and so I said...

On Apr 1, 12:10 am, VFW wrote:
The first lease sale off the coast of Virginia could occur as early as
next year in a triangular tract 50 miles off the coast that had
already been approved for development but was held up by a court
challenge and additional Interior Department review, officials said.

But as a result of the Obama decision, the Interior Department will
spend several years conducting geologic and environmental studies
along the rest of the southern and central Atlantic Seaboard. If a
tract is deemed suitable for development, it is listed for sale in a
competitive bidding system. The next lease sales if any are
authorized by the Interior Department would not be held before 2012.


Let me put it another way: the White House is implying the promise of
jam tomorrow - in reality, it s just a study to revisit the denial of
jam yesterday - in exchange for jam today. Only the jam today is
actually a swarm of angry wasps. Try again, Mr. President. Start
with rescinding your interference with the Bush drilling permits, and
expect to give up more. A lot mo your opponents are not interested
in indulging the Greenies quaint, somewhat primitive religious
sensibilities.


the truth is;


any oil found anywhere in the world goes into "the market" America has
no oil . it belongs to the companies that secure the leases.'
International companies. they sell to the highest bidder. China;
--
Money; What a Concept !- Hide quoted text -


Mark wrote


Then there's the unavoidable spills and destruction
to marine life, and all for what? A stopgap measure.


Seems to me, from my limited knowledge, that the
future is in electric. It's more powerful.



Depends on how you look at it.

Take a look at the chart at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Energy_density#Energy_density_in_energy_...


A Zinc battery is low on the chart, while hydrocarbons are much
higher in MJ/kg and MJ/L. You see airplanes powered by hydrocarbons,
but not batteries. I think there was an experimental solar cell
powered plane a few years ago, but the weight of the solar cells
precluded any cargo to talk about.


I am thinking that gasoline and jet fuel are a higher energy
density
resource that is easier to handle, and safer than most other
products.


I agree electric is better for getting around on the ground,
assuming we are using a renewable source of energy to charge the
batteries we have to lug around to do it.


--


"It is not these well-fed long-haired men that I fear,
but the pale and the hungry-looking."


Julius Caesar





On Thu, 1 Apr 2010 05:12:12 -0700 (PDT), Mark
wrote:



There are a couple of electric airplanes which have been
developed, such as the Pipistrel Taurus electro,
http://www.popsci.com/military-aviat...008-05/who-bir...
which is in the category of power-assisted glider. There are
other p.a.gliders which aren't electric. But gliding is specialized
flying, and not applicable to the taste or misson statement of
most pilots.

Sonex, always coming up with something different,
(and ugly, lol) has an electric version of their bird;
http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/26/s...ic-powered-spo...
and they also stuck a jet on one of these, but I never saw it fly;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gZsXvyxjQ0. Mostly it flys with
the wonderful powerplant, the Jabiru 3300 ( Aussie design), which
can be found in what is probably the number one light sport plane
in the world, the Arion Lightning, made in Tennessee.
http://www.flylightning.net/


But I digress. When I think electric, I *don't* think
airplane, because the weight factor makes it impossible
for anything other than novelity applications and speciality
flights.


I think we need something better than batteries, or
what we now think of as batteries, to store power.
Graphene, a carbon material which has been nano
engineered was supposed to be part of the revolution.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphene


You know, it seems that M.I.T. or someone is always
developing answers, but then you never hear much
about it after that. Like solar panels which concentrate
the light to an efficiency 100 times greater than what's
on the market, so, they are smaller and use less material.


I wish these scientists would get on the ball.


---
Mark