Alltronics deals in surplus and salvaged components of all shapes and sizes. There was a US$15 minimum order when last I dealed with them.
I had some issues ordering stuff, though... after waiting a week and nothing arrived, I e-mailed them about it and said one of the items wasn't in stock and they were waiting for it. Would be nice if they told me that ahead of time... but other than that I have no complaints. (Got my stuff about 5 days later) =Smidge=
The outcome of California voting has now been reduced to that of a 10 vote state.
Only if it has only 2 candidates to split the vote between. If there are 3 or more on the ballot then this is no longer true, and it actually becomes easier (though still extremely difficult) for a third party to win the overall election.
Actually, it would help regardless if there were only 2 candidates. You would effectively have 538 (I think?) electroral districts instead of 50 state districts. This allows the vote scores to more accurately reflect the "real" public vote but without creating the problems associated with doing away with the electoral college. =Smidge=
I'm fairly sure he meant "homogenus computing environment" on a global scale, not business scale. Of course it makes sense to be homogenus within a company for exactly the reasons you presented.
But it becomes an issue when, for example, your state DMV (which processes hundreds of thousands of records holding all sorts of private and critical information) is running the same software as John Q Solitaire. There's no reason for that.
It's not security through obscurity, it's security through diversity... just like your house key won't open the neighbor's door. No single exploit should be able to expose ALL systems to risk. =Smidge=
I believe they used a hollow, rubber toroid that was inserted into the tire before it was seated to the rim, with a small filling tube prodruding through the rim to allow it to be filled with air. This was useful because it was extremely difficult to make a tire that was both strong enough to support the vehicle and had a good enough seal on the rim to hold the air. (I think it's called an "inner tube")
I think a better example would be the "Run Flat" tire which appeared a few years ago. =Smidge=
People used to believe the reason for lunar eclipses was a dragon was swallowing the moon. They'd shoot cannons at the "dragon" to scare it off, and sure enough the moon came back into view. Guess that, in the lack of any better data or means of observation, the conclusion was rather scientific...
The same goes for the "men" living on Mars idea. You have very limited data, poor observation techniques, and a starved imagination. Result? Wild hypotheses. As data quality improves we can get a better understanding of what's going on, fantasies be damned! =Smidge=
This is a hospital, not a factory. Having a nurse on staff generally does not generate profit for them like having a doctor on staff does (and even then only if he's attending to somebody). Instead, making sure there are nurses available at all times to care for patients is a huge burden on hospitals.
Early versions didn't even need to be decoded... adding a wire from a +5v source to a particular spot caused the device to deliver the barcode unencoded instead of the encoded barcode+serial! =Smidge=
And ignorance of the law is no excuse for breaking it.
I will agree with this only if the law is actually available for you to learn about. But if something is illegal and there is NO WAY for me to know that it is, even if I consult a lawyer or talk to a police officer or get a copy of the law from town hall... then how can I be punished for it?
If "secret laws" are valid and enforcable, then they could just as easily throw you in jail for any reason they like and claim that you broke a "secret law" (Which of course they can't tell you about because it's classified.) I think that pretty clearly violates due process don't you? =Smidge=
If it's not on the CD, how are they supposed to download it?
When I bought my computer, sans OS, it came with a "Internet" CD. On it was setup stuff for several dialup ISPs (including AOL), a copy of IE's setup and a copy of Netscape's setup.
When I got my cable modem, it also came with a CD that had both IE and Netscape install programs on it. I would imagine newer versions of these CDs would come with Moz/FF instead of, or in addition to, Netscape.
And that is how you can get away with not having a browser installed by default. =Smidge=
You're paying for the software that uses the hardware you supposedly already have, that's why. What the software does is actually pretty minimal procesing wise. =Smidge=
Re:I've got mine on pre-order.
on
Port-A-Nuke
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· Score: 1
Well, how much energy is required to manufacture the incandecent bulbs? Probably only *slightly* less than the CF type.
