chevrolet: Fuel Cell Technology ) ( 2008 Chevrolet Equinox Fuel Cell - Yahoo! Autos )
Honda has in the pipe their FCX Clarity ( Honda - The Power of Dreams - The Fuel Cell Vehicle ) ( Hydrogen-Bombing Down the Track | Popular Science ) Range claimed 270 miles. Looks like a Prius with the slippery Kammback shape.

Both have informative articles in the march '08 Motor Trend mag.

They probably lie about the range to some degree. My wifes Prius only does about 36 mpg in the city now that it is so cold that the engine runs nearly constantly. This is opposed to about 46 mpg in warmer weather. She acts severely disappointed because they suggested 60 mpg city in the ads.
Still, basic lightweight transportation can be done with far less energy than we are accustomed to using. For one thing, an electric car could be insulated so well that a thermostatically controlled 100 watt light bulb would keep it warm all the time. By plugging it in, it would be charged and ready to go all winter and require no useless garage. And a short run two blocks down to the store for milk and a newspaper would not damage a combustion engine the way it does now with un-evaporated moisture and all. During summer, a Cobra is best, of course, run hard enough to evaporate whatever.

Home heating can be a lot cheaper than it is. In the 1970's I read an article about a study in Saskatoon where homes were so well insulated that they required no additional heat. A family of four would provide total heat by body and other objects in the home such as lighting and cooking. In the end they decided to for-go a double entry air-lock in the Living Room and install a 20k btu heater instead. That's pretty meager, like a single 110 volt plug-in heater for the whole house. The house was so well sealed that the flaw turned out to be an accumulation of vapor and CO2 given off by humans, so an air-to-air exchanger was then required, needing some additional energy. Yet the net result is that a comparatively lame energy system can supply what a very conservative home needs.

Transportation of heavy goods can easily be accomplished by greater use of rail. Rail can be about ten times as efficient as any other freight type. Perhaps that is why Warren Buffett is investing so heavily in rail stock lately.


...

[427 S/O]

Just found this, interesting and expensive, plan to revisit after 100,000 miles or so.

Yahoo! Message Boards - ZAP - Ford Pickup Electric 200 Miles, 100mph

[1ntCobra]

Originally Posted by Wes Tausend

...
...
They probably lie about the range to some degree. My wifes Prius only does about 36 mpg in the city now that it is so cold that the engine runs nearly constantly. This is opposed to about 46 mpg in warmer weather. She acts severely disappointed because they suggested 60 mpg city in the ads.
...
...

The mileage testing testing that the EPA used to use was flawed and it especially overstated the mileage for hybirds. Not only that but it is against the law for a car maker to publish a mileage estimate different than the EPA one.

So when hybrid manufacturers got complaints that the gas mileage was not as good as the EPA estimates, they were not allowed to state a more realistic one to their customers.

Truth in advertising was against the law in this case per the US government.

This was all reported in Consumer Reports a couple of years ago.

The flaw in the EPA MPG estimates testing was that it was based on measuring chemical content of the exhaust during the test. Well guess what? When a hybrid is running electric, there are no chemicals coming out of the exhaust.

I think the EPA has updated there testing recently though.

[Excaliber]

Wes, indoor air quality was one of the first issues they discovered when they started 'sealing up' the buildings. Now there are rules/laws that stipulate a certain amount of fresh air be introduced/exchanged and that for sure adds to the energy cost. A continuing problem is building maintanence workers closing up the fresh air intakes to save energy, then people get sick, the vents are opened back up and the workers are like, "Wasn't us, we didn't do nothing, see there open."