What's "KERS"?
Full electric is possible, of course, but the range is very small. Agreed, batteries are the key problem, however, I suspect that when pushed far and strongly enough, the industry could do better - MUCH better.
I think if the auto industry standardized, the push forward would be quicker. At least, the battery manufacturers would know what they are aiming for.
As for bio fuels, I understand the Norwegian process included livestock dung as well. Algae are nice, but livestock dung is even more accessible.
Not sure I understand what it is you want to know ... You made a statement about emissions , I asked if you are comparing bio-fuels to bio-fuels ..
KERS.... Kinetic energy recovery system - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Algae is where the big money is going .... Bio-ethanol is a viable fuel IMO, but would require different engine specs, if done it would be better than going with electric cars .
Much smaller carbon foot print ...
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Algae, seaweed, switchgrass, no one knows yet. Quite debatable if it is a lower carbon footprint with today's processes. It also depends on where the electricity comes from. It is darn hard to overcome the volume/weight density of a liquid hydrocarbon and the ability to just fill a tank. On the other hand, an electric motor is far more efficient at acceleration and variable speed than a heat engine. ( max torque at stall vs max torque at peak RPM) Every time you convert from one form to another, you lose. Every time you transport you lose. Darn complicated and none of the "sides" will give any straight answers. Without being an insider, we are just blowing smoke out of somewhere.
You didn't see yet on cars the Flex Fuel labels? Those can use bio-ethanol that you talk about. They are some millions on streets and they use almost the same engine. Sure, if it would be tunned exclusivelly for ethanol, it might be more efficient, but there are not enough stations for that.
Problem is that producing all those "bio" fuels is VERY inefficient, require lots of land, water... and require lots of heat to process.
In the end is not that much "cleaner".
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Exchangeable fuel cell modules would be the cleanest source, provided that they were 'charged' at solar stations, geo, or other 'clean' energy. Besides, an electric motor/servo drive system is waaaayyyyy more efficient than the typical internal combution engine with all those moving parts.....
although this solution does not sound cheap to get started in mass production. But then niether is the new US government funded 100K+ car, produced in a forgien country BTW
, particularly when it doen't even work!
although this solution does not sound cheap to get started in mass production. But then niether is the new US government funded 100K+ car, produced in a forgien country BTW
, particularly when it doen't even work!
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Algae is most viable and where most is investing. Currently ethanol from cane is the leader , but is not sustainable as an replacement, where algae can .
Ok .. Brainiac
They have the wrong specification for bio-ethanol, there engines are optimized for gasoline , so they are inefficient on ethanol, they are flex-fuel only due to the polemics coming out of Washington.
Bio-ethanol only makes economic sense coming from Algae...next is sugar cane...
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One does need to include the total life cycle. It also depends on if the electricity is from a coal plant, which most are. We also have the problem of rare earth metals. Guess why they are called "rare"?
We still need to reduce the total energy used. There is no way the world can sustain another 3 billion Chinese and a billion more Indian drivers unless we quit making 3400 Lb compact cars and 4500 Lb sport utes.
^ Quote taken slightly out of context, but it reminded me of a package I mailed to Tseung Kwan O, Hong Kong today. The address format seemed off, so I was trying to research it and stumbled upon images of the destination.
Should humans really live like this? Reminds me of the Matrix......
Tiu Keng Leng, Tseung Kwan O, New Territories, Hong Kong - YouTube
Hi,
Don't worry, it won't have to. Between Mao's cultural revolution and the "one child" policy including systemic (illegal) forced abortions as recent as the mid 2K's the birthrate in China is now at 1.7, that is well below "replacement level".
Based on current trends projected onwards, population will still rise a bit towards around 2030, mainly because of immigration (from North Korea where people are running away from starvation and being publicly executed for minor infractions), but then is set to fall.
India is another case though...
Ciao T
Don't worry, it won't have to. Between Mao's cultural revolution and the "one child" policy including systemic (illegal) forced abortions as recent as the mid 2K's the birthrate in China is now at 1.7, that is well below "replacement level".
Based on current trends projected onwards, population will still rise a bit towards around 2030, mainly because of immigration (from North Korea where people are running away from starvation and being publicly executed for minor infractions), but then is set to fall.
India is another case though...
Ciao T
Mmmmph! IC engine is going to be in cars for a long while, yet. Gasoline and diesel give you most BTUs per gallon and per pound. NG is OK too. And it's cheaply transported to the end user and there's lots of it.
Charging the automotive fleet from the electricity grid is a non-starter.
If batteries are going to be wide spread in cars, then they'll be hybrids.
In addition to the billions in China and India there are another billion people in Africa. Last time I looked, (last month), 7 of the 10 fastest growing countries in the world are in Africa. 60% of world's uncultivated arable land is in Africa. They have huge undeveloped hydrocarbon resources in Africa. They will have their cars and tractors.
Cooking with gas, instead of wood, charcoal and dung.
Those huge cities springing up in Asia and Africa will save the ecology as poor folk will no longer be in the countryside laying waste to it. Yes! That's what happens. Did you know the US has more forest land now than it did a hundred years ago? I'm pretty sure same thing in Europe.
Don't let the climate scamsters fool you into thinking you have to stop driving or feel guilty when you take your 5 L "environmental crime" out for a spin.
And BTW, make sure your car has a good heater:
[1005.4639] Empirical evidence for a celestial origin of the climate oscillations and its implications
[1201.1301] Testing an astronomically-based decadal-scale empirical harmonic climate model versus the IPCC (2007) general circulation climate models
Charging the automotive fleet from the electricity grid is a non-starter.