CF bulbs last longer on average, which means you need to produce less of them. They also use less power, so that's additional savings.
Many CF types can be installed in regular screw-in bulb sockets. If you have a retrofit scenario you buy those. If you're getting a new fixture anyway then the argument is moot. In fact, getting a new fixture would be better, since that places the ballast in the fixture instead of the bulb housing, decreasing manufacturing requirements.
How much additional waste is generated? Less, if the bulbs last longer. One CF bulb versus 10 incandecents (on average).
There's also no real "retooling" costs either. The machines that make the incandecent bulbs don't last forever, and typically get replaced every 5 years or so. Instead of replacing it with another incandecent bulb machine, replace it with a CF bulb machine. Most of the cost (both $ and energy) for periodic "retooling" is already there, just spend it on something different.
It is the main short coming of "it's not so simple" short sighted luddite arguments that they often ignore the implications of conservation. =Smidge=
Nah, see, that would make it look like Nader tied to rig the election.
If you're going to frame somebody, might as well frame someone who deserves it. If Bush gets twice as many votes as there are people in the entire coutry in one state it would be very hard to ignore the fact that it had been tampered with.
The only hitch is the scenario iamplasma posted... which is the most likely outcome. (That, and blaming the whole thing on terrorists rather than the manufacturer of the equipment!) =Smidge=
So what really needs to happen is someone to rig the election... what do you think would happen if Bush got 500,000,000 votes in the state of Montana?:)
Which are severely limited. Think more than human comfort... also consider that AC and refrigeration are exactly the same technology, and don't even pretend that refrigeration technology has never effected the way you live.
Polio vaccine. -- Dont have polio
Probably because they used the vaccine to all but elimintate it.
Traffic lights. -- round a bouts
Right, because nobody EVER gets into an accident on those. Also not very convienient for urban settings that have been adopted from century-old horse-cart traffic, unless you like demolishing buildings.
Frozen food. -- fresh food, canned food
Very short shelf life and limited usability, respectively. See comment on AC/refrigeration.
Television. -- radio, (internet)
Yes, all of which radically increased the speed at which information spread through society. Or would you rather write a letter to the fire station when your house is burning down? Would you go buy a newspaper every few hours to see if that hurricane is headed your way?
Large-scale farming. -- an invention? or just bigger small scale farming?
Maybe not a speccific invention, but a conglomeration of many smaller innovations that make it possible. Either way, it definately had a impact on society and has effected the way you live.
Credit cards. -- cash, eftpos
I'd like to see you carry around $50K in cash, or pay over the phone/internet with cash. And do you realize that EFT is essentially the exact same thing as a credit card? Only difference is who's account it comes out of at first... yours or your credit company's.
Flouride. -- soap?
Eeh... do you even know what flouride is used for? Have you ever brushed your teeth?
You, sir, seem amazingly shortsighted in terms of what actually has effected the way you live. For shame! =Smidge=
A strange argument. Because your power grid is in havoc you don't see a chance for electric cars? So, you don't plan to fix your power grid? You don't plan to reduce energy consumption, which could lift some pressure from the grid?
No, the entire power distribution system does need to be upgraded and expanded. But the question is by how much?
If all-electric cars become popular in the market, electrical demand would not just increase, it would explode. Unless you've prepared for the surge in extra demand the entire system would be in serious trouble. This usually translates to skyrocketing energy prices, which hurts everyone including those with incentive to buy electric cars in the first place.
As it stands, you can reasonably estimate what kind of power demands there will be in the future and plan accordingly. It takes years to build a powerplant, so if demand increases too quickly you will not be able to keep up with it. It would be extremely difficult to estimate how the demand would increase if deomestic electric cars were introduced competatively into the market.
Powerplants tend not to last that long either ('bout 10-15 years before they need a major overhaul), so it's not worth bulking up for a boom that may never happen becuse you might never see a return on your investment.
