OT - Oil, renewable/recoverable energy strategies
Jacob, you have several good points. One of them that I think we've lagged on is making our energy *usage* more efficient. If Bob's folks can design an SUV-class vehicle powered by a hybrid engine (similar to Honda's Insight, or the Diesel-electric locomotives we've had for half a century), we can cut down fuel consumption. Regenerative braking is an additional benefit (easily designed in) to an electric-drive vehicle.
The first company to that market wins. Big. Unfortunately, no US companies seem interested. '70's crisis rerun. I'll replace my 1/2-ton pickup (which I love) in an instant when a comparable hybrid drivetrain comes available at a comparable lifecycle cost.
Design the things to use ethanol, H2 fuel cells, or LNG, and we cut out a bunch of mideast oil dependence. (I can buy an H2 fuel cell for my *CELL PHONE* now, dammit! It ain't hard to scale up!) Unfortunately, the fuel production and distribution infrastructure would have to retool, and that's no overnight job. Furthermore, doing so has a built-in resistance to adoption from the current oil industry. Giants today; dinosaurs tomorrow.
The basic (vehicular) limitation on hybrids right now is the mass and/or size of batteries. Improved energy storage technology (mechanical, chemical, electrical) that can safely hold more energy per unit mass is essential.
(Blue-sky AMAT-related thought - we've spent a lot of effort miniaturizing circuits on IC chips. How 'bout banks of parallel capacitors on a chip wafer? Can that improve the storage ratio? It's gotta be more efficient/responsive than chemical batteries ...)
Storage and conversion efficiency is also the key to other "renewable" forms of energy - wind, tides, vegetable, solar, whatever. They all start with sunlight hitting something on the Earth. However, sunlight (and its dependent forms) are irregular, and demand is irregular in a different pattern. So, you need something to store/buffer/smooth the spikes in supply and demand.
However, consider that as we become more efficient at capturing sun/cyclical energy, global warming continues. Instead of the Earth throwing off "wasted" energy (infrared, UV, etc), we will be capturing it and using it within the atmosphere. I'm personally *extremely* skeptical that such warming is either of the magnitude claimed or something other than a natural (non-human) cycle, but over a sufficient timescale, it could become a problem. (Tidal friction will eventually deorbit the Moon - but "eventually" is a VERY long time.)
Enough rambling - that's my two pennies, FWIW.
- Mitch |
