gas prices 1919-2003

[Clem Z.]

Re: gas prices 1919-2003

Last I heard the Tesla did 0-60 in about 4 seconds - I would like to know what car could truely "blow the doors off" of anything that is that fast.

Also, someone mentioned how dirty the production of electricity is - if you are ever in So. Cal you're more than welcome to come by my "dirty" house and see what no electric bill for the last five years looks like.

Nuclear is great - as soon as they figure out what to do with the waste - other than bury in the ground for some other generation to deal with.

if everyone made their own electricity that can afford to do it how expensive would electricricity be for the people who can not afford to generate their own ??? obama is going to make you share yours with your neighbor that can't afford to buy solar panels or a wind mill.

[Terry M.]

Re: gas prices 1919-2003

The answer as to what to do with nuclear waste is not a technological one -- it is a political one. No one wants the waste in their back yard, at least not some of the politicians in Nevada -- yet everyone wants to flip the switch and have lights and maybe soon electric cars.

Contrary to Jack's assertion the electrical grid is not on its last legs. It needs work, as it always will, and the coming economic slow down will not speed up the reinforcement of the grid. Other than the few government entities that operate electrical utilities, the reinforcing of the grid is simply a matter of meeting the demand and being allowed to charge enough for a reasonable rate of return to the stakeholders.

There were large urban electric truck fleets in the early decades of the last century, when batteries were far more primitive than today. These electric fleets returned to their home base every night and were recharged over night when the base load on the electrical system was low. It was a system that worked well then, and could be used again if the mind-set of the public was changed a little. The electric grid would not need much, if any expansion to accommodate much of this load. If there were a quantum leap in the use of electric cars the profits to be made from the use of the power, especially off-peak, would lead power companies to reinforce the grid as necessary. My guess is that if this ever happens the change will be gradual enough that accommodating the demand will be no issue. We have adapted to the changing load caused by computers, we could for electric cars also.

[Clem Z.]

Re: gas prices 1919-2003

The answer as to what to do with nuclear waste is not a technological one -- it is a political one. No one wants the waste in their back yard, at least not some of the politicians in Nevada -- yet everyone wants to flip the switch and have lights and maybe soon electric cars.

Contrary to Jack's assertion the electrical grid is not on its last legs. It needs work, as it always will, and the coming economic slow down will not speed up the reinforcement of the grid. Other than the few government entities that operate electrical utilities, the reinforcing of the grid is simply a matter of meeting the demand and being allowed to charge enough for a reasonable rate of return to the stakeholders.

There were large urban electric truck fleets in the early decades of the last century, when batteries were far more primitive than today. These electric fleets returned to their home base every night and were recharged over night when the base load on the electrical system was low. It was a system that worked well then, and could be used again if the mind-set of the public was changed a little. The electric grid would not need much, if any expansion to accommodate much of this load. If there were a quantum leap in the use of electric cars the profits to be made from the use of the power, especially off-peak, would lead power companies to reinforce the grid as necessary. My guess is that if this ever happens the change will be gradual enough that accommodating the demand will be no issue. We have adapted to the changing load caused by computers, we could for electric cars also.

if nuke waste is a big problem what about battery waste ??? everything has to take a s--t sometime and the enviro wienies better get used to that.

[Stewart A.]

Re: gas prices 1919-2003

Surely the boys at Tesla wouldn't have spent upwards of 50 - 100 million on something that was going to be scrapped !!!! The boys are on the right path give it time. It already out performs nearly all combustion driven vehicles. 110k I think they will sell a few of these cars.

[Rob M.]

Re: gas prices 1919-2003

We used to use windmills to pump water to a higher level in some sort of lake in the 1800's. Then this raised water can be pushed through a turbine linked to a generator to produce electricity when needed. That might the solution we are looking for...

Dutchie Rob.

[Rob M.]

Re: gas prices 1919-2003

shoot the waste to the sun (which is one big nuclear reactor itself)???

[Stewart A.]

Re: gas prices 1919-2003

Rob long time no here of you. I thought you vanished. How's the 64 going have you been working on it.

[Rob M.]

Re: gas prices 1919-2003

I've been working on the project coordination of the reconstruction of our house's base level (and extention on a couple of metres). This has consumed a lot of time forcing me in a stealth mode at this forum.

On the car restoration hobby: I'm working on restoring my '63 coupe. I've disassembled the car completely and I've got the frame and lots of brackets/parts sandblasted and primed (where needed). Also I'm soon going to start on building-up a correct engine in a L36 configuration for this car.

regards,
Rob

[James W.]

Re: gas prices 1919-2003

Just to set the record straight on nukes, the NRC has approved two "package" nukes for the State of Texas and I've heard other utilities are doing the same in other states. These differ from the bad old days when each was custom buily and no two were alike. The new plan is to use a standardized design that gets preapproved up to a low-power license, similar to what they do in Europe. The greenies are now pushing for more nukes, as it produces almost no greenhouse gases. Very ironic!

[Martin T.]

Re: gas prices 1919-2003

We used to use windmills to pump water to a higher level in some sort of lake in the 1800's. Then this raised water can be pushed through a turbine linked to a generator to produce electricity when needed. That might the solution we are looking for...

Dutchie Rob.

Probably not far off Rob. The idea of the tidal generator and wave generator are similar in theory (allowing water to move in through and then out again). There are some fairly large currents that could be taken advantage of on a limited basis. It seems the problem is anytime you mess with Mother Nature there is going to be some problem. So the answer may be to go as natural as possible.

(In response to another entry) Nuclear is going to present an ongoing problem of waste storage. We may be okay but betting the bank on some future generation being able to come up with a plan to rid itself of our hazardous waste seems irresponsible.

[Grant M.]

Re: gas prices 1919-2003

Up here the anti-nuclear power lobby has really lost some ground in the rush to lower carbon emissions. As Jack so correctly states, there really is no alternative (hydro being a limited-capacity exception) to clean electricity generation. Unfortunately, the construction times for nuke plants are quite long...

grant