Fertelizers, competition with food farming, loss of land due errosion, climate changes likely will make that competition harder, water distribution etc.
Fertilizers is a valid downpoint, though it depends a lot on what you're growing for fuel. You could likely minimize this by properly recycling the unused portion of the fuel crop. You can likely make up the rest using human effluent and agricultural wastes like animal dung and offal. Plenty of that to go around.
There would be little or no competition with food farming. You're probably not going to be growing edible crops! Farms are going under left and right as it is. Finding a suitable, easy to grow fuel crop (hemp? algae?) would help the farming sector quite a bit I imagine.
The land erosion issue is also something that is already addressed to various degrees in the existing farming industry. It's not unreasonable to correct this.
I'm not sure what you mean by "climate changes likely will make that competition harder"...
Perhaps the biggest problem is the water. Definately a deciding factor for this idea... although finding a crop that can grow in seawater (algae or seaweed?) would instantly eliminate it. If we can develop a super coca plant then we can develop a super algae.
In theory, any tie-in to the brake system will suffice. A simple splice into the brake light wire will tell you if the driver is hitting the brakes or not (though that's probably not a very reliable way to do it!).
The 48 volts could be because, well, the duty of the electric motor is nowhere near what it would be in a true hybrid. So a balance of cost, efficiency, safety and power was likely found at 48 volts.
For most people, if they didn't insist on driving huge SUVs, current electric technology would be more than sufficient.
There are frequent brownouts in many urban areas during the summer because people are running their air conditioners. It's less frequent where I am, but it still happens. If the existing system can't fully satisfy peak demands, then switching everyone to electric cars is only going to make the problem worse - even "off-peak" charging, since off-peak will then become peak as millions of people plug their cars in to juice up. Lots of infastructure upgrades will be required to make it work...
Economies of scale. In the 80's an ICE was only about 20% efficient. I'm sure that has increased with on-board computers and fuel injection, but since most of the inefficiencies were from heat loss, I doubt that it has increased dramatically.
It hasn't:) And while it generally pays to "build bigger" (large powerplants having much better efficiencies) and electric motors nowadays are approaching 90%+ efficiency, battery storage systems are still extremely inefficient. By the time you get from the fuel to the road I'm not sure if you're spending the energy any wiser.
* It says "thermal" efficiency, but I'll take it as overall fuel->electric efficiency ** For lead-acid batrery. Depends on battery construction, charge and condition.
Multiply that up and you get an overall fuel->road efficiency of just under 12%. Ouch... if you have any other sources of information please share.
I'm going to have to agree with others here, there is no one alternative to fossil fuels. Electric, whether with fuel cell or battery technology is one of them. Biodiesel and Ethanol is another. They address different market segments.
Yes, exactly. My feeling is, though, that trying to replace petrolium fuels as directly as possible will be more sucessful than trying to replace/augment the existing infastructure. The "system" works pretty well and if it can be used it wold be worth it. =Smdige=
one point to filter for emissions That's not necessarily a good thing. Basically you would be concentrting all of the resulting pollution in one area instead of spreading it out more or less evenly. Assuming nature cleans up the pollution at a certain rate (say, as by density of plant life and large bodies of water to absorb and recycle CO2) then you actually made the problem much worse in some areas.
no car pollution in cities Ah, well, as long as it's not in your back yard I guess it's okay then!
an easy upgrade path when you replace your coal plant with biodiesel or solar or fusion or whatever Except that the existing power distribution system is already strained and aging such that it can barely keep up with peek demands today. It would cost billions upon billions to construct new powerplants and additional infastructure to handle the additional demand of the now millions of electrical vehicles feeding off of it.
possible economies of scale See above. In general you try not to build powerplants too far from where the power is used (obvious?). And you will definately need more of them right from the start.
Now take a straight biodiesel economy model:
Virtually no infastructure costs. Everything you need to produce, transport and distribute liquid fuel is already in place.
