GG Posted June 27, 2008 Share Posted June 27, 2008 Do you think we could solve this energy problem for less than we pay to get all the oil in the middle east? Absolutely not (in the near term). Forget the concept of "foreign oil" It's plain old oil and it's not just in fuel. Anything that 's plastic or synthetic is probably an oil derivative. Weaning off the oil habit is a nice slogan, but a lot of things in your every day life will have to change first. That's why all these grand pronouncements are hilarious. The first step is to tell people to moderate their consumption of things. That alone will have a much greater impact on the price of oil than pie in the sky energy plans. Of course, after the last energy panic when people got semi serious about conservation, oil prices tanked, which made people complacent about buying that Expedition for the trip to the mall & the 50 mile daily commute. Change your behavior first, then look for solutions to the energy crisis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GG Posted June 27, 2008 Share Posted June 27, 2008 Don't worry....they'll be taxing those pretty soon too! Is there any better feeling in the world than crashing onto a fresh kingsize bed after turning the hotel room thermostat to 65 degrees when you first arrive after a long day of travel? Well, maybe the bucket of Sam Adams from room service and the $500 call girl that shows up an hour later....but, you get the idea. I hear you. But on my recent trips, the hotels went overboard the other way. They had the thermostat down to 55! That's just obscene, no matter how hot it is outside. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Posted June 27, 2008 Author Share Posted June 27, 2008 Absolutely not (in the near term). Forget the concept of "foreign oil" It's plain old oil and it's not just in fuel. Anything that 's plastic or synthetic is probably an oil derivative. Weaning off the oil habit is a nice slogan, but a lot of things in your every day life will have to change first. That's why all these grand pronouncements are hilarious. The first step is to tell people to moderate their consumption of things. That alone will have a much greater impact on the price of oil than pie in the sky energy plans. Of course, after the last energy panic when people got semi serious about conservation, oil prices tanked, which made people complacent about buying that Expedition for the trip to the mall & the 50 mile daily commute. Change your behavior first, then look for solutions to the energy crisis. How is it pie in the sky when a car manufacturer say they not only can have a fully electric car within two years, but would be able to mass produce it just two years later. Also said that the fuel equivalent cost would be comparable to about what $1.50/gallon would be now. He also said that the infrastructure to make all of this work would cost us about what we are paying for 2 months of oil. If its not true, then back to the drawing board. If it is true, then it would be great Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GG Posted June 27, 2008 Share Posted June 27, 2008 How is it pie in the sky when a car manufacturer say they not only can have a fully electric car within two years, but would be able to mass produce it just two years later. Also said that the fuel equivalent cost would be comparable to about what $1.50/gallon would be now. He also said that the infrastructure to make all of this work would cost us about what we are paying for 2 months of oil. If its not true, then back to the drawing board. If it is true, then it would be great If it was true, it would have been done long ago. He didn't specify the details of that mass-produced electric. Based on existing technology, you could get a 1 or 2 seater that could top out at 40 MPH and go 20 - 30 miles on a charge. Something like that won't put too much strain on the grid, as it would be a very nichy product. But once you start getting into real mass production and displacement of the automobile in the way that people actually use their cars, then everything is pie in the sky, as the most promising electric that has true car-like specs is the Tesla and it's a slog to get it to market at $100K. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Posted June 27, 2008 Author Share Posted June 27, 2008 If it was true, it would have been done long ago. He didn't specify the details of that mass-produced electric. Based on existing technology, you could get a 1 or 2 seater that could top out at 40 MPH and go 20 - 30 miles on a charge. Something like that won't put too much strain on the grid, as it would be a very nichy product. But once you start getting into real mass production and displacement of the automobile in the way that people actually use their cars, then everything is pie in the sky, as the most promising electric that has true car-like specs is the Tesla and it's a slog to get it to market at $100K. They said it would get to around 50-70 miles on a charge and it would run like a regular car with the same features. Also said that it would be expensive when finished in 2010, but affordable once it was mass produced by 2012. A lot of cell phone analogies were made- particularly about how tough that industry was to change until AT&T was broken up and the smart companies moved to digital and the dumb ones fell behind. Once other companies are on board, supply and demand would take over as it always does, and prices would go down- in addition on the cell phone analogies, they said that cars could even be paid for on rebates, with dealers selling miles to customers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GG Posted June 27, 2008 Share Posted June 27, 2008 They said it would get to around 50-70 miles on a charge and it would run like a regular car with the same features. Also said that it would be expensive when finished in 2010, but affordable once it was mass produced by 2012. A lot of cell phone analogies were made- particularly about how tough that industry was to change until AT&T was broken up and the smart companies moved to digital and the dumb ones fell behind. Once other companies are on board, supply and demand would take over as it always does, and prices would go down- in addition on the cell phone analogies, they said that cars could even be paid for on rebates, with dealers selling miles to customers That analogy is just wrong. AT&T was broken up in 1984, and the only benefit from that break up was the cheaper long distance calls. True competition started coming in the late '90s only because technology became available for competitors to provide quality service at a cheaper cost than Baby Bells. The real analogy to the cell phones is that here we are 25 years after the first cell networks came out, the phones are now minicomputers, yet the battery life is still meager. Until you can apply Moore's Law to battery design, all these electric car concepts will be pie in the sky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ieatcrayonz Posted June 27, 2008 Share Posted June 27, 2008 Until you can apply Moore's Law to battery design, all these electric car concepts will be pie in the sky. If it will get us off foreign oil, someone should go ahead and apply it already. Should I run it through the Googlebot? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GG Posted June 27, 2008 Share Posted June 27, 2008 If it will get us off foreign oil, someone should go ahead and apply it already. Should I run it through the Googlebot? Blame Canada. They're holding it up because they want the cash from the tar sands. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts