Electric car -- A different thought

[RonMar]

Aren't there oil and NG fired power plants?

Coal and NG, both domestic products. the only place they are seriously making electricity from oil are on islands and remote locations that can't be reached by power lines from somewhere that has these resources, or other natural resources like hydro. CHH is right, electricity asa whole is our greenest distribution method, but we need more generation capacity to meet these needs, and unless they start building more plants, we are going to be paying a whole lot more for that as well...

 

[jdbower]

Coal and NG, both domestic products.

Actually, nuclear is bigger than NG these days (according to the DOE). We import a significant amount of coal from Columbia (as well as other countries, but still much less than oil.

We self-produce 40% of our oil, and for the rest we import the most from Canada (where we also get a lot of natural gas from). Mexico is #3 on the list for oil, but most people are concerned with the #2 slot (Saudi Arabia).

Uranium is disturbingly difficult to find where we get it, but it can also come from politically unsavory places as well as our own back yard (anyone who lives in an area prone to radon buildup probably has some uranium deposits underneath them). The #1 exporter is Australia, but #2 is Namibia so we span a wide range in the political stability spectrum...

Electric is nice and it would be great if we can push the tech a little further perhaps into workable fusion reactors, but as of now I wouldn't expect any cost savings. That said, I'm planning on putting up solar panels if they ever let me build my house even though they probably won't pay for themselves because I want to vote with my wallet and donate to the R&D efforts that will hopefully make them more cost effective.

 

[coffeeman]

There are a couple of ways to skin this cat, but no one has put the whole package together. Again, beter batteries would make this much easier...

Now how about this one? Lets take that electric car and put a windmill on the roof. As we drive the windmill turns a generator charging the battery. Gee, one battery charge from the plug in charger then we run forever on wind power.

Actually, as I think about it, if you only drive into the wind it might just work. However, how would you get back home?

Now why would you want to skin a poor little cat?

Cheers

Coffeeman

 

[jdbower]

Lets take that electric car and put a windmill on the roof...

They've already got a prototype which also allows for amphibious operation, presumably to take advantage of tidal energy.

 

[RonMar]

Now why would you want to skin a poor little cat?

Cheers

Coffeeman

Delicious, Nutritious, tastes just like Spotted Owl...

 

[4720 OWNER]

Turn them inside out and they make dandy mittens.

 

[wjoerob]

Have you looked at some of the posts on here under "Well, that was shocking." You guys all seem to be pretty conscienttious, with-it thinkers, at least giving some mental energy to solving the problem. But just about the time I think we're all on the same page, someone starts bragging about the gas hog they just bought, or whining about how much it costs them to fill up these days. Imagine the difference if we all just TRIED to only buy and drive what we really need. I thought we had all learned something from pouring our "hard-earned" into the pockets of the oil companies and Arab countries!

 

[MossRoad]

Have you looked at some of the posts on here under "Well, that was shocking." You guys all seem to be pretty conscienttious, with-it thinkers, at least giving some mental energy to solving the problem. But just about the time I think we're all on the same page, someone starts bragging about the gas hog they just bought, or whining about how much it costs them to fill up these days. Imagine the difference if we all just TRIED to only buy and drive what we really need. I thought we had all learned something from pouring our "hard-earned" into the pockets of the oil companies and Arab countries!

I've noticed you have made this same comment in the "Well, that was shocking" thread, as well.

In our situation, we have one car that gets decent mileage that we use every day, and a Suburban (it replaced our old van) to tow our trailer with, when needed, and as a backup vehicle should the every day driver car go down. It has nothing to do with bragging about a gas hog. It is necessary for us to have a truck that is capable of towing the trailer with the tractor on it, and having a vehicle that is large enough to take our extended family places all in one shot VS having to take two vehicles. We plan our daily trips to make the most of our mileage, eliminating back tracking and double trips. Somtimes someone has to wait a while for their ride to show up, and sometimes I bring my child back to work with me after school to avoid an extra 8 mile round trip. Four days a week our car has 4 people in it when it leaves the house and 4 people in it when it returns. So, we are very responsible with our fuel usage, in my opinion.

 

[dooleysm]

I traded in my extended cab Dakota for a Lumina sedan (17 mpg vs. 28 mpg) for my daily driver about 4 years ago. Almost 2 years ago I started carpooling (85 miles/day commute), first with 1 person, now with 2, and looking for another. When my Lumina dies (we're strictly a used vehicle family, and the Lumina has 130k miles) I'll be looking for a 4 cyl. replacement, hopefully in the 35 mpg range.

We traded my wife's S10 blazer (17 mpg) for a Venture minivan (22 mpg). It wasn't a huge gain, but we've got 2 kids and planning on more, so really about the only choice.

We have a full size chevy 4x4 that is a work/hunting truck. It gets used rarely, probably only 100 miles/month. It's paid for and the gas we do burn is offset by not paying delivery fees for various items and hauling away trash/recyclables.

I have a Cub SLT1554 for cutting our 1.3 acre yard. I burn about a gallon/cutting. Not much I can do about that, and gas will be way out of hand before that is unaffordable.

I have a Kubota L3000 that I use for bushogging, snow clearing, and a million other things. I probably only go through 30-40 gallons of diesel a year. Again, not enough to worry about unless fuel prices triple or quadruple.

Other than that, we have started rationing our trips to town and have cut way back on out of town trips (the kids had more to do with the latter than fuel prices, but the same effect).

I'm interested to know how the fuel prices are affecting others. My carpooling has really limited the financial impact of high fuel prices on our family. My wife has a short commute, so high fuel prices don't affect us on her driving very much.

How are the rest of you coping? Using less fuel or cutting back elsewhere. I think those are the only two options...

 

[Wayne County Hose]

I've got a Ford Ranger 25+ a gallon, and a Taurus, 25+ a gallon. Our driving habits haven't changed a bit. We go where we need to, take a pleasure trip once in a while. May fly to Florida instead of drive, other than that, I'll use a propane torch to start a fire now instead of gas. If gas goes to $10 a gallon, we will still drive just as we do now.