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Japan Striving For Energy Efficiency
diamond writes "The NYT has an article on how Japan is squeezing to get the most out of the costly fuel. 'The government recently introduced a national campaign, urging the Japanese to replace their older appliances and buy hybrid vehicles, all part of a patriotic effort to save energy and fight global warming.'"
Hopefully this starts a global trend
I can't open the article (link down?), but I would not be surprised if this is yet another shady deal between the Japanese government and major manufacturers to keep people buying new products.
The compulsory registration fees already make it expensive enough to run a car here, and suspect this is more of the same - "keep people purchasing, and keep the economy afloat." After all, it has worked for the last 50 years here.
Electric cars will definitely need new batteries after a couple years, but hybrids should last somewhat longer so it's not all that bad.
Has anyone done research on how much fossil fuel is used to produce the electricity to charge these vehicles.
Well, that's easy. They burn gasoline. They just use it in a way that allows them to manage the energy produced in a slightly different way. So you're in effect asking if they get better mileage than an internal combustion car.
I personally have my doubts that at its current stage of development hybrid technology is an improvement, at least compared with the best that internal combustion vehicles can achieve. However it's remarkable that it can hold its own given how new it is. It isn't necessarily an immediate solution to energy efficiency or global pollution, but it is a good spot solution to the issue of localized pollution.
I think it's also a good bridge technology to a future all electric vehicle. As petroleum becomes more scarce and batteries get cheaper and better, a the experience, technology and infrastructure used to design and service hybrid vehicles may stand us in good stead.
How much harm is done by disposing of the batteries that are no longer of use?
Current hybrids, IIRC use lithium ion technology and contain no heavy metals or other hazardous materials that can't be disposed of in a municipal landfill. Some small run all-electric cars use lead acid batteries to keep costs down, which are a huge environmental issue, not only for disposal, but from the mining of the lead through every intermediate engineering process. But this is not an issue for the hybrids on the market. PbSO2 batteries are just too heavy to acheive the performance and range they need to compete.
You raise an important issue though. So far as I know, manufacturers have made no commitment to recycling the batteries. At this stage it doesn't matter; throwing away a hybrid battery pack is probably not as environmentally bad as throwing away a car transmission. And there are far fewer of them at this point.
However, if they don't start recycling batteries sooner or later, it would be too bad. I personally think that rather than selling and warrantying a battery pack, they should at some point start leasing the battery packs and refurbishing them.
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Is that China uses 11.5x the energy of Japan for the same industrial output. (I'm assuming that means equal in $). Are factories in China that much less efficient than their Japanese counterparts? Or is it the type of manufacturing currently done in China is in general more energy hungry than the manufacturing done in Japan?
Monstar L
There's a theory I've read that Gojira (Godzilla) symbolizes Japan's perception of America, on one hand rising out of the ocean and dealing out crude destruction to Japanese cities, on the other hand having a kind of elemntal fascination for them. In some movies Gojira is painted in a tragic, or even heroic light.
So, what we're talking about is more like an oportunity to sell Godzilla a more energy efficient water heater.
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FWIW, australia's state level governments (such as the Victorian Bracks government) are all imposing tough emissions controls in line with the kyoto protocol.
The reason why australia didn't ratify kyoto is because kyoto also counts all forest fires as emissions of CO2, because, well, they are emissions of CO2.
Australia has forest fires larger than engliand in the western australian forests every year. If australia ratified kyoto and got on the emissions trading scheme, australia would be economically crippled by having to buy emissions credits all the time. So Howard looked after the bottom line and refused to sign.
Now, if only we could find a way to prevent forest fires. I have a friend who is trying to get a job as a postgraduate research assistant at the Victorian Fire Prevention Center with her very good botany degree... maybe she can help.
Don't kid yourself. They're not out to "Save the Planet", they're out to boost their economy through increased consumer spending. Since their economy has been teetering on the brink for a long time now, it appears they now have a way to prod their tired consumers a bit more by saying "Buy more of our manufactured goods. They're more energy efficient! And you know you want to help the environment, right??!?!" The only reason governments give a shit about the environment is because it gets politicians votes, either from one side of the argument or the other. The only reason corporations give a shit about the environment is because it makes them money. The only people who truly give a shit about the environment are scientists desperately trying to convince uneducated people that we're losing something valuable, and those that listen to them.
And when the batteries are spent, they are traded in for new ones. The old ones are sent to the smelter, melted down and made into new batteries. Its cheaper to recycle than to prepare a bunch of ore.
I thought the Prius batteries were warrantied for 10 years, not 8.
