Don't forget, unlike an ICMB, it can loiter and get realtime surveillance before it strikes the target, unlike an ICBM where you may be relying on satellite data that's already X minutes/hours old.
I'd actually be interested in testing laser transmission of power to remote spacecraft. Need to test it anyway for powering motors on a space elevator, no? Might as well start on the harder part first (huge distances, targeting, etc).
I agree with your thoughts on rebuilding infrastructure, but I want a true infrastructure program, where things are built to last 100+ years, not a jobs program where roads are resurfaced every 5 years, etc.
If a) creating it was practical, b) storing it was practical (instead of vessels that need to hold it at tens of thousands of PSI) and c) it was cheaper than electric vehicles, it would be possible. I don't see those things happening though.
Electric vehicles will become widely available starting in 2011. The current Administration supports a goal of one million electric vehicles on the road by 2015. A previous PNNL study showed that America’s existing power grid could meet the needs of about 70 percent of all U.S. light-duty vehicles if battery charging was managed to avoid new peaks in electricity demand.
It will probably rely on some sort of capacitor-based local storage, so it'll always be drawing power from the grid, but at a steady pace awaiting the next charge.
Hydrogen will always lose out, because it's simply an energy store and not an energy source. Anyplace we can get hydrogen from? No. We have to convert natural gas to hydrogen (might as well run vehicles on natural gas) or crack H20 into hydrogen with electricity (which is horribly inefficient). Electricity is the end game.
And depending on where you live, that nighttime power would be dirt cheap. I pay $0.01/KwH between midnight and 5am in the Chicago suburbs for power from ComEd (time of day metering; power is nuclear from Byron generating facility).
Electric vehicles are always more efficient well to wheel than internal combustion engines. Always.
So you can go over 900 miles with your car. So? How often do people do 900 mile commutes in a day? Rarely. Electric cars aren't just ready for prime time. They're ready for the end of cheap, easy oil (whose time has come, if you didn't notice how we now have to go 1+ miles under the surface of the ocean to get it).
From the Chevy Volt wiki page:
With fully charged batteries, enough electrical energy will be stored to power the Volt up to 40 miles (64 km). This distance is capable of satisfying the daily commute for 75% of Americans, whose commute is on average 33 miles (53 km).
Your 900 mile one-way range? Useless. An electric vehicle's ability to use any power source that can be turned into electricity (be it wind, nuclear, solar, coal, etc)? Priceless.
My Tesla Roadster launches off the line faster than any other exotic vehicle I've driven (including a Lamborghini Murcielago and the Ariel Atom). What does that? Torque, and lots of it. Electric motors have full torque from 0 rpms, unlike internal combustion engines that have a limited torque band (and hence, the need for inefficient transmissions).
Windows Media Server needs an Amazon S3 plugin to sync your music (video is probably a bit too expensive to sync, but a 100GB music collection wouldn't be too expensive).
*navigates to Gmail* -> *clicks All Mail* -> *clicks Oldest link*.
2005 is my earliest Gmail message. True, I was 22 and "grown up" by that point. My point was that if someone uses a technology and integrates it into their life between 20-30, it's easier to adapt than between 30-40 or 40-50.
I get unlimited online time, at home, at work, and via my Android phone. That may be part of it. Also, very little of my email, photos, music, etc. would be what I consider "sensitive" data. Availability > Safety + Security when the data has very little value.
I'm still very leery of The Cloud though, I much prefer to have local apps, data, and backups.
Age perhaps? I'm 27, and grew up on Gmail, Google Calendar, etc. All my music and data is stored in S3. Backups are still a must, but having all your data available anywhere there is a reliable internet connection is a powerful thing. I've used Gmail via an Inmarsat satellite in the middle of the Atlantic. Trying doing that with Thunderbird and a local mail file (yes, yes, I know about IMAP).
How about Apple look at your account, notice you live in Bumfark, IA, and not allow logins from IPs outside of the US unless you provide additional authentication or they send an SMS to your phone and you have to provide the code?
Slashdot Mirror
Don't forget, unlike an ICMB, it can loiter and get realtime surveillance before it strikes the target, unlike an ICBM where you may be relying on satellite data that's already X minutes/hours old.
Also, at the time they were producing Plutonium, it was taking almost 10% of the power the country was generating at the time.
I'd actually be interested in testing laser transmission of power to remote spacecraft. Need to test it anyway for powering motors on a space elevator, no? Might as well start on the harder part first (huge distances, targeting, etc).