Less pollution on the grand scale. BD burns cleaner than the oil and coal (especially coal) used in powerplants, and the resulting pollution is spread out evenly such that nature can process it more effectively. If you're worried about soot (which BD produces less of anyway) there are already very effective filtering systems for small vehicles in widespread use.
Excellent scaling economics. Unlike electricity you CAN produce/refine all of the BD in one spot for the entire country (even though you probably wouldn't want to). There is basically no restriction on the location of the refineries, and the distribution infastructure of trucks, boats and pipes is more flexible than high voltage transmission lines. The only problem is "where does te energy come from in the first place?", which the centalized electric system doesn't address either. Fusion power has to actually exist before you can even consider it, and all of the other possibilities such as oil, coal and nuclear all rely on the very same sources we're trying to get away from.
I have read articles about the possible use of algae for BD production. According to the article (which I found a version of on google) you can farm a high-oil content algae species for the purpose, which eliminates basically all of the problems of cultivating and fertilizing land for growing plants (algae doesn't need tilling...) Simply excavate a shallow lake somewhere relatively low and let gravity fill it with seawater, then start growing. If you're clever you can use a system of dykes to let the tide purge the lake for you and filter off the algae as the lake drains. Then you run it through a giant juicer and add a little methanol and lye to remove the glycerin from the product, and you got Biodiesel ready to burn in just about any existing vehicle. =Smidge=
Slashdot Mirror
Alltronics deals in surplus and salvaged components of all shapes and sizes. There was a US$15 minimum order when last I dealed with them.
I had some issues ordering stuff, though... after waiting a week and nothing arrived, I e-mailed them about it and said one of the items wasn't in stock and they were waiting for it. Would be nice if they told me that ahead of time... but other than that I have no complaints. (Got my stuff about 5 days later)
=Smidge=
The outcome of California voting has now been reduced to that of a 10 vote state.
Only if it has only 2 candidates to split the vote between. If there are 3 or more on the ballot then this is no longer true, and it actually becomes easier (though still extremely difficult) for a third party to win the overall election.
Actually, it would help regardless if there were only 2 candidates. You would effectively have 538 (I think?) electroral districts instead of 50 state districts. This allows the vote scores to more accurately reflect the "real" public vote but without creating the problems associated with doing away with the electoral college.
=Smidge=
I'm fairly sure he meant "homogenus computing environment" on a global scale, not business scale. Of course it makes sense to be homogenus within a company for exactly the reasons you presented.
But it becomes an issue when, for example, your state DMV (which processes hundreds of thousands of records holding all sorts of private and critical information) is running the same software as John Q Solitaire. There's no reason for that.
It's not security through obscurity, it's security through diversity... just like your house key won't open the neighbor's door. No single exploit should be able to expose ALL systems to risk.
=Smidge=
I believe they used a hollow, rubber toroid that was inserted into the tire before it was seated to the rim, with a small filling tube prodruding through the rim to allow it to be filled with air. This was useful because it was extremely difficult to make a tire that was both strong enough to support the vehicle and had a good enough seal on the rim to hold the air. (I think it's called an "inner tube")
I think a better example would be the "Run Flat" tire which appeared a few years ago.
=Smidge=
None of which appear if you have "strict filtering" enabled in your Google preferences. It even filters the results!
=Smidge= -- Browses unfiltered. Be not afraid!
People used to believe the reason for lunar eclipses was a dragon was swallowing the moon. They'd shoot cannons at the "dragon" to scare it off, and sure enough the moon came back into view. Guess that, in the lack of any better data or means of observation, the conclusion was rather scientific...
The same goes for the "men" living on Mars idea. You have very limited data, poor observation techniques, and a starved imagination. Result? Wild hypotheses. As data quality improves we can get a better understanding of what's going on, fantasies be damned!
=Smidge=
Who needs a vaccine? I've always heard that laughter is the best medicine...
