Alternative auto energy pros and cons

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Need a basic overview of the various possibilities for powering cars in the future? You're in luck. This article takes a look at the pros and cons of:

* Hydrogen fuel cell
* Compressed natural gas
* Solar power
* Biodeisel
* Liquified petroleum gas
* Electric

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Comments

[Troy Worman]

Excellent post. Keep up the good work! I appreciate you keeping the rest of us in the loop.

[Dave]

This article isn't very comprehensive and incorrect in a few places. Most notably, in mentioning fuel cells, the author fails to point out that most fuel cells require hydrogen fuel. Of course, even automakers agree that a hydrogen distribution network will not exist for at least 20 years. Also, hydrogen production is less than 50% efficient. In other words, it takes twice as much energy to produce the fuel as you can obtain through its use in the fuel cell.

The other major false assertion is that diesel cars need to be converted to run biodiesel, which they do not. In some cases, older diesel cars will need a fuel filter change because biodiesel dislodges all of the sludgy deposits associated with petroleum diesel.

Lastly, the fact that the article even mentions solar powered cars is ridiculous. There are currently zero automakers even developing concept cars to use solar power. It is a pipe dream.

In the interest of maintaining the integrity of your blog, I hope that you'll consider deleting this post, linking to a very poorly written article on green car technologies.

[Claudia]

Nice of you to help the rest of us sort it all out as well - I wish more people were talking about these issues.

[ray cabana]

One important thing about solar energy is that its also a buyer beware market. I bought small units to maintain my boat from Brunton, Northern Tools and NONE of them put out even half their ratings on a sunny day. Then I went to Boater's World and bought a brand called ICP. They had a great customer service techie (cool guy too!) whose really into serving the customer (go figure!). So just a word of caution as we all get excited about this stuff.

[A]

hi whats a pro and cons of solar? or eletricity

[A]

hi whats a pro and cons of solar? or eletricity

[mike]

has there ever been an attempt to replace the gas component of a hybrid electric car with either biodiesel or gasohol? I'd be curious to find out weather it is a feasable combination or just not.
Mike

[mike]

has there ever been an attempt to replace the gas component of a hybrid electric car with either biodiesel or gasohol? I'd be curious to find out weather it is a feasable combination or just not.
Mike

[mike]

has there ever been an attempt to replace the gas component of a hybrid electric car with either biodiesel or gasohol? I'd be curious to find out weather it is a feasable combination or just not.
Mike

[Sim]

Hey there..im doing a report on Solar energy..and i was just wondering..what do you think i could put down for my essay? I dont want it to sound like I copyed it off of somewhere..because than my teacher will think I got it off of the net..but than again i want it to still be really good!
can you give me some advice?
Thank you

[alex]

nerds

[eleanor]

to sim
u were on the site too loser.

[tib]

O, that was just the general idea--the 4 goals would obviously change over a period of time---say--at the rate of discovery---if a goal is solved withint 2 years---then a new goal replaces it--and so on.

[zahir]

you guys do not understand---it is not that we will run out of oil.....we will have oil until the year 2250 even with exponential increase in population---

it is that the pace of demand is outstriping supply---therefore the amount of people demanding oil is increasing faster than the capacity for producers to give oil.

Therefore--if you become more efficient---you demand less oil, and thus put less of a strain on demand.

That is all efficiency is--and is just a natural recource from the checks and balances in the market---

when oil reaches 200 dollars a barrel...naturally you are not going to want to buy more oil---thus the solution is to buy a more efficient cars.

and the rate in the increase in consumption would decrease over time, thus we would have oil reserves past the projected time on current graphs.

Therefore--renewable energy fuels will become viable and economically competetive when oil reaches these very high costs--because 'renewable energy' will not be a limited resource--and thus the cost and consumption rates could be maintained over time.

So, it's all a question of demand and time. In the future oil will be more costly and renewable energy will start looking profitable, we will naturally converge to this solution. However, right now, it is not a viable option with current technology and time can only tell.

[bob]

martin maras is gay

[billy]

hey,u guys hi u doing
i'm doing fine thanks u

[billy]

Anthony is gay

[Aziz Rashid Siddiqui]

There are alternate energy resources available through the existing motions of life. Newtons third law of motion can be harnessed and put to good positive use. I do have a lot of laymans ideas but the application of science, technology and research, is needed to put it to good use. I do believe North America may have the answer, provided it is not suppresed in the bureaucratic system of the Governments. Europe seems to be advancing in lot of ways due to fast implementation.

