Using coal to power our vehicles?

[corey]

coal = pennsylvania's no.1 source of energy.
pittsburgh = recently surpassed L.A. as the most polluted (air quality, anyway) city in the U.S.

[Pakhan]

About a third of my electric company's power comes from non-fossil fuel sources.
When they put up some of the windfarms people pregnant doged though, I think they look awesome.

Yea too bad about the birds that get chopped up in those windmills 

[lethe]

Yea too bad about the birds that get chopped up in those windmills 

There's a downside to everything.

[Pedro-bot]

Green renewable energy NOW!

Carbon heavy fossil fuel OUT!*

Can't wait to see what electric vehicles roll out the next couple of years. Here's one that is available now, well not really immediately available since there is a one year waiting list and it costs 6 figures. But, technology always finds a way to make products cheaper, faster, and more easily attainable.

Check it. Jay Leno digs it.
http://www.teslamotors.com/







*this excludes any use intended for the use of motorbiking.  

[Ducatiloo]

Green renewable energy NOW!

Carbon heavy fossil fuel OUT!*

Can't wait to see what electric vehicles roll out the next couple of years. Here's one that is available now, well not really immediately available since there is a one year waiting list and it costs 6 figures. But, technology always finds a way to make products cheaper, faster, and more easily attainable.

Cant wait either  good luck finding a 100% renewable outlet to plug it into, but I guess out of sight out of mind right?

[Pedro-bot]

Cant wait either  good luck finding a 100% renewable outlet to plug it into, but I guess out of sight out of mind right?

In the next decade or so true alternative energy sources will arrive. Solar, hydroelectric, wind and wave power will all deliver a clean-energy future. I live in Texas and as it is this is the state that has the largest wind energy program than any other state in the U.S. Along the coast of TX there is also talk of implementing technology that will harness energy from waves.

The future of a clean renewable energy source is not that far away. Some people are actually able to see a little further down the road than most. 

[Triple J]

Cant wait either  good luck finding a 100% renewable outlet to plug it into, but I guess out of sight out of mind right?

While I agree that an electric vehicle isn't 100% green, this attitude doesn't make sense to me, and seems to lack thought.  It is better to have a few large point sources of pollution, as opposed to thousands of small ones.  This is because emmissions from the large sources can be controlled far easier through the use of scrubbers and other technology.

Also, not all electricity is produced from burning coal.  We also have nuclear, wind, solar, natural gas, hydro, etc.  For instance, power supplied by Seattle City Light is 100% hydro, so an electric car here would be a pretty good deal environmentally (there's always the batteries...but there's always going to be something).  Obviously hydro power isn't the answer everywhere, but you get the idea.

[Pakhan]

There's a downside to everything.

+1 for ALL types of power generation we have.  Hydro, Wind, Solar, Wave, Nuke, CNG.  Some definitely less than others, but all of these have a noticable environmental impact.

[OwnyTony]

I won't argue that most DMFers like their beer , we do. But we don't waste it.
I drive a VW NB 1.9 TDI most fillups the mileage comes in at the mid 40s mpg, if I'm really mellow I get low 50s mpg. ( I have a heavy right foot )
When I look around I see a lot of big SUV's hauling loads that would easily fit in my bug.
We will never cut our consumption 50%, but if enough of us choose to drive smaller vehicles and live in smaller houses we can get the supply demand curve to flatten out.
The 'Pogo' quote about who the enemy is comes to mind.

Yeah, my remark was not necessarily pointed at anyone; it was more along the line to support your claim. I just felt that you needed to stress that a real decrees of demand is needed.

[Ducatiloo]

In the next decade or so true alternative energy sources will arrive. Solar, hydroelectric, wind and wave power will all deliver a clean-energy future. I live in Texas and as it is this is the state that has the largest wind energy program than any other state in the U.S. Along the coast of TX there is also talk of implementing technology that will harness energy from waves.

The future of a clean renewable energy source is not that far away. Some people are actually able to see a little further down the road than most. 

My point was that people that do not know where there power is coming from typically think they are helping but many times are not.
I'm all for green power, I just get fed up with the enviro wackos driving their little battery powered cars around in Madison with their "I'm better than you grins", then go home and plug in their "zero emissions" car into one of our many coal power plants.   IMHO it helps to centralize where we get out power for our cars, homes etc because it is easier to solve one issue vs. millions of  issues driving around.  But in no way is a electric car "zero emissions" in Wisconsin unless the owner has his own windmill or solar cells.
But we really need to focus on homes and businesses, which use the majority of energy in the US. 
And Kudos to Texas for putting the extra effort in clean renewable energy, I can see it coming.  I'm just looking at the growning pains that the US will face before the mojority of people will think about more than the cost of gas.

Ok I'm off my soap box.  Thanks for listening.

[Pedro-bot]

While I agree that an electric vehicle isn't 100% green, this attitude doesn't make sense to me, and seems to lack thought.  It is better to have a few large point sources of pollution, as opposed to thousands of small ones.  This is because emmissions from the large sources can be controlled far easier through the use of scrubbers and other technology.

Also, not all electricity is produced from burning coal.  We also have nuclear, wind, solar, natural gas, hydro, etc.  For instance, power supplied by Seattle City Light is 100% hydro, so an electric car here would be a pretty good deal environmentally (there's always the batteries...but there's always going to be something).  Obviously hydro power isn't the answer everywhere, but you get the idea.

Good point, nice example of a city thinking green.

Now what about the car? That Tesla is freakin' COOL!!  

[OwnyTony]

Besides nuclear energy, all "renewable" energy is solar energy.  Wind= solar energy because movement of air that is heated by the sun.  Wave energy=maybe thats a solar and lunar energy thing as the gravitational pull of both causes the tides and stuff. Hydro= the water cycle due to the sun drying up waters from the oceans and water raining down on the earth to fill the rivers and lakes that are blocked by dams.  Most obvious is Solar energy from solar panels as solar energy. 

Lets just hope nothing happens to our sun.

[Triple J]

Good point, nice example of a city thinking green.

Now what about the car? That Tesla is freakin' COOL!!  

They didn't do it to be green though.  It was done way back when during the US dam buidling era.  The downside is the Salmon runs here have been severely impacted, so a few species are now on the endangered species list. 

There's always a downside.

[Le Pirate]

An electric car still causes pollution at some point down the road (batteries, power from powergrid, etc...), but it's use of energy is much more efficient than the internal combustion engine, thus causing less green house gases in the long run.


I'd dig up numbers, but I'm at work...

[Sinister]

They didn't do it to be green though. 

Yeah, I'm not sure you could get permitted to build the dams above Newhalem, these days.