[Fot] gasoline comparison - ethanol impacts

[Bill Babcock]

Yup, boiler inspections are required, it's what killed steam heating,  
which is much more efficient and requires far less internal space than  
ducted air. Well, that and the clanging, water hammers and the  
opportunity to be scalded to death in your own apartment. .

You can build a very efficient steam engine, but you still bang up  
against the carnot cycle. And air-cooled steam engines hit that wall a  
lot sooner than water cooled. Still, they make a lot of sense for  
cars, especially in a hybrid approach where warm-up wouldn't be such a  
problem. Single speed steam engines can be much more efficient than  
variable speed ones--they make great generators, which is one reason  
steam turbines are the default generator prime mover.  They require  
complex water removal systems to ensure the steam has no entrained  
liquid--it eats the blades up like a sandblaster. But that's ancient  
technology.

  I've been reading a lot of popular physics books lately (that sounds  
like an oxymoron) and I'm struck with how many good ideas have been  
squashed by "fashion" in science. You don't have to be a quack to have  
your career ended by supporting a discredited theory. Just ask Pons  
and Fleischman (Cold Fusion).  Interesting that all these many years  
later (15) the department of Energy convened a second review panel  
(2004) to look at chemically influenced nuclear processes. The area of  
study has been deeply compromised by the public mania and resultant  
backlash in the scientific community. Fashion, in other words.

It doesn't take a conspiracy to doom promising technologies, all  
that's necessary is plain old human self-interest and herd mentality.


On Sep 16, 2008, at 9:51 AM, Randall wrote:

>
> Flieshman
>> The environmentalist wouldn't like it, and convenience
>> would be a
>> problem -- starting a fire and heating the water to steam.
>
> Legend has it that Bill Lear solved those problems.  Near-zero  
> emissions
> (not counting CO2) and startup time measured in seconds.  But (again
> according to legend) he abandoned the project after authorities  
> refused to
> allow him to license it for the street.
>
> Even today, most places have fairly draconian laws regarding even low
> pressure boilers; far more restrictive than those applicable to  
> internal
> combustion engines operating at many times higher pressures.
>
> Randall
>
> _______________________________________________
> http://www.team.net/donate.html
>
> Fot mailing list
> Fot at autox.team.net
> http://autox.team.net/mailman/listinfo/fot
>

Bill Babcock
Babcock & Jenkins
Billb at bnj.com
503.936.7660
www.bnj.com

Editor
Ke Nalu e-Magazine
Paddlesurfing's Web Journal

Bill at kenalu.com
www.kenalu.com
blog: www.ponohouse.com/ponoblog

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://autox.team.net/pipermail/fot/attachments/20080916/bc1eb45e/attachment-0003.htm>