[t]

the ice age won't hit this winter--it will hit next winter --the gulf stream will shut down this summer--which will then lead to the ice age---on the contrary--this winter will probably not be very winterish at all---(the water that has melted will be more dense because it will be colder and thus not sink---however, this summer, when it is warmer--and even more melting occurs---it will not sink and therefore shut the gulf stream---then when this vital system is lost, we will have our ice age with an early and frosty winter---next winter..

However, now we will feel the precursors of it with hurricanes, screwed up and unpredictable weather and so on. Its like the "stabalization" period just before a chemical reaction occurs---I think this hurricane season is a combination of the natural cycle + global warming, global weather screwed up, whatever yo uwant to call it---don't know if it was man or nature but hell--weather is screwed up right now man.

so it will probably rain a lot (ever heard of 40 days and 40 nights? ) yea, more of that shit this winter...

probably some flooding? that's what you can expect for THIS winter.

[t]

* the water that has melted will be more dense because it will be colder and thus SINK

[t]

why am I so certain of NEXT WINTER?---hey I am not man---but I am 99% sure an ice age will occur in this decade---it seems very obvious the way the weather patterns are going---it seems it is tipping somewhere---and going to get worse---so from that perspective---it seems reasoanble that at our rate of screwed up weather--an ice age will be around the corner.

It very well seems that way. Next winter seems very probable--the reason I say it so soon--is because last winter I had the feeling the world was unbalanced (weather systems wise) --therefore I thought something would happen---then it did not--and then all this shit happened this year---hurricanes and such--and more melting (ice cap melting to most in all recorded history--worst hurricane season in all recorded hiustory, etc, etc) --with so much melting going on it would seem natural for the gulf stream to shut down right? well no--because since winter is approaching, the melted water will sink because it will be colder and thus denser,

however---when this summer hits, with all the melting this year, and the exponential increase of temperatures in the arctic---you can bet a lot of melted fresh water in the atlantic---you know all the water now + all the water then---it will be hot and less dense---at the peak of the summer--that is the time the gulf stream is most apt to shut down...then things will get cold ---

but not immidietly---it will be shutdown, but it will be summer---when things start heading toward fall--then thats when things will look frosty--winter will come very early--because no longer will you have the heat from the stream and therefore you will get temperatures dropping--also--since the water won't sink---there will probably be a lot of flooding, which will in turn, freeze when the winter comes...that will make some cities frosty lands and such..maybe even completely under snow, water or glaciers.

you know--I did not reach this conclusion through studying graphs or seeing the day after tommorrow---i just have had an intrinsic sense about this--since I was like a kid I always had "instinct" --and this seems very very "like sounding many red alarms in my brain"--so I am pretty sure it will happen.

I was not wrong about the hurricane season either--I told my friends..this will be the worst hurricane season ever recorded---and it is.

so--that gave me like even more dread that I was like right ..and man ---it's just there---just feel it ---there's a fucking ice age coming.

[TJ]

i need the pros and cons of OIL for a schoo project any info?

[TJ]

i need the pros and cons of OIL for a school project any info?

[tim]

i need the pros and cons of OIL for a school project any info?

[torence]

are there even cons on hydrogen energy sources? too much to think about...

[poop]

yea i agree martin maras is gay, gay with aidan lloyd

[marry]

what are the pros an cons of oil?

[Natasha]

NYANG!

[Natasha]

NYANG!

[j]

It doesn't matter. Ice ages are actually good. So are a lot of other NATURAL disasters.

Sure many people will die.

But so what?

People who survive the Ice Age, will reproduce, and evolution will take place and make humans better people.

Or wipe out the human race completely. But if it does wipe us out, it won't matter. It just proves that humans are worthless as a living being.

And I don't give a bull if you think humans are "the smartest personers in the whole universe". We're not. Shut up, and go watch television and kill yourself. Sure we're on the top 10 of smartest animal.But we think we're so great because we made life so much easier on US.

How are we so smart if we have stupid gangs and so much friggin hate?

How are we so smart if we try to scam people out of their money?

How are we so smart if we continuosly destroy our home?

[Ronald]

i like monkeys =]

[poptart]

haha t wuz wrong and a very peranoid

[Morgan Schaeffer]

I like sex

[eric kim]

this was good for my geography report

[eric kim]

i like sex too