Wasn't Peter poor? Let's find a rich person to rob to get this done. Electric vehicles based on hydrogen as an energy storage medium can work. So what if the grid can't support it as it is now? Once we didn't have a grid, so we'll just have to build one that can (again). What I see now is just so so many people saying "we can't", "that's impossible", and generally having only negative attitudes when it comes to actually constuctive progressive change. It's a failing in creativity the U.S. will either have to overcome or be overcome by. I'm not saying necessarily you, but so many people that are in positions to actually have an impact. I honestly do see a future with a rock solid stable grid that supplies free clean fusion generated electricity and is supplemented by hydro and solar panels in/on every home to power their electrolysis units to run their hydrogen powered cars. During the day when you're not home the solar panels fill your hydrogen storage chambers at home then release whatever is collected after that back to the grid. The last person I mentioned this to told me "solar cells aren't efficient enough to do something like that yet"... Efficient compared to what? They're infinitely more efficient compared to the electricity production of your roof's current shingles. There was a limited amount of tax credit to do such a thing in California a few years ago, and iirc every slot available was taken advantage of to have this type of system installed (the solar panels, not the H2 conversion/storage units, although they do exist).
Yes, the upfront costs of "my world" are steep ($10k-$20k per household, plus the price of the electric cars needed), but they would meet all of your requirements to replace fossil fuels. And the continued costs are maintanence and water. The government just needs to get off its ass like FDR did 70 years ago to kickstart an energy/mindset revolution. The sooner we get started with it, the better off we are. And each successive step will become easier than the last. As soon as enough people start buying the products on a large enough scale the prices drop significantly.
The technology is only expensive cause it isn't being mass produced yet, like everything else before it. As soon as it's adopted, the construction prices of them will drop considerably. As for efficiency of them, I'd have to do some searching locally for links to articles I've read previously, but this might interest you for now, http://www.llnl.gov/str/Post.html . One article I've read showed only a minimal (less than 1% iirc) increase in overall drag when the vehicle's weight was doubled. They're also mentioned on the wikipedia maglev page as well. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_levitation_t rain
I highly doubt the energy required for these systems would be anywhere near the same for a jet, but then again the speeds would likely be only about 1/3 to 1/2 for the next few decades.
Damn straight. But people get careless and/or lazy... or even just rushed when it's not routine maintanence. And every time that "once in a million" chance event happens, it's really unfortunate.
Thanks, those are awesome. I've only seen videos of switching once or twice before, but as part of safety videos and not on that scale. My dad would probably find them boring. He retired in Jan '06 after 34 years of it. He spent the last 16 years of that as a foreman in a 500kV "yard"/substation and has probably seen and heard the effects of an air break switching close to a hundred times.
And learning is fun! Er, something like that. Very rarely the electricians working on lines worry about arcing. Their biggest fear/concern comes from induced voltage/current working around high power lines. That's when you remove a line from service by removing power from it to service the physical lines themselves, but a line running parallel to it still in operation generates a strong enough electromagnetic field to move enough electrons in the disconnected line and creates a current high enough to kill a person. Preventing arcing is typically as simple as one of them telling another "Don't touch that, it's hot." where the induced current isn't so easy to control "We gotta touch that, but be careful. It's out of service, but we don't know what's running beside it 10 miles away." It's the most common true electrocution death in the industry in the past 20 years or more. The largest cause of accidents and deaths in it and most other professions is still falls by far (a good portion of those falls happened due to electrical shock as a cause for electricians). You seemed to enjoy knowing more, so there's something WikiPedia didn't touch on.:)
Maybe we'd have several working ITER like plants if my gov't (the US, I'd say "our" but I'm not certain where you are) would spend more than a minuscule amount on it. $50M on ITER, "Fossil Energy Research's department budget of $491.5M", and another $200M efforts to clean up the pollution after burning coal. It's a joke. The DOEn doesn't get near enough money, and that they do get isn't well spent. There's also about $200M in "renewable energy in the form of bioenergy and bioproducts". I think these are 2005 Budget numbers I pulled out of a blog I wrote last October.
"charged at night, as well, when a much lower percentage of that power is comming from coal, and more is comming from hydro, wind, etc."
You've got that backwards. Steam plants (coal, gas, oil... burning anything) run 24/7 whereas hydro only works when it can (when the river height differences are great enough to make it more efficient) and when it's needed during peak hours. Dams don't run 24/7. Wind only works when there's wind obviously. And Nuclear units run 24/7 as well. The biggest benefit to recharging your car at night is that it's off-peak energy usage hours. Basically the energy would just be lost back to ground if it can't be sold to use. Nuke and coal plants run 24/7 cause it takes a significant amount of energy to get their reactions started and working.
