The Cast Member will always win

[GRUMPY PIRATE]

I seem to remember reading a news artical about a year ago that said somenting to the effect that it takes more energy to produce ethanol that it saves in energy or gives in return. The article talks about a farmer that had produced corn, and had figured the bushel per acre cost was higher than the return on producing for the ethanol plant! (without government subsides)

[Kwahati]

Now I'm all for saving the planet (it's my favorite one), but if you want to sell me substandard product, you'd jolly well better have substandard pricing to match.

They can't do it. The stuff (ethanol) simply costs too much to make. Further, the amount of energy that goes into making and transporting it makes it so that, after you factor in how much less energy you get from it, it pollutes as much as, and in some cases more than, normal gasoline.

Before I hear any arguments about how the stuff with ethanol is cheaper in certain states (the corn growing ones mostly) that's because those state governments are subsidizing it every step of the way. That's done with tax money, so sure, the gallon of polluted inefficient gas might be cheaper, but you're still paying for it with your taxes. (Not to mention the fact that the loss of energy and, as a result, gas mileage generally overwhelms any savings from the cheaper gas anyway.)

Everyone here should know by now that I'm a big bleeding heart liberal, but c'mon let's get some real ideas on how to save the earth... I know there are some out there, but they don't put enough money into the pockets of big business to make them worthwhile to our government yet!

side note: anybody seen those car commercials where some car company is advertising that they're ready to roll out hydrogen fuel cell vehicles as soon as america has the infrastructure for it? You have to laugh at that. Never gonna happen. Hydrogen would be so expensive to make and, beyond that, would be *way* worse for the environment than gasoline (the production side of H2 is what's bad, not the use so much)...

[Randy B]

Everyone here should know by now that I'm a big bleeding heart liberal, but c'mon let's get some real ideas on how to save the earth... I know there are some out there, but they don't put enough money into the pockets of big business to make them worthwhile to our government yet!

I found one, but it is not likely to ever make it to the US. Saw this in a Popular Mechanics in the last year.

In India there is a vehicle manufacturer that is about to start selling a 6 passenger taxi van that runs on ......AIR!

There is a large high pressure air tank (about 2400psi) that will power the vehicle for about 250 miles at highway speeds. And at filling stations (in the cities where the taxis will be used) the tank can be refilled in under 4 min. Or an on-board pump can be plugged in and fill the tank in 8 hours.

I figure that if such a vehicle came to the US, many gas stations would put in a simple solar powered air pump and tank. The ongoing expense of the additional possible income stream would be almost nill. So for a relatively small outlay there would be a potential income from selling a product that would be nearly all profit. A good inducement for a rapid spread of a new "fuel". Heck, in some of the plains states they could even convert water windmills into air pumps and the tanks can be the same type used for propane storage that are prevalent in the rural areas around here. No, new, untried technology involved.

One reason given for the reason these vehicles won't come to the US, the vehicle is all plastic and glued together and the US regulations don't accept a glued together car as valid.

I want one. Just think, I could coat the roof with solar cells and while the car is in the parking lot all day the small air pump could be constantly topping off the tank. As long as I don't drive more than 250 miles at night I'd never run out of "gas". There are only two times a year that that would be a concern. The day I drive from IL to WDW and the day I drive back home. Any other time I just don't drive that far.

Randy

[Big Wallaby]

Everyone here should know by now that I'm a big bleeding heart liberal, but c'mon let's get some real ideas on how to save the earth... I know there are some out there...

I'm a right-wing nut job and feel the same way on this one. We need to get us off oil so we don't have to depend on a bunch of countries that hate us for our most-used resource. And oil goes into everything in some form or another around here.

I enjoy the conservation message at Kilimanjaro... Respect life on earth, use the resources we have riding around on the planet with us, but not to the extinction of a species, please. Use it responsibly. Don't hunt an animal by the hundreds of thousands just for one part of its body.

[Kwahati]

...In India there is a vehicle manufacturer that is about to start selling a 6 passenger taxi van that runs on ......AIR!...

Woah!

[Cranbiz]

This is not a new concept. Here in the good ol U S of A, we have had many train engine powered by compressed air.

It just wasn't feasible for long distances and at the time, it was more cost effective to use Dino fuel.
For the industrial user, these loco's worked great.

This was in the 40's for those who care and one used at the Plymouth Cordage Co. (the reason the I knew something about this before the google search)

[DisneyMom]

This is not a new concept. Here in the good ol U S of A, we have had many train engine powered by compressed air.

It just wasn't feasible for long distances and at the time, it was more cost effective to use Dino fuel.
For the industrial user, these loco's worked great.

This was in the 40's for those who care and one used at the Plymouth Cordage Co. (the reason the I knew something about this before the google search)

My Husband has been running on compressed air for his whole life!

[GRUMPY PIRATE]

My Husband has been running on compressed air for his whole life!

I KNEW it would get to MEN bashing!!!!! Jeez, whats a guy to do.....

[CMGUY89]

I'm a right-wing nut job and feel the same way on this one. We need to get us off oil so we don't have to depend on a bunch of countries that hate us for our most-used resource. And oil goes into everything in some form or another around here.

I enjoy the conservation message at Kilimanjaro... Respect life on earth, use the resources we have riding around on the planet with us, but not to the extinction of a species, please. Use it responsibly. Don't hunt an animal by the hundreds of thousands just for one part of its body.

Personally, coming from Texas, you are one of the nicest right wing nut jobs I have met! Everyone else is like, "You liberals are going to burn!" It's nice to see some Bipartisanship here. Cheers!

[hobie16]

My Husband has been running on compressed air for his whole life!

Don't be behind him when he has a sudden loss of pressure.