Re: Usenet


"Betov" <betov@xxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:XnF996A80FC2C582betovfreefr@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
The only reason why we all do not yet
move in electric cars is that the oil mafia does not want to let

Storage batteries are (currently) too costly and major pollutants (lead,
acid).

It appears that the use of corn, instead of cane - like Brazil, to produce
ethanol is going to cost Americans very heavily. Corn is used in many food
products - breakfast cereal, bread, taco's, etc. and animal feed - milk,
cheese, meat.

Shorter term, diesel or diesel-electric or diesel-gas hybrids would be a
benefit. Unfortunately, Americans haven't embraced diesel like Europe. The
ancient problems with foul odor haven't been forgotten.

Long term, I like electric or steam. Electric has much potential if battery
technology, capacitor technology, or "room temperature" semi-conductor
technology has a major breakthrough. Steam, while forgotten, has many
advantages over internal combustion engines such as fewer pistons, and lower
heat and friction losses from lower speeds and less inertia. Steam had one
serious flaw: transfer of energy to water to produce the steam. It could
also be viable with some newer technology.

Hydrogen has problems too. It doesn't occur naturally, meaning that some
other energy source: coal, natural gas, nuclear, must be used to produce it.
Also, you'd need much larger gas tanks. Gasoline (and diesel) is flammable
at low pressures but is almost an explosive at high pressures, i.e.,
hydrogen has a lower energy density requiring more storage space. And,
worst yet, no one knows what will happen when the atmosphere becomes
saturated with hydrogen due to billions of small fueling leaks over ten,
twenty, thirty years... Hydrogen
is a very rare component of the atmosphere currently. Think about it: an
abundance of hydrogen, volatile ozone, volatile oxygen, energetic UV
radiation, and a catalyst and the Earth could be bathed in superheated steam
(and rain) instead of being covered by an atmosphere.

What's interesting is that Tata licensed the MDI Air Car. It's very
inefficient to produce compressed air, but the engine design is quite novel.
It's possible another gas - perhaps steam or compressed CO2 - could really
give that design an advantage.


Rod Pemberton

.

Relevant Pages

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  • Re: MIT study touts geothermal energy
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  • Re: Good point.........
    ... Steam might have had more absolute HP but they rarely had the ... produces at it's median driver rpm. ... A diesel doesn't need to match a steamer locomotive's maximum output. ... power you had to start and stop subsequent engine/generators. ...
    (rec.models.railroad)
  • Re: Good point.........
    ... Steam might have had more absolute HP but they rarely had the ... produces at it's median driver rpm. ... A diesel doesn't need to match a steamer locomotive's maximum output. ... power you had to start and stop subsequent engine/generators. ...
    (rec.models.railroad)