Ok, let's make a reality check here. I drive a Nissan XTerra 6cyl. (medium sized SUV) Why? Becuase I can tow boats/jet skis, carry 6 people, camp inside of it, carry luggage on top, and have a kid or two in the back playing around. I tend to do these fairly regularly. You couldn't do this in two of your 4 bangers, or at least not down here. Not without over-heating the engine (pulling all of that). I actually make use of my SUV, unlike many others. But if you want to discuss who is going to make use of it, you might as well start putting restrictions on other things: Food (we don't need that unhealthy junk food... too many people litter anyways), batteries (oh come on, you haven't gone to rechargables yet? they only take 15 minutes to recharge), games (some of these games are 'eevil'). I have seen the soccer mom with the Excretion.. err, I mean Excursion. On the other than, soccer mom sometimes takes 8 kids with her. For Japan or New York, it's pointless and stupid -- but for Texas, it's not. Now, if they did have a descent SUV (that wasn't dog ass slow getting on the highway) that was energy effecient, I would get one in a heartbeat. In a side note, the Kyoto Protocol was stupid to being with. Do you realize that it would have *destroyed* our economy? (ours as well as Australias). It would have made getting oil financially impossible (or so low of profit, it's not worth it) and would have put allot of people out of a job.
"Do or do not. There is no try." -- Master Yoda (Half man, half muppet)
From BBC news: "Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is leading the way A wave of informality is due to sweep through Japan with a government campaign to persuade office workers to abandon their jackets and ties."
8 329.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/459
- Some species of whales (Fin and Sei, IIRC) are approaching or exceeding historcal population levels, though data on their historical population numbers are scarce.
- Cetacean whales are large, grazing planktivores... i.e. analogous to cows. There is almost no scientific data to support (or oppose) any intelligence claims for large cetaceans (as opposed to the smaller odontocetes, dolphins and their ilk, which have been shown to have excellent problem solving and communication abilities).
Agreed, some species of whales are endangered, and Japanese hunting practices have been shown to be indiscriminate (genetic testing of market whale meat), but unconditionally opposing the hunting of whales while eating steak has an odor of hypocrisy.A more reasoned approach would address issues such as acoustic pollution (cutting off large cetacean communication), shipping deaths (Northern Right Whale), and bioaccumulation in the food chain (several of the top predators, including killer whales, belugas, and polar bears). To do this, though, we have to change our way of life, consuming less and more locally produced stuff and reducing chemical use.
Save the Whales! Looks great on a poster, but IMHO it's horribly simplistic and ignores much more serious systemic problems.
... grumble, grumble, grumble, mutter, mutter, Millenium... Hand... Shrimp, I tol' 'em, I tol' 'em.
If the Japanese want to save energy, they could try using thermal insulation in their houses. One of my friends lived in Japan for three years, teaching English, and his house and paper thin walls and no insulation. I visited him in April and May of two different years and when the sun went down, it would get very cold in the house. We'd have to turn on his electric heaters to stay warm.
And it wasn't just his house, his friends out there had similar problems with their houses.
Coming from the UK, it was wierd, them not having roof insulation or central heating.
A Toyota Prius or Honda Civic Hybrid model that I could plug into a wall outlet for the night to reduce fuel consumption even further. It's a pity they can't recharge like that.
Even better, a _diesel_ Toyota Prius that can recharge the same way. That thing would get 50mpg from the engine alone, plus synergy drive would probably drive fuel consumption down even further.
Biodiesel is great for reciprocating-piston engines such as used in cars, trucks, many ships, etc.
However, how would it function in turbine engines, such as those used in helicopters, jet aircraft, etc.? Is it possible to refine vegeteble oil so that it can be used in these types of engines?
As for being a "net importer" of many things, that's true. I don't know if the US is a net importer of food, however...I seem to recall the US having the capacity to produce vast amounts of grain and other staple foods, quite a bit of which is donated to international food programs.
Everyone keeps talking about "outsourcing this" and "outsourcing that"...but I still note that, what, 95% of people in the US are employed? People are able to have a roof over their head, electricity, running water, a car, 50% in the US have computers, internet access, and so forth.
While I agree that moving to a "service-based" economy is silly, it still is able to employ a bunch of people, produce enough goods, and provide enough services to the point where the US economy is growing. Whether or not the economy is gong to be sustainable is a matter for the economists to work on. I'll stick with hard science, thank you.
Devices on standby power consume 30% of all power.
.150 mAh. Now mutiply that by every adapter you have plugged in at home and at work, then by 320 million people using electricity in the US, and you come up with a few terawatt hours of electric power that we can reclaim.
150 ma of idle current is a tad high, by the way. It's closer to
If you can pull your head from your rectum long enough, you might find that there is this concept known as "common ground", and while you'd rather be bashing Bush, you should be working with him.
I will admit to not being a farmer, although I grew up in a fairly rural area, but my understanding is that today, we produce too much food, enough that governments (particularly the US government) have had to subsidize not growing certain products to keep the market from crashing. *shrug* The problem, as usual, is distribution.