I am an former member of the US military and spent some time in parts of Europe.
Most of the time trains were at stops a few times per hour.
Every so often an "Express" came through that would take you all the way to the nearest major city.
If you look at rush hour traffic patterns most ppl head to the city in the mornings and home in the evenings.
I have sat in traffic at a total stand still in major US cities, and riding that non-stop "Express" into London was a real eye opener to me. No slow crawl in traffic for hours.
I was able to sit and read the lastest book I was studying for work, and eat and drink my version of breakfast all the while.
Once oil shoots back up real high the rail solution will start looking better to the ppl.
Wind and Solar scares the big money makers because they know a small Co-op could be setup to simply use mirrors to concentrate solar heat to run a turbine to make power, and wind mills are going up at a rapidly accelerating rate.
They know that ppl will start moving off the grid and their big utility mega corps will start having smaller margins.
Follow the money !
A single wind turbine here in the wind corridor can make over 1.5 million watts of power, or 1,500 Kilowatt hours.
Enercon turbines in Europe make up to 6 million watts on windy days.
At 10 cents a kilowatt that is $150 an hour, $3,600 day, $1.3 million a year if the wind blew everyday.
You get a million turbines out here, and you are looking at $1.3 Trillion USD a year.
The top 12 wind producing states alone could power all of the United States if we had turbines like the Enercon that puts out 6 Mega watts.
Solar is not the only option, but it is in the top 5.
Nuclear is set to run out eventually so it is at best a predestined to end solution, same for natural gas.
If you burn a fuel at some point you will run out of that fuel at high burn rates.
I know about thorium, and know that the THTR was shutdown for more than one reason.
I know ppl have a lot invested in their scientific careers, but ppl are going to have to step back and stop thinking selfishly and stop pushing their agendas due to self interest in their investment of their degrees.
Hydro, Wind, solar, algae bio fuel, jet stream tap, ocean current tap, and geo thermal are our best and longest term solutions.
Nuclear is a good option for some remote regions with poor access to any of the above.
Biofuel is not a renewable resource. To meet our gasoline needs alone we would need a corn field larger than the continental US. Even with switchgrass we would need ~25% of the surface of the US to meet our gasoline needs. Consider for a moment that modern farming is already devastating the aquifers that will take 10s to 100s of thousands of years to replenish naturally.
Corn is not the only bio fuel available and in fact is one of the worst available.
The current top producer is algae using sealed vertical hydroponic methods in the desert by Valcent Technologies.
Valcent Technologies claims to be able to do all the fuel needs for the US in a land area 10% the size of New Mexico.
They have achieved yields as high as 100,000 gal/acre/year in the desert and even at $1.50 a gallon that is a crop with a gross yield of $150,000 per acre/ per year on some of the cheapest unused land in the world.
The initial cost setup will cost more of course, but the long term cost savings of no more middle east mess saves trillions.
Yeah a grid is needed for high power transmission much like we have now, though I say it is far less expensive to maintain if they buried it in service tunnels.
In the tunnels the temp remains constant and thus less losses due to heat such as in the southwest.
Sag of the lines in high heat has its own set of issues.
Too many times massive thunderstorms, ice storms, downed trees damage the lines or lightning surges damage the substations and end users personal electronics.
Often after massive storms, downed lines kill ppl and pets.
Less repair of the lines means smaller repair crews which equals lower insurance losses, and lower operating costs.
The initial tunneling cost is high but could done in the highest repair rate areas first, and the savings rolled on to the other areas over time, ie. "pay it forward".
Electricity can be passed thru induction the way a transformer works.
Coil to coil with over 90% efficiency and the inductive coils can be suspending in the air above the road like trolleys of old.
No bare wires so no sparks and fires.
The inductive pickups power the cars, and you put in a Ultra capacitor for fast charging during regenerative braking and half as many batteries as most major streets would have an Inductive overhead power tap.
Some ppl in the past got in trouble for doing inductive theft of power from standard power lines in the past.
I wish there was a way to setup a p2p app with something like internet radios multi cast.
basically 100 or 100,000 ppl could download because they would "tune in" to a download that was just like a song that played, and replayed and eventually they would have all the song once the CRC lines up.
It would save enormous amounts of bandwidth, and if you could get multi-seeds setup, you could tune into other parts of the data stream and get it faster.
Ie. if 5 ppl were seeding, they'd xmit just 20% of the total stream and the server client could negotiate which parts.
We don't have a resource problem, just like the corrupt and crooked high bonus financial thieves, we have a greed problem.
The bent over shaved sheeple also were sold a load of manure being told we would give 200 Billion in Tax dollars for an upgrade to the system and we got the shaft.
That is right, we paid the evil slimy bells 200 Billion in US tax payer money and they ran off laughing and gave us nothing.
They decided to cheap it and run DSL over existing lines and give us a sub par product that did not even meet half of what was spec'd and they slow rolled it out to us.
They also committed sabotage against other companies trying to use their lines to get DSL in faster than they wanted it put in.
Greed is job #1 in the USA.
