Slashdot Mirror
4 Tons Of Plants per Mile to Ride In Your Car
Roland Piquepaille writes "As you might know, I enjoy big numbers. So it's just natural that I was attracted by this news release from the University of Utah, "Bad Mileage: 98 tons of plants per gallon." "A staggering 98 tons of prehistoric, buried plant material is required to produce each gallon of gasoline we burn in our cars, SUVs, trucks and other vehicles." For a reasonably efficient car, riding 25 miles per gallon, this translates to 4 tons of prehistoric plants per mile, or more than two tons per kilometer. The research paper also mentions that everyday, we are using the fossil fuel equivalent of all the plants growing during a whole year just for our cars. Even if these numbers are too large, this still makes you think about how inefficient our cars are. This analysis describes the calculations and contains other details about the research paper which will be published in November by Climate Change."
Exactly, any engine that relies on the carnot cycle is going to be inefficient, it is just one of those facts of life. Hopefully we will not have to rely on gasoline for much longer.
Interestingly although hydrogen fuel cells are an excellent choice for powering small vehicles, it is unlikely that they could be made powerful enough for trucks and even large SUV's and so another solution will have to be found. Some of the possibilities include LPG or bitumen based engines but perhaps the biggest hope is for ion drives similar to the ones currently being tested on Norwegian buses.
They are ideal in that they are practically silent and have no moving parts so they will almost never go wrong. Currently there is an environmental risk as they emit dangerous cl- ions but it is hoped that by adding h+ ions at the exhaust stage these can mopped up.
If I remember correctly Ford is building an ion drive based dragster to compete at the high speed trials in May next year. It should be very interesting to see how it stacks up against conventional NOx based machines.
All that glitters has a high refractive index.
Asked and answered
Tell that to the Wooly Mammoth, North American Horse and North American Camel that were all hunted to extinction thousands of years ago. There are many species on this planet that have been hunted well before this 3-400 time period of which you speak. Please check your history before spouting your ignorance of it.
Asked and answered no 2.
I'll make sure I do a worldwide environmental impact statement before patenting my widget. Perhaps the Earth Simulator in Japan will have a time slot available?
Really! I have an SUV, where can I pick it up? Here I thought the high mileage small cars I have been driving for the last decade were a little cramped for carrying much beyond myself.
Dictionary.com defines profit as:
Perhaps your referring to pollution? An environmentalist such as yourself should be familiar with pollution:
Again, you are having trouble with definitions. I want to introduce you to the word: exploit
You'll notice that this is the exact same word used to describe the process of taking plant material for consumption.
Now I've heard of painting with a pretty broad brush before, but I think that takes the cake. Remember folks Everything was made in a "pollution belching factory". As I stated in my original comment, the objective is to get everybody back the horse and buggy and you have proven my point for me. Thank-you.
Environmentalists are often portrayed as selfless idealists who fight for a good cause. For many of the environmentalists, this is true (whether or not their good cause is a misguided one, is another matter). But I do not trust the environmentalists that matter: the ones in political parties, in lobbyists groups, or the loudest individuals in the green movements. They are not selfless, although it may seem so because they aren't after money. It is power, influence and control over other people's lives that they want.
Environmentalists are seen as luddites, because the top dog environmentalists often dismiss technological solutions to environmental problems out of hand. They would prefer a dirty factory to close or to produce less, rather than have its smokestacks fitted with scrubbers. Why? Selfish reasons. If the factory closes, they have shown themselves to be influential and caring for the environment. They'll garner the credits for the positive impact on the environment. And with any luck, they get to tell who can be allowed to use the now scarce products of this factory. In contrast, if the factory is fitted with scrubbers, they do not gain a lot of power, or even recognition: it's the factory owners who will, as 'responsible businessmen'. You can see this behaviour anywhere. The more rabiat environmentalists do not want cleaner cars, they want us to drive less. They don't want cheap energy, they want us using less of it.
I do realise that it might seem that I lump all environmentalists together, but that is not my intention. My point is that the label 'luddite' for environmentalists, is earned for then by the loudest few amongst them. It may also seem that I paint a rather sinister image of these environmentalists. Again, I do not include all of them; I am sure the majority of them are well-meaning individuals. But I do not trust the kind of environmentalists who dismisses solutions for vague reasons, because they are 'impractical', 'only postpone the inevitable', or are 'only seemingly clean', and try to push their preferred measures 'for our own good'. If you hear anyone utter those 4 words, you can be sure that it's their own good they are after.
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
I'm so bummed it is such a pain in the ass to import some of the very high efficiency compact cars from europe because they don't meet the dumb ass american safety standards. They should levy a safety surcharge on cars based on gross vehicle weight. Not everyone needs a fscking tank to protect their 2.4 kids.
By the way I found that enclosed bike (http://www.peraves.ch/turboe.htm)