Quote:
Originally Posted by Dragoneye
oh, I wish this administration would get aout of office already. Then SOMEBODY, I don't care who, can push for alternative fuel sources.
GM alone with the Volt and E85 isn't gonna be enough. it's a great start, but they need money, and funds, and government sponsorship/marketing, so the public can realize this is the real deal.
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Problem is, the bulk of the energy for the united states is in fossil fuels. Ethanol currently takes more energy to make than it gives. Same with hydrogen. So you need to find sources of energy because the current fuels are little more than the chemical equivelent of batteries.
Half of your electicity comes from coal. And while electic seems better when looking purely at emissions, over 20% electicity generated is wasted in transmission from the plant to the city. Electic cars powered by coal power plants will reduce dependance on foriegn oil, but it won't do much to reduce total emissions.
so for actual energy sources that can create electricity then be converted to other forms lets see:
solar energy just isn't efficient enough. Wind has some promise but massive wind farms are noisy, ugly, and unreliable. Hydro-electric has been nearly tapped out in the developed world. However there is development being done by placing turbines in rivers, like a cross between wind and hydro-electric damms. Coal, fuel oil, and natural gas all pollute. It should be noted that these sources can be used directly or be coverted to burn in an internal combustion engine. People fear nuclear fission. Nuclear fusion has tremendous potential but is 20 years away, and it has been that way for the last 30 years.
This isn't a question about getting someone who will put forth the effort to make a new technology availible. Its about people making a choice, what is the lesser of all the evils? Buying expensive oil? Using coal? Building dozens or hundreds of nuclear power plants? covering the lanscape with wind mills? Of course the answer is to use a mix of all the above to minimize all the negative effects. But it won't solve the problems, just cause new ones to be solved later.
Wow. I guess I kinda kept on going there . . . I do that when I get technical. I had one half as long but it was political, I avoid politics on this forum. I have another one that I go to for that stuff