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Politics : Politics of Energy -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Thomas A Watson who wrote (70363)	6/2/2016 7:03:05 PM
From: Maurice Winn	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 86355

The big issue is line losses and the cost of providing a grid. Little engines with liquid fuels can't be as efficient as large power stations which enjoy thermodynamic advantage, partly thanks to huge cooling options in giant fixed installations which don't have to be carted around and maintained as in cars. Cheap fuel can be used in power stations too. Also, if required, CO2 can more easily be sequestered from large power stations and the waste heat used. CO2 can be liquefied and piped 400 metres under the ocean where it will remain as a liquid while it's absorbed in the phenomenally vast ocean capacity to hold CO2. The problem in cars is the battery which has to be heavy, large, expensive and while Eric says they are getting better, the reality is that battery technology is 100 years old and the good old lead acid battery is hard to improve on for storage. But it has problems so lithium ion and other ideas are tried. Capacitors might turn out to be a good storage system but that's still a long way from practicable for cars. Meanwhile, hordes of people are trying everything to get a winning position in cars. Tesla has made a good start for electric cars but they are still in the wishful thinking category with a tiny proportion of people thinking they are the right way to go. For billions of people, the huge price is too much. In China, lead acid batteries for Tiny Town Tootlers are doing okay. They need to save every dollar so lead-acid beats fancy Tesla expense. Eric sees it as a religious battle with CO2 the big issue. I see CO2 as a good thing, not a bad thing, at 400 ppm or 500 ppm. It will be half a century before people have to consider that maybe CO2 is getting to be too high. Heating of Earth is not an issue as demonstrated by nature which refuses to comply with the Global Alarmist computer models which bear little relationship to reality. Meanwhile, plants are loving having CO2 levels at which they can breathe easier. At 280 ppm, the atmosphere had been so denuded of CO2 that life was a struggle for plants which battled each other in the world's biggest tragedy of the commons as carbon was processed from air and buried for eons in limestone, dolomites, oceanic sediment, coal, tars, oil and gas, leaving homeopathic amounts of CO2 to be fought for in the chlorophyl biosphere. 30 years ago, I thought that petrol and diesel engines were industrial revolution anachronisms but the engineers have continued to automate production, metallurgy, electronics, sensors and the whole Gordian Knot of whirling machinery to hold their own against electric vehicles which look so simple and efficient. Getting oil from Saudi Arabia and other areas remains still a great way to get energy almost ready to use. Biofuels remain expensive by comparison, though sugar has been a staple in Brazil for decades and other attempts are made to enjoy plant-based fuels. I remain an electric car fan club member, though not paid up. If the batteries can be shrunk, such as by providing very easy and cheap swaps, then maybe electric cars will finally get the advantage en masse. For around town anyway. Meanwhile, my good old Camry keeps on keeping on, nearly 20 years old. Mqurice