I agree with your thoughts on rebuilding infrastructure, but I want a true infrastructure program, where things are built to last 100+ years, not a jobs program where roads are resurfaced every 5 years, etc.
Director of IT looks way better on the resume and commands a much higher salary when you're job searching than "code monkey".
I take into account the six-speed transmission in the Atom. There is no time wasted shifting in the Roadster.
Heating and AC work just as well as that in my wife's Camry and my Tundra pickup. Even in scorching days, the interior is kept cool.
I agree completely. As with most issues, it's a matter of separating the emotional part from the practical part.
If a) creating it was practical, b) storing it was practical (instead of vessels that need to hold it at tens of thousands of PSI) and c) it was cheaper than electric vehicles, it would be possible. I don't see those things happening though.
Electric vehicles will become widely available starting in 2011. The current Administration supports a goal of one million electric vehicles on the road by 2015. A previous PNNL study showed that America’s existing power grid could meet the needs of about 70 percent of all U.S. light-duty vehicles if battery charging was managed to avoid new peaks in electricity demand.
http://www.pnl.gov/news/release.aspx?id=365
I'm not that worried. There is plenty of nighttime generating capacity.
Let me pick some choice headlines:
IMF Survey: Biofuel Demand Pushes Up Food Prices
World Bank Chief: Biofuels Boosting Food Prices : NPR
The biofuel factor in rising food prices | Green Tech - CNET News
The Tortilla Effect: Biofuel and food prices
Just because you don't see the price at Walmart going up significantly, doesn't mean elsewhere the price for food isn't going up.
But how many miles to the hoghead does he get?
It will probably rely on some sort of capacitor-based local storage, so it'll always be drawing power from the grid, but at a steady pace awaiting the next charge.
Hydrogen will always lose out, because it's simply an energy store and not an energy source. Anyplace we can get hydrogen from? No. We have to convert natural gas to hydrogen (might as well run vehicles on natural gas) or crack H20 into hydrogen with electricity (which is horribly inefficient). Electricity is the end game.
And depending on where you live, that nighttime power would be dirt cheap. I pay $0.01/KwH between midnight and 5am in the Chicago suburbs for power from ComEd (time of day metering; power is nuclear from Byron generating facility).
So you can go over 900 miles with your car. So? How often do people do 900 mile commutes in a day? Rarely. Electric cars aren't just ready for prime time. They're ready for the end of cheap, easy oil (whose time has come, if you didn't notice how we now have to go 1+ miles under the surface of the ocean to get it).
From the Chevy Volt wiki page:
With fully charged batteries, enough electrical energy will be stored to power the Volt up to 40 miles (64 km). This distance is capable of satisfying the daily commute for 75% of Americans, whose commute is on average 33 miles (53 km).
Your 900 mile one-way range? Useless. An electric vehicle's ability to use any power source that can be turned into electricity (be it wind, nuclear, solar, coal, etc)? Priceless.
And regarding the snow? Yea, electric cars do just fine there:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tH_mSJC21f8
Your Slashdot username is simply coincidence with your post, eh? =)
Windows Media Server needs an Amazon S3 plugin to sync your music (video is probably a bit too expensive to sync, but a 100GB music collection wouldn't be too expensive).
I look forward to the Youtube video skit you describe, with the character giving the orders played by the smoking man from "X-files".
2005 is my earliest Gmail message. True, I was 22 and "grown up" by that point. My point was that if someone uses a technology and integrates it into their life between 20-30, it's easier to adapt than between 30-40 or 40-50.
Damn, I'm old.
I get unlimited online time, at home, at work, and via my Android phone. That may be part of it. Also, very little of my email, photos, music, etc. would be what I consider "sensitive" data. Availability > Safety + Security when the data has very little value.
I'm still very leery of The Cloud though, I much prefer to have local apps, data, and backups.
Age perhaps? I'm 27, and grew up on Gmail, Google Calendar, etc. All my music and data is stored in S3. Backups are still a must, but having all your data available anywhere there is a reliable internet connection is a powerful thing. I've used Gmail via an Inmarsat satellite in the middle of the Atlantic. Trying doing that with Thunderbird and a local mail file (yes, yes, I know about IMAP).
How about Apple look at your account, notice you live in Bumfark, IA, and not allow logins from IPs outside of the US unless you provide additional authentication or they send an SMS to your phone and you have to provide the code?