And that is why we are about to fall out of the top 20 on net access world wide when we should EASILY be #1.
The low tech masks the team was wearing was for the output of the numerous coal plants in China.
The particulate matter in the air is very high.
So high in fact that they had a massive algae bloom mess they had to clean up in the waters right before the olympics that was quite embarrassing to them.
Slashdot Mirror
I am an former member of the US military and spent some time
in parts of Europe.
Most of the time trains were at stops a few times per hour.
Every so often an "Express" came through that would take you
all the way to the nearest major city.
If you look at rush hour traffic patterns most ppl head to the
city in the mornings and home in the evenings.
I have sat in traffic at a total stand still in major US cities,
and riding that non-stop "Express" into London was a real eye
opener to me. No slow crawl in traffic for hours.
I was able to sit and read the lastest book I was studying for work,
and eat and drink my version of breakfast all the while.
Once oil shoots back up real high the rail solution will start
looking better to the ppl.
Whew !
I thought they were gonna ask for another 200 billion !
http://www.tispa.org/node/14
This is a deal !
I got a pink slip a few months back, lol.
Glad my house and car are paid for !
How this guys post can be a troll is beyond me...
Some parts are made in countries other than China,
but you are right about it barely being made in the US,
and the arrogance is "off the hook" here.
Wind and Solar scares the big money makers because they know
a small Co-op could be setup to simply use mirrors to concentrate
solar heat to run a turbine to make power, and wind mills are
going up at a rapidly accelerating rate.
They know that ppl will start moving off the grid and their
big utility mega corps will start having smaller margins.
Follow the money !
A single wind turbine here in the wind corridor can make
over 1.5 million watts of power, or 1,500 Kilowatt hours.
Enercon turbines in Europe make up to 6 million watts on windy days.
At 10 cents a kilowatt that is $150 an hour, $3,600 day,
$1.3 million a year if the wind blew everyday.
You get a million turbines out here, and you are looking at
$1.3 Trillion USD a year.
The top 12 wind producing states alone could power all of
the United States if we had turbines like the Enercon
that puts out 6 Mega watts.
Wind power increases with height.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enercon
Wind power estimates are based on a height of 150 feet or
50 meters, but our current turbines are about twice that high.
24 x 7 x 365 the sun is up in various places of the world.
At this time a lot of countries sell electricity to each other.
A world wide grid with losses comparable to the US of 7% is
very workable.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_power_transmission#Losses
This is with an old adhoc unmodern failing grid too.
The large deserts of the world could power the earth many times over.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_energy#Energy_from_the_Sun
Solar is not the only option, but it is in the top 5.
Nuclear is set to run out eventually so it is at best
a predestined to end solution, same for natural gas.
If you burn a fuel at some point you will run out of that
fuel at high burn rates.
I know about thorium, and know that the THTR was shutdown for
more than one reason.
I know ppl have a lot invested in their scientific careers,
but ppl are going to have to step back and stop thinking
selfishly and stop pushing their agendas due to self interest
in their investment of their degrees.
Hydro, Wind, solar, algae bio fuel, jet stream tap,
ocean current tap, and geo thermal are our best and
longest term solutions.
Nuclear is a good option for some remote regions with poor
access to any of the above.
Places that have massive deserts with high solar levels
should not use nuclear power as an option in the future.
Also undersea ocean currents and the high level jet streams
would provide more power than several earths could use.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jet_stream#Future_power_generation
The antarctic current alone is 125 times all the flow of all
the rivers on earth.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctic_Circumpolar_Current
Slow current power generation tools like the Aquanator
could provide power to small island nations or large
ones as well.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquanator
Biofuel is not a renewable resource. To meet our gasoline needs alone we would need a corn field larger than the continental US. Even with switchgrass we would need ~25% of the surface of the US to meet our gasoline needs. Consider for a moment that modern farming is already devastating the aquifers that will take 10s to 100s of thousands of years to replenish naturally.
Corn is not the only bio fuel available and in fact is one of the
worst available.
The current top producer is algae using sealed vertical hydroponic
methods in the desert by Valcent Technologies.
Valcent Technologies claims to be able to do all the fuel needs
for the US in a land area 10% the size of New Mexico.
They have achieved yields as high as 100,000 gal/acre/year
in the desert and even at $1.50 a gallon that is a crop with
a gross yield of $150,000 per acre/ per year on some of the
cheapest unused land in the world.
The initial cost setup will cost more of course, but the long
term cost savings of no more middle east mess saves trillions.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hioZ7C6HLs
Right there is the CNN video showing it.
This is indirect use of sunlight.
Some ancient diatom algae is nearly 50% oil by weight and
is said to be the fastest growing plant on the planet.
Correct on the cheap GPS providing time Sync based on Stratum
time sources, it is in phones with GPS services.
Yeah a grid is needed for high power transmission much like
we have now, though I say it is far less expensive to maintain
if they buried it in service tunnels.
In the tunnels the temp remains constant and thus less losses due
to heat such as in the southwest.