=Smidge=
Holy cow! Imagine spammers printing adverts on the office printer! Bad enough we get junk faxes...
"Hey Richards, I was going through your latest project proposal and... what's this about penis enlargement?"
=Smidge=
This is a hospital, not a factory. Having a nurse on staff generally does not generate profit for them like having a doctor on staff does (and even then only if he's attending to somebody). Instead, making sure there are nurses available at all times to care for patients is a huge burden on hospitals.
=Smidge=
I thought that only disabled the serial number (turned it to garbage), not disabled encoding...
=Smidge=
Base64 encoding.
Early versions didn't even need to be decoded... adding a wire from a +5v source to a particular spot caused the device to deliver the barcode unencoded instead of the encoded barcode+serial!
=Smidge=
And ignorance of the law is no excuse for breaking it.
I will agree with this only if the law is actually available for you to learn about. But if something is illegal and there is NO WAY for me to know that it is, even if I consult a lawyer or talk to a police officer or get a copy of the law from town hall... then how can I be punished for it?
If "secret laws" are valid and enforcable, then they could just as easily throw you in jail for any reason they like and claim that you broke a "secret law" (Which of course they can't tell you about because it's classified.) I think that pretty clearly violates due process don't you?
=Smidge=
If it's not on the CD, how are they supposed to download it?
When I bought my computer, sans OS, it came with a "Internet" CD. On it was setup stuff for several dialup ISPs (including AOL), a copy of IE's setup and a copy of Netscape's setup.
When I got my cable modem, it also came with a CD that had both IE and Netscape install programs on it. I would imagine newer versions of these CDs would come with Moz/FF instead of, or in addition to, Netscape.
And that is how you can get away with not having a browser installed by default.
=Smidge=
You're paying for the software that uses the hardware you supposedly already have, that's why. What the software does is actually pretty minimal procesing wise.
=Smidge=
Well, how much energy is required to manufacture the incandecent bulbs? Probably only *slightly* less than the CF type.
CF bulbs last longer on average, which means you need to produce less of them. They also use less power, so that's additional savings.
Many CF types can be installed in regular screw-in bulb sockets. If you have a retrofit scenario you buy those. If you're getting a new fixture anyway then the argument is moot. In fact, getting a new fixture would be better, since that places the ballast in the fixture instead of the bulb housing, decreasing manufacturing requirements.
How much additional waste is generated? Less, if the bulbs last longer. One CF bulb versus 10 incandecents (on average).
There's also no real "retooling" costs either. The machines that make the incandecent bulbs don't last forever, and typically get replaced every 5 years or so. Instead of replacing it with another incandecent bulb machine, replace it with a CF bulb machine. Most of the cost (both $ and energy) for periodic "retooling" is already there, just spend it on something different.
It is the main short coming of "it's not so simple" short sighted luddite arguments that they often ignore the implications of conservation.
=Smidge=
They also plan to use the design as a re-entry-to-earth vehicle for astronauts.
=Smidge=
Nah, see, that would make it look like Nader tied to rig the election.
If you're going to frame somebody, might as well frame someone who deserves it. If Bush gets twice as many votes as there are people in the entire coutry in one state it would be very hard to ignore the fact that it had been tampered with.
The only hitch is the scenario iamplasma posted... which is the most likely outcome. (That, and blaming the whole thing on terrorists rather than the manufacturer of the equipment!)
=Smidge=
So what really needs to happen is someone to rig the election... what do you think would happen if Bush got 500,000,000 votes in the state of Montana? :)
=Smidge=
Air conditioning. -- Fans
Which are severely limited. Think more than human comfort... also consider that AC and refrigeration are exactly the same technology, and don't even pretend that refrigeration technology has never effected the way you live.
Polio vaccine. -- Dont have polio
Probably because they used the vaccine to all but elimintate it.
Traffic lights. -- round a bouts
Right, because nobody EVER gets into an accident on those. Also not very convienient for urban settings that have been adopted from century-old horse-cart traffic, unless you like demolishing buildings.
