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hydrogen
Hydrogen fuel cell cars are supposed to be cleaner than fossil fuel powered cars. The only byproduct of burning hydrogen is water [oops, the hydrogen is not burned]. President Bush says that such cars will "make our air significantly cleaner, and our country much less dependent on foreign sources of oil."
But he's also developed a plan for producing the hydrogen. Using fossil fuels. It's obvious that oil profits come before the environment (and always have), but where is the energy independence?
And whether it makes sense to create the hydrogen using oil or not, Bush is lying to us. Our air will not be cleaner, and this will do nothing to reduce our dependency on foreign oil.
Article at Mother Jones.
But he's also developed a plan for producing the hydrogen. Using fossil fuels. It's obvious that oil profits come before the environment (and always have), but where is the energy independence?
And whether it makes sense to create the hydrogen using oil or not, Bush is lying to us. Our air will not be cleaner, and this will do nothing to reduce our dependency on foreign oil.
Article at Mother Jones.
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Could you give more explanation of this?
I'm having enough trouble considering minerals as renewable (reclaimable from landfills), how the heck would you get more oil/fuels?
I certainly have no trouble the "oil" industry execs are smart enough to plan for the future, but I wonder how comitted they are, given the peer pressure created by their competitors to turn a profit.
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As to oil -- there is a theory that shows that methane, which is not only generated during decay of plant material but also is created from compresion of carbon and hydrogen naturally, can be condensed into higher-complexity hydrocarbons. This theory was developed to explain why 'empty' wells are spontaneously filling back up, from the BOTTOM.
Here's a report that will put you to sleep but describes the general effects: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences: [...]The genesis of hydrocarbons and the origin of petroleum. This study says that, if we can figure out why there his hydrogen, carbon, and methane at depths of 100km, that's where oil could be created by pressure and temperature. 100km down, of course, is into the mantle, just under the plate boundary. A second set of theories says that this oil is what keeps the plates sliding along, as it lubricates the faults... Kinda cool, if it is true. Dr. Kennedy (of the study) is quoted as saying "competent physicists, chemists, chemical engineers and men knowledgeable of thermodynamics have known that natural petroleum does not evolve from biological materials since the last quarter of the 19th century."
He's got an opinion, and a theory, but it's pretty interesting!
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And the energy companies won't be setting up massive arrays of solar panels because there's no place to put them. Such power generation needs to be decentralized. I think the power companies would rather be in the the generation business as well as the distribution business.
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And, there are LOTS of places for massive arrays -- tops of buildings, for one. Just as Cell buildings lease space, so could power companies provide 'spot' power to the grid for buildings, and send excess back into their system, for minor leases and reduced power consumption cost to the end user. And, the array could encompass several city blocks with a central substation and filters.
This will, of course, piss off the birds.....
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ABSOLUTELY committed -- the first one to figure it out gets not only the profit, but the patent rights on the process which could generate lots of additional profit....
Imagine being the first to create REALLY cheap energy systems, putting oil usage down, costing your competitors heavily as demand for their product dies off, forcing them to come to YOU to license the application....