Interesting thread, one I've been discussing with "environmentally correct"
people here at work for several years. Just a few observations:
"Zero Emissions" should be changed to "pass the buck". The power has to be
generated somewhere, and since nuclear energy is currently out of fashion,
that means that somebody is burning the fossil fuel. Granted, the operating
lines of the generation equipment can be tightly controlled to decrease
emissions, but stuff still goes into the air. Nothing is free. Of course,
we could try and harness more hydroelectric, wind, & geothermal energy, but
the same people that want us to go all-electric also decry the enviromental
damage of digging holes and damming rivers, not to mention the unsightliness
of windmills (never mind how the hell we'd connect those into the grid
efficiently). Catch 22. (Don't even talk solar or I'll have to spend
several pages on how "well" solar energy works in temperate zones!)
When talking about electric vehicles nobody ever seems to consider the
inpact of these things to the electrical grid. First order estimates I've
seen are that the North American power grid would have to be at least
doubled to handle the demand, from generation to the outlet in your house.
Double the fossil fuel burned at the plant, double the power transmitted
on high tension lines that people are already blaming for everything from
cancer to the death of Elvis, double the power on underground lines that
will have to be dug up or added to your neighborhood, etc. Nothing is free.
Jim Sudduth probably has the best solution, a small gas turbine (or diesel)
running at a set rpm (fixed operating point) attached to a generator driving
electric motors at the wheels. This is a small scale duplication of the
"zero emission" vehicle theme, but I'll bet the efficiencies are much higher
(anyone want to run the energy loss calculations?) and pollutants less. We
could probably retorfit this idea into LBCs for those feeling guilty enough
about man and the environment. I'm sure Tom Tweed would donate his TR250
as the concept car.
Bruce Clough
BTW: Anything we do will generate CO2. Combustion is like that. If you want
to get around that you're talking nuclear for large scale energy generation
(I'll discount the obiting microwave power stations here). We could go to
horses, but then the environazis will decry the methane generation. Mass
transit is a good option, but that would mean a huge paradigm shift in North
America where personal transportation freedom is taken for granted. Nothing
is simple.
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