Re: [Amc-list] Hydrogen power

[adh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Sandwich Maker)]

" From: Archimedes <Freedom@xxxxxxxx>
" 
" 
" >" Tom Jennings <tomj@xxxxxxx> said:
" >
" >me, actually
" 
" 
" Oops, sorry...
" 
" 
" >" >iirc they can only burn about -1%- of
" >" >the nuclear load before the fuel rods must be yanked and discarded....
" >" >
" >" >more efficient approaches that have near-total consumption of the
" >" >fissionable load, with safety 'baked in', are on the drawing boards.
" >" >these even largely solve the disposal problem by leaving little or
" >" >nothing but lead to dispose of.  
" 
" 
" When my wife saw this discussion, the first thing out of her mouth was "great, we can send that to China to put in toys".

in the final analysis i'm not completely in favor of nuclear power
either.  it has a lot of technical potential, but i'm not sure there's
anyone i'd trust to manage it.

" >a further note: if we could actually build these efficient nukes, we
" >have enough uranium already refined to power our grid for the next 5
" >centuries.
" 
" 
" At current usage levels, sure.

okay, so it might last only 2 centuries, sustaining growth.  that's
still a pretty big pile.

" You know, I read in a journal once that one thing that would eliminate about 30% of the nation's stationary power usage is to figure out a way to prevent transformers that are always 'plugged in' from drawing any power when the appliances they power are not on.  A lot of people don't realize that anything without a "hard switch" that actually disconnects the appliance from electric power altogether is **still drawing electricity off the grid!**

a lot of people probably don't know it's drawing power from the grid
when it's -on-...

" >" Some of that may be closer than you think.  With space elevators, the cost of getting things into space is actually not prohibitive.
" >
" >i've been following that, somewhat.  but siting the bulk of the
" >industry on the moon would still be desireable - no problems with
" >mining pollution, for example.  and we're starting to approach our
" >dear planet's limits in population; there's enough resources in our
" >solar system which would be accessible to space-based
" >colonies/settlements to support some 3000 times our current 6 billion.
" >that's elbow room!  though at historic growth rates, for a shockingly
" >short time...
" 
" 
" I'm thinkin a 69 Ambassador with a billion megawatt rocket engine, with space-rated body components, four on the floor...

four what on the floor?  i think with a billion Mw engine, that's
where the passengers would be!

" >better fuel crops are needed, and without food-oriented constraints!
" >[]
" 
" I think for a plant-based fuel infrastructure, the solution is to grow in the oceans.  The main benefits there might simply be the fact that massive production wouldn't take up scarce land, unlike growing corn for ethanol.  There are a bunch of researchers trying to figure out how to profitably harvest plant oil from algae.  I think that's where the fuel revolution will start.

lotta potential there...

" >and an important 'side effect' of large scale biodiesel production
" >must be and is being addressed: glycerine production, about 1 lb per
" >gallon of fuel.  there are industrial and cosmetic uses for glycerine,
" >but biodiesel production could supply these markets 100 times over.
" >can you really use 20 lb of soap -per-week-?!?
" 
" 
" Heck, that means I'd have to make my annual bath (whether I need it or not) a thrice-daily thing, at least.

;^>

" I'm sure people will find something to do with all that soap.  We'll all start washing our houses, yards, cars, etc every day.

i think that with the gross oversupply, it'd be cheaper for most
biodiesel makers to just dump it unless a real use is found.

" >but it might turn out to be a good plastics feedstock.
" 
" 
" Well, we're going to need something there too.  Transportation (cars, trucks, buses, trains, etc) supposedly consume only about 40% of the petrol we use annually.  The rest is power plants, plastics, manufacturing, etc.
" 
" In the meantime, the technology **is** available to reduce usage.  It just costs more than the current tech:
" 
"         http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodge_Intrepid_ESX
" 
" If every greenie would just plunk down $80k on Chrysler's lap and demanded to buy an ESX3, Chrysler and other companies would have immediately responded to the demand and *found* the technology to bring costs down.

from the wiki article, it wouldn't cost even half that much - but the
diesel would make it a hard sell; you'd have to get over american
consumer resistance to them first.

the prius could easily be dieselized; the echo/yaris from which its
engine derives has a diesel version - but they didn't do it, despite
the fact that a diesel echo gets almost the mileage the hybrid prius
does at almost half the price.

" Heck, those who had their panties in a twist about oil had the opportunity to do something about it long ago, but they refused: Even when low-tech cars with great fuel mileage have been offered by the domestic producers, greenies refused to buy them.  AMC had its 40 mpg Alliance.  The Chevette diesel in the 80's got an honest to goodness 50 mpg.  The 90's Geo Metro (OK, it was a captive import) got 53 mpg.  Even the mid-nineties Saturn SC models would get above 40 mpg with a 5 speed.  None of these cars sold in great numbers.  But then Toyata brings out the Prius and suddenly the noses go up into the air and mileage becomes fashionable for the well-heeled left.

and the dirty little secret is - how much pollution does toyota
generate as a side effect of prius manufacture?  some 15-20 years ago,
i heard that for most cars it was as much as the car would make during
its lifetime.  and then there's the pollution of scrapping the car the
prius displaces...
________________________________________________________________________
Andrew Hay                                  the genius nature
internet rambler                            is to see what all have seen
adh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx                       and think what none thought
_______________________________________________
Amc-list mailing list
Amc-list@xxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.amc-list.com/mailman/listinfo/amc-list