On 2008-03-14, Roger wrote:
If we all just practiced conservation there would be no need for new
power plants and we could eliminate the need for importing crude to
use in auto fuel. That part is simple math. Raising the fleet
average to 30 MPG would be far more than sufficient to make us
independent of foreign oil for fuel.
That's not conservation, that's deprivation.
Raising the fleet average to 30 MPG would require replacing a large portion
of the fleet with European-style econoboxes. Simple physics will tell you
that that's going to dramatically lower fleet safety, especially in light of
the massive numbers of large commercial trucks that would still be needed to
transport goods. (Getting rid of those would *really* wreck the economy in
short order.) There's also the minor matter of the mission profiles of many
folks, who a European econobox simply won't fit.
With 120 million family homes switching the incandescent lights to CFLs
would eliminate the need for roughly some where between 4 and 6 electric
generation plants. That would free up part of the electric grid so it
could be used to power electric cars which at current rates for most of
the country (excluding California) make the cost of operating one a
fraction of a gas powered car.
It would also generate a booming market in hazmat remediation, as common
household accidents that would result in lamp breakage turn into major
environmental disasters...not to mention simply disposing of them when they
finally do burn out.
As for the electric car, let me once again use those two magic words:
"mission profile". I'll consider one when I can get one that will go 400
miles on a charge, while hauling four people and a substantial amount of
stuff, and recharge in 10 minutes so I can go 400 more. My current vehicle
will do that quite easily, and I bought it because I need that capability.
--
Jay Maynard, K5ZC
http://www.conmicro.com
http://jmaynard.livejournal.com http://www.tronguy.net
http://www.hercules-390.org (Yes, that's me!)
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http://www.cafepress.com/hercules-390