On Saturday 10 November 2001 02:43, you wrote:
> On Fri, Nov 09, 2001 at 02:20:40PM -0800, Justin Keyes wrote:
> > The bottom line is that we need to switch to alternative energy sources
> > ASAP. This is a huge achille's heel for our country.
>
> Umm, as soon as you find one, let us know. Not one existing, widely
> known source of energy works as well as petroleum. Don't get me wrong--
> I agree that petroleum is probably the worst way to power things. I
> mean, eventually it will run out, if nothing else! But there simply
> aren't feasible alternatives. Solar cars won't do it. Electric cars make
> as much pollution at the power plant as gasoline cars do.
That all depends on how the electricity is generated and from where. As for
coal and petroleum based power plants, they are actually very efficient. The
bigger the better. Then, it becomes viable to add processes that add
efficiency, that would not be viable on a smaller scale. I used to work at
both oil and coal power plants and the technology is amazing.
But in Europe they use replaceable battery packs that are swapped out at
stations similar to gas stations. Obviously, if these were to be charged up
during the day with solar, it would be better.
One
> possibility is hydrogen or methane. Problem is that there's no
> infrastructure for it. And changing the existing infrastructure over
> would take a couple of generations, _if_ everyone agreed that X was the
> way to go. And the first time a hydrogen car blew up, there would be a
> public outcry, as people forgot that gasoline cars blow up too.
Yes, I agree with you there that the idea of transporting around hydrogen
tanks would not be a good thing. Although, the fuel cell technology is
coming along and could be viable in the near future.
> And consider: what if you _did_ have cars whose "pollution" was water?
> Naturally no one every stops to consider what would happen if you dumped
> three times the water vapor into the atmosphere as there is now.
>
> Wave power endangers ocean life and can only produce limited power at
> seaside cities. Wind is a dismal failure. The vast wind farms in
> California really produce very little power, and are only feasible in
> places where there is a change from sea to land or valley to mountain
> (good wind areas). Additionally, detritous on the blades severely limits
> the efficiency of them (recent study on the effect of grim on wind
> turbine blades). And they're a menace to birds, which create their own
> kind of grime on them (ick!).
Actually, wind power is a very viable energy source. Sure its gonna take a
lot of them, but they offer many advantages. They can be built in very
little time, virtually overnight. A coal or petro fired plant usually takes
about 5 years to build. And yes there are certain places in the country that
are better 'wind areas'. See: www.homepower.com/windmap.htm
Coal or petro power plants have certain restrictions as to where they can be
built as well. Usually, railways must be built or locations next to water so
the vast amounts of non-renewables can be transported in. Most people don't
want one in their back yard. If virtually the only maintenance is to clean
the blades, thats not too bad! Coal and petro plants have to be completely
shutdown, boilers disassembled, etc for maintenance. This can take a month.
Therefore, it needs to be scheduled with other power plants in mind so that
they don't create artificial shortages to raise prices like they did in
California Coal and petro power plants do their share of killing birds and
other creatures.
>
> If all the tree huggers got together to do alternative energy research
> rather than complaining about gasoline/coal/oil, we would have solved
> this problem by now. It amazes me that tycoons the world over spend all
> this philanthropic money on _name_your_disease_ or gun control, while
> things like this go unfunded.
Yes, but the oil barons are in charge!
Jim
>
> I say: GO NUCLEAR! (Just kidding-- it's probably the worst alternative
> of all.)
>
> Paul
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