Frozen food. -- fresh food, canned food
Very short shelf life and limited usability, respectively. See comment on AC/refrigeration.
Television. -- radio, (internet)
Yes, all of which radically increased the speed at which information spread through society. Or would you rather write a letter to the fire station when your house is burning down? Would you go buy a newspaper every few hours to see if that hurricane is headed your way?
Large-scale farming. -- an invention? or just bigger small scale farming?
Maybe not a speccific invention, but a conglomeration of many smaller innovations that make it possible. Either way, it definately had a impact on society and has effected the way you live.
Credit cards. -- cash, eftpos
I'd like to see you carry around $50K in cash, or pay over the phone/internet with cash. And do you realize that EFT is essentially the exact same thing as a credit card? Only difference is who's account it comes out of at first... yours or your credit company's.
Flouride. -- soap?
Eeh... do you even know what flouride is used for? Have you ever brushed your teeth?
You, sir, seem amazingly shortsighted in terms of what actually has effected the way you live. For shame!
=Smidge=
A strange argument. Because your power grid is in havoc you don't see a chance for electric cars? So, you don't plan to fix your power grid? You don't plan to reduce energy consumption, which could lift some pressure from the grid?
No, the entire power distribution system does need to be upgraded and expanded. But the question is by how much?
If all-electric cars become popular in the market, electrical demand would not just increase, it would explode. Unless you've prepared for the surge in extra demand the entire system would be in serious trouble. This usually translates to skyrocketing energy prices, which hurts everyone including those with incentive to buy electric cars in the first place.
As it stands, you can reasonably estimate what kind of power demands there will be in the future and plan accordingly. It takes years to build a powerplant, so if demand increases too quickly you will not be able to keep up with it. It would be extremely difficult to estimate how the demand would increase if deomestic electric cars were introduced competatively into the market.
Powerplants tend not to last that long either ('bout 10-15 years before they need a major overhaul), so it's not worth bulking up for a boom that may never happen becuse you might never see a return on your investment.
Fertelizers, competition with food farming, loss of land due errosion, climate changes likely will make that competition harder, water distribution etc.
Fertilizers is a valid downpoint, though it depends a lot on what you're growing for fuel. You could likely minimize this by properly recycling the unused portion of the fuel crop. You can likely make up the rest using human effluent and agricultural wastes like animal dung and offal. Plenty of that to go around.
There would be little or no competition with food farming. You're probably not going to be growing edible crops! Farms are going under left and right as it is. Finding a suitable, easy to grow fuel crop (hemp? algae?) would help the farming sector quite a bit I imagine.
The land erosion issue is also something that is already addressed to various degrees in the existing farming industry. It's not unreasonable to correct this.
I'm not sure what you mean by "climate changes likely will make that competition harder"...
Perhaps the biggest problem is the water. Definately a deciding factor for this idea... although finding a crop that can grow in seawater (algae or seaweed?) would instantly eliminate it. If we can develop a super coca plant then we can develop a super algae.
=Smidge=
It's only "free and unlimited" because relatively few people do it.
If everyone hit up the restaurants for used oil, then I doubt it would remain free for long and it certaintly would not be unlimited!
=Smidge=
In theory, any tie-in to the brake system will suffice. A simple splice into the brake light wire will tell you if the driver is hitting the brakes or not (though that's probably not a very reliable way to do it!).
The 48 volts could be because, well, the duty of the electric motor is nowhere near what it would be in a true hybrid. So a balance of cost, efficiency, safety and power was likely found at 48 volts.
(Just guessing, though)
=Smidge=
No, that's a Hydrogen bomb.
=Smidge=
For most people, if they didn't insist on driving huge SUVs, current electric technology would be more than sufficient.
:) And while it generally pays to "build bigger" (large powerplants having much better efficiencies) and electric motors nowadays are approaching 90%+ efficiency, battery storage systems are still extremely inefficient. By the time you get from the fuel to the road I'm not sure if you're spending the energy any wiser.
There are frequent brownouts in many urban areas during the summer because people are running their air conditioners. It's less frequent where I am, but it still happens. If the existing system can't fully satisfy peak demands, then switching everyone to electric cars is only going to make the problem worse - even "off-peak" charging, since off-peak will then become peak as millions of people plug their cars in to juice up. Lots of infastructure upgrades will be required to make it work...
Economies of scale. In the 80's an ICE was only about 20% efficient. I'm sure that has increased with on-board computers and fuel injection, but since most of the inefficiencies were from heat loss, I doubt that it has increased dramatically.
It hasn't
Doing some googling on the subject:
Coal powerplant: 45%
Transmission lines: 92% overall
Battery Charging: 87%**
Battery Discharging: 33%**
Electric motor: 98%
* It says "thermal" efficiency, but I'll take it as overall fuel->electric efficiency
** For lead-acid batrery. Depends on battery construction, charge and condition.
Multiply that up and you get an overall fuel->road efficiency of just under 12%. Ouch... if you have any other sources of information please share.
I'm going to have to agree with others here, there is no one alternative to fossil fuels. Electric, whether with fuel cell or battery technology is one of them. Biodiesel and Ethanol is another. They address different market segments.
Yes, exactly. My feeling is, though, that trying to replace petrolium fuels as directly as possible will be more sucessful than trying to replace/augment the existing infastructure. The "system" works pretty well and if it can be used it wold be worth it.
=Smdige=
one point to filter for emissions
That's not necessarily a good thing. Basically you would be concentrting all of the resulting pollution in one area instead of spreading it out more or less evenly. Assuming nature cleans up the pollution at a certain rate (say, as by density of plant life and large bodies of water to absorb and recycle CO2) then you actually made the problem much worse in some areas.
no car pollution in cities
Ah, well, as long as it's not in your back yard I guess it's okay then!
an easy upgrade path when you replace your coal plant with biodiesel or solar or fusion or whatever
Except that the existing power distribution system is already strained and aging such that it can barely keep up with peek demands today. It would cost billions upon billions to construct new powerplants and additional infastructure to handle the additional demand of the now millions of electrical vehicles feeding off of it.
possible economies of scale
See above. In general you try not to build powerplants too far from where the power is used (obvious?). And you will definately need more of them right from the start.
Now take a straight biodiesel economy model:
Virtually no infastructure costs. Everything you need to produce, transport and distribute liquid fuel is already in place.
Less pollution on the grand scale. BD burns cleaner than the oil and coal (especially coal) used in powerplants, and the resulting pollution is spread out evenly such that nature can process it more effectively. If you're worried about soot (which BD produces less of anyway) there are already very effective filtering systems for small vehicles in widespread use.
Excellent scaling economics. Unlike electricity you CAN produce/refine all of the BD in one spot for the entire country (even though you probably wouldn't want to). There is basically no restriction on the location of the refineries, and the distribution infastructure of trucks, boats and pipes is more flexible than high voltage transmission lines.
The only problem is "where does te energy come from in the first place?", which the centalized electric system doesn't address either. Fusion power has to actually exist before you can even consider it, and all of the other possibilities such as oil, coal and nuclear all rely on the very same sources we're trying to get away from.
I have read articles about the possible use of algae for BD production. According to the article (which I found a version of on google) you can farm a high-oil content algae species for the purpose, which eliminates basically all of the problems of cultivating and fertilizing land for growing plants (algae doesn't need tilling...) Simply excavate a shallow lake somewhere relatively low and let gravity fill it with seawater, then start growing. If you're clever you can use a system of dykes to let the tide purge the lake for you and filter off the algae as the lake drains. Then you run it through a giant juicer and add a little methanol and lye to remove the glycerin from the product, and you got Biodiesel ready to burn in just about any existing vehicle.
=Smidge=