Green Energy

[FormerOstrich]

Greetings,

I posted this in General Discussion and there was a recommendation to cross post here.

A friend of mine sent me the following link. Since I don't know if there is any fact behind it I knew my DU family would know. I'm all ears!

http://cc.pubco.net/www.valcent.net/i/misc/Vertigro/index.html


On edit:

Link to GD thread: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3721929

[Howzit]

1. If they can tailor make affordable renewable fuels, more power to them

The only problem I can see, if this pans out, is it will allow us to continue using our current fleet of internal combustion powered vehicles, rendering the electric car a novelty lacking economy of scale with poor ROI.

[mopinko]

2. that's not necessarily true.

first of all, the current fleet of trucks and cars is not going to disappear any time soon, unless president obama is going to give new electric vehicles away. we can barely engineer a usable electric passenger vehicle. we are way, way, way far away from the day when we can make an electric 18 wheeler.
second, there are a whole lot of uses of oil that have nothing to do with transportation.
we need this technology badly. very badly.

[Howzit]

3. My golly - I think we are in agreement N/T

[mopinko]

4. not to say that the car is not coming

i think that the climate crisis, regardless of the price of oil, will lead to real electric cars. solar power that is efficient and affordable would mean that an electric car would basically be free to run. i think that makes it very attractive. but 20-30% efficiency of current pv makes that a little far away.
i was just saying that the need for oil is not going away, even if we could magically get rid of internal combustion passenger vehicles.

[wtmusic]

7. "we can barely engineer a usable electric passenger vehicle"

I beg to differ.

I built an electric car in my driveway that that has an 80mph top speed and is freeway-safe (airbags). It travels 45 miles on a charge which is enough to handle 80% of my daily driving needs. I have a minivan which I use for longer distances and family needs. There will be a feature on it this Friday on the local NBC affiliate (KNBC).

I've bought one tank of gas since April.

This car would fill the needs of another 50 million drivers as a cheap, clean commuter/utility vehicle, and it uses technology that is 160 years old. So don't believe the hype that electric vehicles are not viable, because that's all it is -- hype. To keep you buying gasoline.

http://www.aspire-ev.com

[ScienceGuy]

9. It may get you around and be freeway-safe but...

You are indulging in a bit of a wet dream if you think you are being "clean". The electricity to charge your electric cary is probably coming from some filthy coal-burning power plant somewhere. Maybe 33% efficient, another 3%-4% in losses in electrical transmission and distribution, not to mention all the {gasp} carbon emissions from the power plant. All you are doing is moving the place you emit the pollution from your tailpipe back to the power plant smoke stack.

[kristopher]

13. "Science" guy?

"You are indulging in a bit of a wet dream if you think you are being "clean". The electricity to charge your electric cary is probably coming from some filthy coal-burning power plant somewhere. Maybe 33% efficient, another 3%-4% in losses in electrical transmission and distribution, not to mention all the {gasp} carbon emissions from the power plant. All you are doing is moving the place you emit the pollution from your tailpipe back to the power plant smoke stack."


Take a look at this:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=115&topic_id=147268&mesg_id=147651

[wtmusic]

15. Wrong.

Table 1. Electric Vehicles Reduce Pollution
(percentage change in emissions)

California

HCs -96
CO -97
NOx -75
SO2 -24
Particulates +15

That's CA average. Plus (plus if you bothered to read the link) I subscribe to my local utility's Energy Champion plan and 60% of my electricity comes from renewables - wind, solar, geothermal, small hydro, landfill gas. But even if 100% of my energy came from a "filthy coal-burning power plant" it would still be cleaner than a comparable gasoline-powered car. Substantially.

Not to mention EVs are twice as efficient as internal combustion-powered vehicles:

Table 4. Operating Efficiency Comparison Between EVs and ICE Vehicles

Vehicle Efficiency
EVs 88%
ICEVs 15%

Overall Efficiency
EVs 28%
ICEVs 14%

http://www.evadc.org/pwrplnt.pdf

Not to mention that while your internal combustion car is getting dirtier as it ages, my EV is getting cleaner as powerplant emissions controls improve. So instead of storming out of the gate parroting Petroleum Institute invective you might consider I did a little homework before investing over a year of my life and quite a bit of money.

I did.

[windoe]

5. K & R keeping this kicked-

bookmarked for future reference!! Thanks!

[silverweb]

6. Too late to recommend, but a big KICK.

This is awesome and I hope it gets the startup money needed to develop full-scale production facilities PRONTO.

:kick:

[Finishline42]

8. Green Energy - ALGAE!

Plus algae thrives on CO2. Would an algae 'farm' be a good fit for a coal burning electric plant for carbon sequestration?

[plcdude]

10. exactly

What algae has to offer as an energy resource is not only running our current long range personal vehicles, trains, air transportation, and trucking industry but capturing CO2 from coal plants to be used in its production which will actually lower our carbon emissions. I am invested in Valcent and I think that algae will be one of the many answers we are seeking.

[Duppers]

11. and your Valcent stock is going up too. :)

how'd you invest? not through a broker, I'm betting.

I've got a few pennies I need to put somewhere to earn more than it is now.

thanks. :)

[plcdude]

12. I use an

online investment company and buy that way if you want to know more just PM me.

[Duppers]

14. thanks

will do.