Slashdot Mirror


User: lemayer

lemayer's activity in the archive.

Stories
0
Comments
1
First seen
Last seen
Profile
(view on slashdot.org)

Comments · 1

  1. Re:No pollution and no pertol on Vehicles of Tomorrow? · · Score: 2, Insightful
    There is no such thing as zero pollution--You think electric cars or fuel cells create no pollution? Think again.

    The power to split hydrogen from water or charge batteries has to come from somewhere. Producing hydrogen from natural gas creates by-products. Generating electric power from nuclear reactions produces radioactive waste. Electric plug-in cars get their power from the grid, which in some states is the same as using a coal-powered car, in terms of pollution

    You have to weigh the bad against the good. Hybrid engines are the best bet with current technology. They can run fuel-powered engines in their cleanest mode. Combustion researchers say there is still room to improve in the area of reduced emissions, now that hybrid engines don't rev the combustion engine to accelerate (it's drawn from the battery). Nuclear power creates no atmospheric pollustion whatsoever, but what to do with the waste? (Lots of room for improvement there, as well) How about putting energy production into space? The biggest nuclear reactor of all is out there, producing all kinds of radiation (the big yellow thing in the sky). Too bad solar energy requires so much surface area.

    So just saying "I don't want a car that makes pollution" is a more complicated question than it may seem.