N2EY:

If EVERYONE where to change the light-bulbs in their homes with the new
LED bulbs, that single action would make one heck of a difference in the
usage of power!

If all business did this too, would probably postpone the whole energy
crisis for a little bit longer...

John

On Fri, 12 Aug 2005 03:07:24 -0700, N2EY wrote:

Mike Coslo wrote:
wrote:
Michael Coslo wrote:
wrote:
Not with quick-connecting pipes. Leave it to the MEs.

I wonder if there will be self-tank exchange stations? 8^)

No doubt it can be done.

Self-closing snap-on connector for the hydrogen supply. Similar to what
is used for compressed air.

Very doable.

The big question is whether such processes can be made economically
competitive. Another plant in Carthage, MO, takes the waste from a turkey-processing
plant and extracts oil, gas and some other products from it.

The company claims that many other feedstocks can be used. Old tires, a
chronic disposal problem, can allegedly be broken down into oil, gas,
steel, fiberglass and carbon black.

The process supposedly uses 15% of the product to run itself.

hmm, not too bad...


*IF* it really does what is claimed. That's the problem with a
lot of new technologies:

One of the biggest problems I see for many of these
technologies is that
they often don't have the scalability needed to provide fuel
for many
vehicles, let alone fuel the countries needs. If this plant
went into
serious production, it might run out of feedstock pretty
quickly.

That's where so many people miss the point, Mike.

There's probably no single technology that will solve the
"energy crisis". Too many people want a single magic
silver bullet solution that will solve it all at once.
Extremely unlikely.

As you say, even if TDP works and is
economically competitive, the limiting factor may be
lack of raw material (imagine - not enough trash/waste
to feed the plants!)

The solution is almost certain to be a collection of
good ideas and new technologies. TDP may be one piece,
hydrogen another piece, geothermal, solar, wind, etc.

Then there's conservation and increased efficiency - a
penny saved really *is* a penny earned. For example, one
of the biggest users of electricity in most homes is the
refrigerator. Some new models use much less electricity
per year than their earlier counterparts of the same size
and features - to the point that replacing a 15-20 year old
fridge with a new one may pay for itself in energy savings
even if the old one was working fine.

It's possible to build air conditioners of very high efficiency,
but they cost more. However, using them means we don't have to build
new power plants and new power lines, because the electrical system
will have less peak load. (The peak load typically comes on an August
afternoon - from all the AC units).

Too many folks want one solution to solve 100% of the problem, without
requiring them to change anything, be responsible, or worst of all have
to think.

A more realistic and mature approach is to find a number of
solutions, each of which solves a piece of the problem.

Say you find 10 solutions, each of which solves 10% of the
problem. There you are.

"We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used
when we created them" (*)

I think that until the next big fuel comes along, we
are going to enter an age of "niche" fuel production.

That is okay, as long as we don't get involved in feedstock that might
otherwise be food, ie corn/ethanol production. There are
possible
ethical considerations that will crop up in that case.

All of engineering involves ethical considerations. Heck, all
of *life* involves ethical considerations!

Is it ethical to import a large percentage of something - anything -
needed to keep a country's economy and way of life going? Particularly
when such importation requires dealing with,
and empowering, people whose values are very different from your
own?

--

Now someone will probably ask what any of this has to do with amateur
radio policy. The answer is that we see the same sort of
oversimplification of problems. We are told that the solution to all of
amateur radio's problems is to get rid of the Morse Code test. When
that fails to bring about a New Golden Age, then what?

73 de Jim, N2EY