Sag of the lines in high heat has its own set of issues.
Too many times massive thunderstorms, ice storms, downed trees
damage the lines or lightning surges damage the substations and
end users personal electronics.
Often after massive storms, downed lines kill ppl and pets.
Less repair of the lines means smaller repair crews which
equals lower insurance losses, and lower operating costs.
The initial tunneling cost is high but could done in the
highest repair rate areas first, and the savings rolled
on to the other areas over time, ie. "pay it forward".
Electricity can be passed thru induction the way a transformer works.
Coil to coil with over 90% efficiency and the inductive coils
can be suspending in the air above the road like trolleys of old.
No bare wires so no sparks and fires.
The inductive pickups power the cars, and you put in a
Ultra capacitor for fast charging during regenerative braking
and half as many batteries as most major streets would have
an Inductive overhead power tap.
Some ppl in the past got in trouble for doing inductive
theft of power from standard power lines in the past.
http://message.snopes.com/showthread.php?t=9291
Using induction instead of direct connection would be safer,
but has more power loss.
Yup, underground for about a decade is how it went unless you are
pretty close to the Equator.
Average temperature drop of 45 Fahrenheit over USA.
Possibly worse in Eurasia.
Proof of it would be the Toba explosion or the cooling from the oil well fires in Kuwait.
Yeah I think netcraft browser stats show a better truth on
what is out there.
I also think the most of those Apache servers out there are
running a Unix or Linux OS.
I wish there was a way to setup a p2p app with something
like internet radios multi cast.
basically 100 or 100,000 ppl could download because they
would "tune in" to a download that was just like a song
that played, and replayed and eventually they would have
all the song once the CRC lines up.
It would save enormous amounts of bandwidth, and if you could
get multi-seeds setup, you could tune into other parts
of the data stream and get it faster.
Ie. if 5 ppl were seeding, they'd xmit just 20% of the total
stream and the server client could negotiate which parts.
It would take less bandwidth and be faster IMHO.
Companies could save a lot with programs like Scalix.
It will replace Exchange Server, and that is one of the
last bastions of MS cash flow.
If Scalix can surpass Exchange then the MS will take a big hit.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scalix
Scalix may not kill the MS empire, but that will be a decent chunk.
They do not have this problem in the top tier countries for
internet access, we have fallen almost out of the top 20
here in the USA.
To me it is pathetic, but the reason is greed.
We can run DWDM lines between all the major cities,
and have more bandwith that we can possibly use.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DWDM#WDM_systems
1.6 Tera bit over a single fiber pair and it has been
kicking around for several years, with proof of concept
in the 1970's.
Most of the fiber in the ground is Dark Fiber:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_fiber#Dark_fiber_overcapacity
We don't have a resource problem, just like the corrupt and
crooked high bonus financial thieves, we have a greed problem.
The bent over shaved sheeple also were sold a load of manure
being told we would give 200 Billion in Tax dollars for
an upgrade to the system and we got the shaft.
http://www.tispa.org/node/14
That is right, we paid the evil slimy bells 200 Billion in
US tax payer money and they ran off laughing and gave us nothing.
They decided to cheap it and run DSL over existing lines
and give us a sub par product that did not even meet half
of what was spec'd and they slow rolled it out to us.
They also committed sabotage against other companies trying to
use their lines to get DSL in faster than they wanted it put in.
Greed is job #1 in the USA.
And that is why we are about to fall out of the top 20 on
net access world wide when we should EASILY be #1.
I guess they lied and the system is doomed to fail !
All that testing and research was all falsified !
Sorry to hear about your oil stock ancient one...
Water runs down hill due to gravity, once it is passed the device
it will return to its prior speed.
The water does not get and keep its speed from its headwaters.
It varies based on the grade as it moves downstream.
In an ocean, it is not due to grades is more about thermal
differential due to the ocean heating the water.
It might have an impact there, but some of the current
contain flows that are many times the flow of all the rivers
in the world.
Like the Antarctic Circumpolar current:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctic_Circumpolar_Current
Ppl can use boolean expressions to help find what
they need so they do not need to code
for lack of knowledge in searching.
see ... AND, OR, NOR, etc etc
A good portion is built right into their advanced
search features:
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?hl=en
I believe the Aquanator came first.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/09/26/1096137100758.html?oneclick=true
I didn't say we did not participate.
I am saying the Russians had far more casualties,
and did the bulk of the fighting.
This pretty much proves that:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_casualties
23 million dead vs. 400k dead is a large difference.
I will grant you the Russian leadership did not value human
life as much as ppl from the US, but never the less.
The low tech masks the team was wearing was for the
output of the numerous coal plants in China.
The particulate matter in the air is very high.
So high in fact that they had a massive algae bloom
mess they had to clean up in the waters right before
the olympics that was quite embarrassing to them.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/jun/30/pollution.olympicgames2008?gusrc=rss&feed=networkfront
This has been linked to the coal:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/green/detail?blogid=49&entry_id=27705
The air quality in China at times has been hideous.