[GRLUG] OFF TOPIC Electric Car

[Ben DeMott]

What no-one tells you about renewable energy is that soon the golden days
will be over...
All energy ultimately comes from the SUN, we had a built up capacity of
energy from however long oil was forming in the earth before we started
pumping it out.
Same thing with Coal.
Once all of the expendable resources are used up, we will never reach a
level of efficiency that we had before.
We will HAVE to put in more work to get less nomatter what... unless we
somehow blanket the earth in solar cells, and sterling engines, or drill a
giant hole deep into the earth (another unlimited resource)

The problem with all alternative energies are a couple things ...
1.) Gasoline is the most dense form of energy available pretty much ...
2.) Most energy carriers are less efficient than gasoline (gasoline as been
forming in the bowls of the earth for ... well awhile)
3.) Of the other forms of energy carriers, transfer is less efficient than
gasoline - you have to use a High-Energy to yield another High-Energy (coal,
to chemical electrical) and the efficiency loss is *pretty* high.
4.) What is the actual source of the energy ?

Eventually everything will have to be Wind, Water, Solar, or Geo-Electric
...
And at that point a Hydrogen economy makes the most sense - you can pack
hydrogen into solid forms and keep it almost as dense as it would be at a
liquid state - and hey cryogenic cooling in the summer time eliminates the
need for an A/C Compressor and Coolant :)

It's unlikely Capacitors, or Batteries will ever become efficient storage
mediums for energy - chemicals wear out, and the energy loss during transfer
is quite great, but hey Obama wants to build 12 new Nuclear Power Plants -
we'll be in good shape haha

On Wed, Nov 19, 2008 at 2:58 PM, <Bill_Raterink at spartanstores.com> wrote:

>
> I had seen a documentary that said switch grass was the most efficient
> biofuel.
>
>
>
>  From: Rick Vargo <rick at vargo.org>
> To: grlug at grlug.org Date: 11/19/2008 02:51 PM
> Subject: Re: [GRLUG] OFF TOPIC Electric Car
> ------------------------------
>
>
>
> Corn is a terrible bio fuel you can only get about 700 gallons from an
> acre. Sugar cane is the best. Around here, the best thing to grow for a
> bio fuel is probably sugar beats. I think an acre will make about 1700
> gallons of alcohol.
>
> Rick
>
>
> Michael Mol wrote:
> > On Wed, Nov 19, 2008 at 2:29 PM, Collin Kidder <adderd at kkmfg.com> wrote:
> >
> >> An electric motor can be made darn near 100% efficient. As a bonus
> >> electrical lines are found almost everywhere. It's like a built in gas
> >> station in every building you see. So, I do believe that electric cars
> >> will end up being the way forward.
> >>
> >
> > It remains to be seen how efficiently synthetic hydrocarbon fuels can
> > be made; If those can be made sufficiently efficient, powering cars
> > off the grid won't work.
> >
> > Granted, corn doesn't appear to be getting us off to a good start.
> >
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