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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891 |
I think the Prius sounds like a good idea also but the price tag is quite high for the size of car. The suggested mfg retail price is $20,450 U.S. In Canadian funds that winds up being nearly $32,000. (yes our dollar is taking quite a beating these days  )
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Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 1,094
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 1,094 |
Another reservoir of energy is in the very extensive deposits of methane hydrate in coastal sediments
Just outside of Columbus, Ohio there's a former garbage dump that's been sealed up and the methane emissions have been harnessed to produce energy for a substantial area. They aren't able to plant any trees or large plants because it would puncture the seal. It's a golf course now.
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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189 |
solar, fusion, etc.I still think solar energy is the ultimate solution. Both the coal-burning (acid rain, greenhouse emissons) and nuclear technolgies (waste and spent fuel is rapidly accumulating and stays "hot" for up to 30,000 years, so nobody wants it near them) have too many short-term and long-term problems to be continued indefinitely in their present state. That's not discounting the development of new technologies to counteract or eliminate the harmful effects produced by these operations. Solar is cheap, plentiful, reliable, and seemingly endless (well, until the sun novas, anyway  ). They already had solar cell cars 15 years ago...what happened? Cold fusion could still be a hope...and hopefully the solution if doable. But Clinton killed the SuperCollider Project with one of his last budgets. I'm hoping there's still some clandestine research still underway on this, perhaps in technologically advanced countries like Russia, Japan, Germany, Britain, or even China. But if not, fusion may now be hundreds of years off.
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891 |
There was a documentary about the Queens Univerisity Solar Team made some time last year about a solar car race. Here is their web page: http://solarcar.queensu.ca/mn_current_car.htmSolar power is not yet strong enough to fully power a full sized car. The car is so skinny that the driver has to lie down do drive. There is only place for one passenger. One of the biggest hitches...the sun's rays may be free but harnessing them is quite expensive. I can't remember the exact figure (Bean, help if you saw the documentary...it was Canadian so I'm sure our U.S. pals won't have seen it) but I seem to recall it was somewhere in the quarter-million-dollar range. No chump change let me tell you.
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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189 |
I post this without comment, please draw your own conclusions: Regulators: Ohio Nuclear Plant Missed Signs of Corrosion http://www.msnbc.com/news/729694.asp#BODY
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146 |
That is truely frightening, Juan.
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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