โDec-13-2017 09:03 AM
โDec-18-2017 05:08 PM
โDec-18-2017 02:05 PM
โDec-18-2017 01:12 PM
Ductape wrote:
Funny how easy it is to see the future requirements for electrical infrastructure costs as a disincentive, while forgetting all the sunk costs in petroleum distribution. Pipelines, refineries, tanker ships and trucks... gas stations, all that didn't appear overnight.
Thing is, the technology now allows distributed electrical consumption and production. That's huge, as transmission systems can be optimized to be load balancing rather than all one way. And the end user has control of what level of self sufficiency they desire to invest in.
Not many of us can afford to own our own petro sources. And the neighbors complain if you operate your own refinery.
โDec-18-2017 11:03 AM
โDec-18-2017 10:35 AM
โDec-18-2017 10:20 AM
ctilsie242 wrote:
I recall seeing a battery that did actually use Li-air as its battery chemistry a few years back... but I wonder if the research didn't pan out. If done right, it would mean the battery only would need 1/2 to 1/3 the mass for electrolyte as a sealed system.
I do hope for better hybrid systems and infrastructure. As it stands right now, it takes me 5-10 minutes to fill up my vehicle's tank. A charging system may take hours, even at 440VAC, and enough amps to light up an army of Frankenstein's monsters, to get near 95-100 percent SoC.
I wonder if the answer would be a "renewable" fuel, like Audi's synthetic diesel, propane, or perhaps ethanol. At the power plant, put energy to suck CO2 from the air and process it into a liquid, use that liquid at the fuel pumps. This is what people envision with hydrogen, but H2 is too expensive to store to be useful, while an alcohol like ethanol or a fuel like propane is relatively safe and idiot resistant.
โDec-18-2017 09:55 AM
โDec-18-2017 08:54 AM
โDec-18-2017 08:14 AM
โDec-18-2017 07:40 AM
ctilsie242 wrote:
My idea of a "future" vehicle would be a gas/electric hybrid. Perhaps one that the gasoline engine is used as a generator and runs at a specific RPM, which will help with its efficiency, while maybe moving to a Crower six-stroke design, assuming engine makers can deal with water's corrosive effects.
Until batteries store something like 1/10 the energy of gasoline, we may see electric cars as city runabouts or maybe able to run longer if going from charging station to charging station, but it will need to be supplemented by a conventional IC system for now.
It would be nice to see a gas/electric hybrid motorhome chassis. One nice advantage is because of the large batteries, having power for running appliances, the A/C, etc. is already present.
โDec-18-2017 07:27 AM
โDec-18-2017 05:50 AM
โDec-17-2017 12:03 PM
โDec-17-2017 12:02 PM
Ductape wrote:Not trying to pick a fight here, just debating. If you're off-grid, that's a great use of the technology and you're not affecting others. If you are on-grid, you are being subsidized by the government and/or other ratepayers. The power company has to buy and maintain the infrastructure to provide you with your full power needs at night and on bad weather days. Yet, you're not buying the amount of electricity that corresponds to the infrastructure for your peak and intermittent usage. Somebody else is paying for that. If you have net metering or a feed-in tariff that credits you at least as much for power you feed into the grid compared to what you consume from the grid, the power company is losing money on every watt hour you feed in.
Yeah,let's all hang onto existing technology, there's nothing new to be invented or improved on.
Perhaps we'd be better off with horses and whale oil.
On a more serious note, I feel badly for people who fear the future. Remember when we were all young and anticipating the next day with eagerness for what new things would come? A lot of that gets lost as we age.
The future just is... it's all neither good nor bad, it's what you make of it. And if I had the perfect foresight that some on here claim ๐ , I would invest appropriately and get rich.
But I don't need to be rich to buy solar. I paid for mine with no government assistance. Free power, every day. :B