If batteries are going to be wide spread in cars, then they'll be hybrids.
In addition to the billions in China and India there are another billion people in Africa. Last time I looked, (last month), 7 of the 10 fastest growing countries in the world are in Africa. 60% of world's uncultivated arable land is in Africa. They have huge undeveloped hydrocarbon resources in Africa. They will have their cars and tractors.
Cooking with gas, instead of wood, charcoal and dung.
Those huge cities springing up in Asia and Africa will save the ecology as poor folk will no longer be in the countryside laying waste to it. Yes! That's what happens. Did you know the US has more forest land now than it did a hundred years ago? I'm pretty sure same thing in Europe.
Don't let the climate scamsters fool you into thinking you have to stop driving or feel guilty when you take your 5 L "environmental crime" out for a spin.
And BTW, make sure your car has a good heater
:[1005.4639] Empirical evidence for a celestial origin of the climate oscillations and its implications
[1201.1301] Testing an astronomically-based decadal-scale empirical harmonic climate model versus the IPCC (2007) general circulation climate models
Hi,
Nope, it was the "Global Cooling" Crowd, actually. Anyone still remember these pseudo-scientist on TV spouting off how the world would be in a new Ice age in ten years or so?
Basically the same kind of FUD Mongers who are now "Global Warming", no doubt when their current bad science falls apart they will find another cause celebre by which to spread FUD...
Actually, they are already back-pedalling, by calling it now "global climate change" which conveniently covers all exigencies, as the only reliably known thing about the earth climate is that it changes, rather than being constant...
Ciao T
Rumor has it the whole global warming shindig was started by the class-d crowd ....
Nope, it was the "Global Cooling" Crowd, actually. Anyone still remember these pseudo-scientist on TV spouting off how the world would be in a new Ice age in ten years or so?
Basically the same kind of FUD Mongers who are now "Global Warming", no doubt when their current bad science falls apart they will find another cause celebre by which to spread FUD...
Actually, they are already back-pedalling, by calling it now "global climate change" which conveniently covers all exigencies, as the only reliably known thing about the earth climate is that it changes, rather than being constant...
Ciao T
Hi,
Don't worry about Africa. They keep on insisting on having these (seriously un)civil wars (I'm betting on Nigeria - again - for the next really bad one) with massive attrition rates.
And as the US based Drug firms control the retro-viral treatments for HIV and are unwilling to offer them at low prices I suspect given the still rising rate of prevalence rate in most african countries HIV will take care of the rest.
And BTW, make sure your car has a good heater:
Well, the alchemists and their Magnum Opus has already been shown to have been essentially correct, looks like it's now the turn of the Astrologists, if there is substance to the theories linked...
Whatever next? A revival of Magik?
Ciao T
Don't worry about Africa. They keep on insisting on having these (seriously un)civil wars (I'm betting on Nigeria - again - for the next really bad one) with massive attrition rates.
And as the US based Drug firms control the retro-viral treatments for HIV and are unwilling to offer them at low prices I suspect given the still rising rate of prevalence rate in most african countries HIV will take care of the rest.
And BTW, make sure your car has a good heater
:Well, the alchemists and their Magnum Opus has already been shown to have been essentially correct, looks like it's now the turn of the Astrologists, if there is substance to the theories linked...
Whatever next? A revival of Magik?
Ciao T
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Hi,
Don't worry about Africa. They keep on insisting on having these (seriously un)civil wars (I'm betting on Nigeria - again - for the next really bad one) with massive attrition rates.
And as the US based Drug firms control the retro-viral treatments for HIV and are unwilling to offer them at low prices I suspect given the still rising rate of prevalence rate in most african countries HIV will take care of the rest.
And BTW, make sure your car has a good heater
Well, the alchemists and their Magnum Opus has already been shown to have been essentially correct, looks like it's now the turn of the Astrologists, if there is substance to the theories linked...
Whatever next? A revival of Magik?
Ciao T
I don't worry about Africa. I expect it will do well, overall, even with the political exigencies. What's happened is countries there have accumulated enough know-how to create more more complex economies, and growth at that point seems to accelerate regardless of governance, overall education, etc.
Present growth rates suggest they're overcoming the HIV problem in some fashion.
Astronomers, who are mostly real scientists, are getting pretty good correlations between climate change and solar phenomena without having to strain statistically. They have a sort of connection to the alchemists: Mechanism isn't fully understood but there does seem to be a connection between the amount of solar activity, (sunspots and "solar wind"), and the amount of cosmic radiation getting to lower atmosphere and affecting cloud formation.
The degree of solar activity seems to correlate with solar system's orbital mechanics including the sun's displacement from the solar system's centre of mass.
It seems awfully empirical and correlations only imply causes but astronomers can calculate positions forward and backward in time and correlate those with historical and geological climate records. Kinda hand wavy at this stage, but it's got more cred for me than CO2 as climate forcer.
Global climate change is real , spring , summer , autumn , winter ....
Agreed.
Out here, we don't really have any springs or automns, they have been compressed to about two weeks' worth.
When I was a kid, snow used to fall about mid to end of December, and it didn't thaw before the end of February. My son, born in 1986, hasn't had more than three days' worth of snow in his life.
Summer temperatures used to be around 31-33 degrees centigrade, today 36 is the norma, and we do get peaks of 41 and even 42 degrees. In 1998, a heat wave hit Greece just when we (wife, son and me) were there, and even if the government didn't want to call it an emergency because it would stop all work, it did hit 45 or 46 degrees.
We can argue why is the climate changing, but it's damn obvious that it has changed.
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