Recharging cars/devices at night would be a big deal. The only place I know of that "charges" at night from excess electrical power is Raccoon Mountain in Chattanooga, TN. You might find it interesting. A million gallon manmade water reservoir built into the side of a mountain that's filled when energy is cheapest. They pump water up about a mile into the reservoir. The whole process is about 70% efficient (28 hours to fill and 22 hours to drain, providing 1.7GWatts during the draining). It's a nice sight to see if you're ever near there. I don't know what they will or won't let you tour anymore, but I got to see pretty much everything in the place when I was working for TVA and was there in Jan. '01.
http://www.tva.gov/sites/raccoonmt.htm
The capacitor bank or seperate batteries might work, but fuel cells don't work that way. Think of them as a one way street with a really low speed limit. Most fuel cell vehicles of any kind require a seperate battery bank that gets recharged by the fuel cells.
500kV is a typical transmission voltage on the US grid. I don't know what other countries use, but most towns/cities here get supplied 500/161kV, that gets stepped down in the local substation to 13kV to your neighborhood where it finally gets stepped down to 240ish volts. 500kV may sound like insanely high voltage, but it's more common than you may think. Gotta remember, it's not a tesla coil, it's fairly straight wires held about 6ft apart in parallel and supported by fiberglass insulators. The wires themselves aren't insulated and they don't arc. It's a weird/unique feeling standing under a 500kV line about 40-50ft above you. If you've got any questions about this, I'll forward them on to my dad, a recently retired electrician... That's why I get to know this useless trivia:).
Don't forget the most important factor ever "People fear change." You can tell the average person it's "proven technology", but they've heard that so much so often that they'd still ask "But what if it doesn't work?"
"it still takes a lot of power to move 3,000 pounds at 65+ mph 60+ miles a day just to get one person to and from"
And your "amount of work done" according to basic physics properties is 0 since you ended up in the same place you started.:) No, I actually do have a point to make. If the bearings were perfect we'd burn a lot less fuel. Same with driving only 55mph instead of 65mph. The forces opposing the movement of a vehicle are at the wheel bearings and aerodynamic drag. I wish we had a massive high speed maglev train system here in the US and would stop using planes completely. It's amazing how efficient those systems have gotten in the past 20 years and the US simply won't adopt them. My point is, we're not even being efficient where we could be more, so rural America doesn't stand a chance yet.
I never assumed games were for children. I assumed they're not a necessity for life. My reply was to your point #5. "People still can't live without a windows machine - because there's games ONLY on windows machines." And I still think my assumption/question is valid since people can and do live even without computers much less computer games.
Sure you can tell someone that drinks every other day that large consumption of alcohol poses health risks. They just don't listen. The same goes for video games.
As for "looking at cars", you mentioned viewing my blog briefly. That isn't a hobby. I'm actually shopping for one. I'm just really picky and quite annoyed how little you get for your money these days. If you'd read older postings you'd have learned I'm currently without a decent/reliable vehicle since totalling my car in November. I'd had that car since summer '99 when I moved off to college and we got almost nothing for it from the insurance company (the wreck was found not my fault). I completely agree with you that taking care of a car is a hassle, that's why I've been so picky. And American made cars are garbage.
If you're just wanting a more simple interface, you should try "Hammer and Chisel". It may not be as fast as SolidWorks, but you should get the hang of it after about 30 years practice with it.
s/technology/revenue streams
I still don't understand why these companies fight so hard against things that would actually bring them more money and happier customers by simply adapting.
Companies in a true free market environment have a great deal of concern on "what the customer wants". The problem is that the communication industry in the US is far from actual free market. When customers have choice they buy what they want. And companies better care about that, or prepare to file bankruptcy paperwork.
They still make a valid point. Hector will be only slightly faster than ASC Purple which was built (granted on a military marked budget) just last year for a cost of $290M.
