Dream on! The simple answer was that gas was way cheaper than electricity. On a different thread, a guy showed that a plug-in costs the equivalent of about $3.20 a gallon to operate. When gas was anything less than that number, electric made no sense.
On to your Iraq war issue. Govt. shouldn't be the funding engine of technology. By its nature, govt. is slow and inefficient. Look at the space program. Burt Rutan managed to build a space craft and successfully launch and recover it, twice! with no govt. money.
Markets and individuals know how best to spend their money. Washington bureaucrats know only how to waste it.
I have read a good series of articles about hybrids, like "Hummer Hybrid Hums" at http://www.economicefficiency.blogspot.com/ It has some really good, and funny articles about this kind of stuff.
They have been working on putting on green roofs on some of their buildings.
While I am a huge fan of green roofs (http://www.cleanerairforcities.blogspot.com) what China needs is scrubbers on their coal-fired power plants.
I was in Shanghai in January and it was awful. The pollution stunk and was very acrid.
Good post. That's why I like the hydraulic hybrid, as they store much more energy than batteries.
The details are in my post "Hybrid Hummer Hums" found on http://www.economicefficiency.blogspot.com/
Thanks for the Ultracaps nod. I am just learning about them.
Thanks for your insight and comments. I too would like to see cleaner cars and sources of energy.
My other big concern is air pollution. I was in Shanghai, China in January. It was awful. While there I thought up a new blog about green roofs to reduce air pollution. It is called Clean Air Through Green Roofs (http://www.cleanerairforcities.blogspot.com)
Just watch out for T. Boone Pickens. His windmill gambit is more about selling water to Dallas. He owns a water district and would like to run a pipeline under the same right of way that the power lines from his windmills would use.
First, thanks to all of you for the quality of discussion.
I agree with all of your points. I would love to see more nuclear power. Regarding the NiMH batteries, Toyota is shipping them, I think, to Italy to be recycled. You know that process is complex and full of costs.
Regarding hydraulic hybrids, pilots are underway at UPS. I actually saw one of their trucks in Sterling, VA. Ford is doing test on a Lincoln Towncar, as well as on the Montego. They have been pleased with the results.
I wrote about hydraulic hybrids on http://www.economicefficiency.blogspot.com/
No kidding, with GM's luck. Things might work better if they used ultra capacitors.
Even better, use hydraulic hybrids instead of these expensive batteries that are a bear to recycle.
One last point, won't charging a bunch of cars require all of the coal plants to go into overdrive?
I read a great article about this at http://www.economicefficiency.blogspot.com/
why not conserve energy through green roofs, better windows, hybrids and the like? i think we spend so much time looking for "novel" solutions when real and cost effective solutions are at our finger tips.
I read a lot about green roofs. The best place I found was http://www.cleanerairforcities.blogspot.com/ I also read a great series of articles about hybrids and solar, as well as costs and benefits at http://www.economicefficiency.blogspot.com/
Conserve first, innovate in parallel!
If more folks had green roofs, they wouldn't need gutters.
Green roofs improve the r-value by 20+%, as well as reducing storm water runoff.
They also reduce fine particulate matter in the air and CO2.
I have read about them at http://www.cleanerairforcities.blogspot.com/
Did I mention they also look great!?
You couldn't be more right! In the mad rush to "go green," folks have lost their logical and analytical minds.
How much will all of this wave power cost, and how will it be transmitted?
This is like the story about Germany closing 17 nuclear power plants by 2020 and wanting to put wind farms in the North Sea instead. I read that story at http://www.economicefficiency.blogspot.com/
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Dream on! The simple answer was that gas was way cheaper than electricity. On a different thread, a guy showed that a plug-in costs the equivalent of about $3.20 a gallon to operate. When gas was anything less than that number, electric made no sense. On to your Iraq war issue. Govt. shouldn't be the funding engine of technology. By its nature, govt. is slow and inefficient. Look at the space program. Burt Rutan managed to build a space craft and successfully launch and recover it, twice! with no govt. money. Markets and individuals know how best to spend their money. Washington bureaucrats know only how to waste it. I have read a good series of articles about hybrids, like "Hummer Hybrid Hums" at http://www.economicefficiency.blogspot.com/ It has some really good, and funny articles about this kind of stuff.
They have been working on putting on green roofs on some of their buildings. While I am a huge fan of green roofs (http://www.cleanerairforcities.blogspot.com) what China needs is scrubbers on their coal-fired power plants. I was in Shanghai in January and it was awful. The pollution stunk and was very acrid.
Good post. That's why I like the hydraulic hybrid, as they store much more energy than batteries. The details are in my post "Hybrid Hummer Hums" found on http://www.economicefficiency.blogspot.com/ Thanks for the Ultracaps nod. I am just learning about them.
Thanks for your insight and comments. I too would like to see cleaner cars and sources of energy. My other big concern is air pollution. I was in Shanghai, China in January. It was awful. While there I thought up a new blog about green roofs to reduce air pollution. It is called Clean Air Through Green Roofs (http://www.cleanerairforcities.blogspot.com) Just watch out for T. Boone Pickens. His windmill gambit is more about selling water to Dallas. He owns a water district and would like to run a pipeline under the same right of way that the power lines from his windmills would use.
First, thanks to all of you for the quality of discussion. I agree with all of your points. I would love to see more nuclear power. Regarding the NiMH batteries, Toyota is shipping them, I think, to Italy to be recycled. You know that process is complex and full of costs. Regarding hydraulic hybrids, pilots are underway at UPS. I actually saw one of their trucks in Sterling, VA. Ford is doing test on a Lincoln Towncar, as well as on the Montego. They have been pleased with the results. I wrote about hydraulic hybrids on http://www.economicefficiency.blogspot.com/
No kidding, with GM's luck. Things might work better if they used ultra capacitors. Even better, use hydraulic hybrids instead of these expensive batteries that are a bear to recycle. One last point, won't charging a bunch of cars require all of the coal plants to go into overdrive? I read a great article about this at http://www.economicefficiency.blogspot.com/
why not conserve energy through green roofs, better windows, hybrids and the like? i think we spend so much time looking for "novel" solutions when real and cost effective solutions are at our finger tips. I read a lot about green roofs. The best place I found was http://www.cleanerairforcities.blogspot.com/ I also read a great series of articles about hybrids and solar, as well as costs and benefits at http://www.economicefficiency.blogspot.com/ Conserve first, innovate in parallel!
If more folks had green roofs, they wouldn't need gutters. Green roofs improve the r-value by 20+%, as well as reducing storm water runoff. They also reduce fine particulate matter in the air and CO2. I have read about them at http://www.cleanerairforcities.blogspot.com/ Did I mention they also look great!?
You couldn't be more right! In the mad rush to "go green," folks have lost their logical and analytical minds. How much will all of this wave power cost, and how will it be transmitted? This is like the story about Germany closing 17 nuclear power plants by 2020 and wanting to put wind farms in the North Sea instead. I read that story at http://www.economicefficiency.blogspot.com/