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Wasn't Peter poor? Let's find a rich person to rob to get this done. Electric vehicles based on hydrogen as an energy storage medium can work. So what if the grid can't support it as it is now? Once we didn't have a grid, so we'll just have to build one that can (again). What I see now is just so so many people saying "we can't", "that's impossible", and generally having only negative attitudes when it comes to actually constuctive progressive change. It's a failing in creativity the U.S. will either have to overcome or be overcome by. I'm not saying necessarily you, but so many people that are in positions to actually have an impact. I honestly do see a future with a rock solid stable grid that supplies free clean fusion generated electricity and is supplemented by hydro and solar panels in/on every home to power their electrolysis units to run their hydrogen powered cars. During the day when you're not home the solar panels fill your hydrogen storage chambers at home then release whatever is collected after that back to the grid. The last person I mentioned this to told me "solar cells aren't efficient enough to do something like that yet"... Efficient compared to what? They're infinitely more efficient compared to the electricity production of your roof's current shingles. There was a limited amount of tax credit to do such a thing in California a few years ago, and iirc every slot available was taken advantage of to have this type of system installed (the solar panels, not the H2 conversion/storage units, although they do exist).
Yes, the upfront costs of "my world" are steep ($10k-$20k per household, plus the price of the electric cars needed), but they would meet all of your requirements to replace fossil fuels. And the continued costs are maintanence and water. The government just needs to get off its ass like FDR did 70 years ago to kickstart an energy/mindset revolution. The sooner we get started with it, the better off we are. And each successive step will become easier than the last. As soon as enough people start buying the products on a large enough scale the prices drop significantly.
A few operational systems listed here: http://faculty.washington.edu/~jbs/itrans/maglevq. htm The first one ever to go into service was apparently on 1 January 2003 in Shanghai, China. For $6.25 you get to go 30km @ 400km/h. http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn3153
t rain
The technology is only expensive cause it isn't being mass produced yet, like everything else before it. As soon as it's adopted, the construction prices of them will drop considerably. As for efficiency of them, I'd have to do some searching locally for links to articles I've read previously, but this might interest you for now, http://www.llnl.gov/str/Post.html . One article I've read showed only a minimal (less than 1% iirc) increase in overall drag when the vehicle's weight was doubled. They're also mentioned on the wikipedia maglev page as well. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_levitation_
I highly doubt the energy required for these systems would be anywhere near the same for a jet, but then again the speeds would likely be only about 1/3 to 1/2 for the next few decades.
Damn straight. But people get careless and/or lazy ... or even just rushed when it's not routine maintanence. And every time that "once in a million" chance event happens, it's really unfortunate.
Thanks, those are awesome. I've only seen videos of switching once or twice before, but as part of safety videos and not on that scale. My dad would probably find them boring. He retired in Jan '06 after 34 years of it. He spent the last 16 years of that as a foreman in a 500kV "yard"/substation and has probably seen and heard the effects of an air break switching close to a hundred times.
And learning is fun! Er, something like that. Very rarely the electricians working on lines worry about arcing. Their biggest fear/concern comes from induced voltage/current working around high power lines. That's when you remove a line from service by removing power from it to service the physical lines themselves, but a line running parallel to it still in operation generates a strong enough electromagnetic field to move enough electrons in the disconnected line and creates a current high enough to kill a person. Preventing arcing is typically as simple as one of them telling another "Don't touch that, it's hot." where the induced current isn't so easy to control "We gotta touch that, but be careful. It's out of service, but we don't know what's running beside it 10 miles away." It's the most common true electrocution death in the industry in the past 20 years or more. The largest cause of accidents and deaths in it and most other professions is still falls by far (a good portion of those falls happened due to electrical shock as a cause for electricians). You seemed to enjoy knowing more, so there's something WikiPedia didn't touch on. :)
Maybe we'd have several working ITER like plants if my gov't (the US, I'd say "our" but I'm not certain where you are) would spend more than a minuscule amount on it. $50M on ITER, "Fossil Energy Research's department budget of $491.5M", and another $200M efforts to clean up the pollution after burning coal. It's a joke. The DOEn doesn't get near enough money, and that they do get isn't well spent. There's also about $200M in "renewable energy in the form of bioenergy and bioproducts". I think these are 2005 Budget numbers I pulled out of a blog I wrote last October.
But at least those silly Canadiaians make US laugh.
Electricity - consumption: 3.656 trillion kWh (2003)
/ us.html
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos
My vote is for fusion too.
"charged at night, as well, when a much lower percentage of that power is comming from coal, and more is comming from hydro, wind, etc."
You've got that backwards. Steam plants (coal, gas, oil... burning anything) run 24/7 whereas hydro only works when it can (when the river height differences are great enough to make it more efficient) and when it's needed during peak hours. Dams don't run 24/7. Wind only works when there's wind obviously. And Nuclear units run 24/7 as well. The biggest benefit to recharging your car at night is that it's off-peak energy usage hours. Basically the energy would just be lost back to ground if it can't be sold to use. Nuke and coal plants run 24/7 cause it takes a significant amount of energy to get their reactions started and working.
Recharging cars/devices at night would be a big deal. The only place I know of that "charges" at night from excess electrical power is Raccoon Mountain in Chattanooga, TN. You might find it interesting. A million gallon manmade water reservoir built into the side of a mountain that's filled when energy is cheapest. They pump water up about a mile into the reservoir. The whole process is about 70% efficient (28 hours to fill and 22 hours to drain, providing 1.7GWatts during the draining). It's a nice sight to see if you're ever near there. I don't know what they will or won't let you tour anymore, but I got to see pretty much everything in the place when I was working for TVA and was there in Jan. '01. http://www.tva.gov/sites/raccoonmt.htm
The capacitor bank or seperate batteries might work, but fuel cells don't work that way. Think of them as a one way street with a really low speed limit. Most fuel cell vehicles of any kind require a seperate battery bank that gets recharged by the fuel cells.
500kV is a typical transmission voltage on the US grid. I don't know what other countries use, but most towns/cities here get supplied 500/161kV, that gets stepped down in the local substation to 13kV to your neighborhood where it finally gets stepped down to 240ish volts. 500kV may sound like insanely high voltage, but it's more common than you may think. Gotta remember, it's not a tesla coil, it's fairly straight wires held about 6ft apart in parallel and supported by fiberglass insulators. The wires themselves aren't insulated and they don't arc. It's a weird/unique feeling standing under a 500kV line about 40-50ft above you. If you've got any questions about this, I'll forward them on to my dad, a recently retired electrician... That's why I get to know this useless trivia :).
Don't forget the most important factor ever "People fear change." You can tell the average person it's "proven technology", but they've heard that so much so often that they'd still ask "But what if it doesn't work?"
"it still takes a lot of power to move 3,000 pounds at 65+ mph 60+ miles a day just to get one person to and from"
:) No, I actually do have a point to make. If the bearings were perfect we'd burn a lot less fuel. Same with driving only 55mph instead of 65mph. The forces opposing the movement of a vehicle are at the wheel bearings and aerodynamic drag. I wish we had a massive high speed maglev train system here in the US and would stop using planes completely. It's amazing how efficient those systems have gotten in the past 20 years and the US simply won't adopt them. My point is, we're not even being efficient where we could be more, so rural America doesn't stand a chance yet.
And your "amount of work done" according to basic physics properties is 0 since you ended up in the same place you started.
There's better ways to store hydrogen than compressing it like you would propane or CO2.
1 2070501.asp
http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/News/2005/July/
I think you'd like that short article. And maybe an article saying "screw using fossil fuels for everyfreakingthing"... at least that's my motto.
http://www.zetatalk.com/energy/tengy14r.htm
I never assumed games were for children. I assumed they're not a necessity for life. My reply was to your point #5. "People still can't live without a windows machine - because there's games ONLY on windows machines." And I still think my assumption/question is valid since people can and do live even without computers much less computer games.
Sure you can tell someone that drinks every other day that large consumption of alcohol poses health risks. They just don't listen. The same goes for video games.
As for "looking at cars", you mentioned viewing my blog briefly. That isn't a hobby. I'm actually shopping for one. I'm just really picky and quite annoyed how little you get for your money these days. If you'd read older postings you'd have learned I'm currently without a decent/reliable vehicle since totalling my car in November. I'd had that car since summer '99 when I moved off to college and we got almost nothing for it from the insurance company (the wreck was found not my fault). I completely agree with you that taking care of a car is a hassle, that's why I've been so picky. And American made cars are garbage.
or Java!
You honestly can't see yourself living without video games?
If you're just wanting a more simple interface, you should try "Hammer and Chisel". It may not be as fast as SolidWorks, but you should get the hang of it after about 30 years practice with it.
Maybe cause they're puppets of Microsoft... oh wait, no, that can't be it... their CTO just said they weren't... and loudly at that.
s/technology/revenue streams
I still don't understand why these companies fight so hard against things that would actually bring them more money and happier customers by simply adapting.
Companies in a true free market environment have a great deal of concern on "what the customer wants". The problem is that the communication industry in the US is far from actual free market. When customers have choice they buy what they want. And companies better care about that, or prepare to file bankruptcy paperwork.
Well, that is how Moore's Law and military spending work.
They still make a valid point. Hector will be only slightly faster than ASC Purple which was built (granted on a military marked budget) just last year for a cost of $290M.
54th post! I win!
Come out of the closet... We have ponies! Like, OMG!