As if in testament to the insanity… Here we are, right here, right now, discussing possible improvements to the 100+ yr old tech of the ICE.
The real truth of the matter… That I feel is just an ignored or an ugly truism nobody wants to mention is… until something like cold fusion is a reality, our society and civilization is and was artificially enhanced by the “drug” petroleum. We have reached very high heights…and quitting this drug is going to result in a loss of societal “performance” and by performance…this may mean population sustainability let alone how to support our fun gadgets we all enjoy and love so much (myself included)…etc
There may be no way of avoiding this. I’m certain I’d prove my point above if I were able to magically make oil disappear all at once, globally, in a snap. The decline in many things would be vast including human life. We’d be projected back to the days before oil…nay far before that…because I think all the Steam engineers are also gone by now…and I don’t see our society being able to equal their greatness in an instant…hey at least we have their engineering drawings and even their magnificent machines to study. God help us if we didn’t
Currently there is no replacement for our petroleum drug enhanced society and the withdraw wont be sexy.
Electricity is awesome…I admire it very much…As well as Nikola Tesla. I am ashamed we have not much improved on Tesla’s ideas as he had hoped we would. Hell we haven’t even improved on the Edison Battery much either…
What the hell am I going on and on about anyway?
The truth of the matter is…that there is no easy petroleum replacement and we should’ve been working the problem at least 75 yrs more than we have currently. I don’t see any electric infrastructure being able to come close to where we are now any time soon-ish. Someday I pray…otherwise…
I agree about Nuclear… That was our only logical “out”…but Big Oil bamboozled everyone into fearing the atom when we have all this nice safe black gold right here… You dont want that Nuclear…its dangerous… Sure it is…so are knives, acetylene torches…so what… Maybe if we weren’t still using the first nuclear power plant design that was sketched on a napkin in a diner somewhere in 1948… Perhaps if we moved on to the next gen Nuclear designs…but no… we basically went with design drawing 3… Aren there more reliable safer designs? Bet there are… Ugh…nevermind Its a proper mess.
Fortunately I wont see the dark days… this isn’t going to happen in my lifetime… However I am enjoying the “cute” ways politicians are trying to spin this… If I wasn’t witnessing it I’d never believe this story. I still dont believe it… What a mess…
…and now that I have properly hijacked this thread into the weeds… I relinquish control over to those more qualified than I… lol sorry
Aside from the fact nuclear power plants create plutonium as a byproduct, the only real problem is the design/construction of the plants themselves, and the disposal of the waste. As Honda_Blackbird noted, designs can be updated and construction can be almost perfect. As for disposal, space rockets are getting pretty dependable so shooting used fuel rods and plutonium into the sun sounds viable to me. Funny thing is, with the possible exception of the Thresher, the U.S. Navy has been safely using nuclear power since 1954 (the Nautilus). In one of Robert Heinlein’s short stories he suggested that nuclear power be turned over to the Navy due to its safety record.
Yes, you are correct, but they are … quite different from that was around in early days of last century, and importantly, they are designed for mega-power, not individual consumers.
Unfortunately, it is nothing like ICE for small on-demand energy.
I’m saying that the steam turbines we have with nuclear are the marvels of engineering and efficiency, but to have these properties they have to be BIG
so, my point is: I do not expect nuclear cars with steam turbines any time soon
The biggest problem with nuclear in this country is each and every plant is a complete custom designed plant. Where as all the nuclear plants in France are built off of 2-3 different designs. This makes it a LOT safer/easier/cheaper to build. NH’s Seabrook plant was suppose to cost us 2 billion for 2 plants, but it cost us 8 Billion for one plant. That’s a 16,000% cost overrun. People who had PSNH at the time saw their electric rates jump drastically when the plant went on line. I was one of those customers.
And now we’re behind the ball with Thorium reactors. Both China and India are working on Thorium reactors. Safer and less radioactive waste. Creating a cost effective reactor is the problem right now. And Thorium is as abundant as Lead. Go outside and pick up a rock and chances are you’ll find traces Thorium. The US looked at creating Thorium reactors back in the 50’s and 60’s, but gave up on the idea because the nuclear waste couldn’t be used to create Nuclear Bombs. They needed to make more bombs.
Ford had a nuclear-powered concept called the Nucleon back in the 50’s. They had a less-well-known one called the Seattle-ite XXI which looked kind of like the TV Batmobile with 2 front axles (and the Batmobile, in the TV show, was also nuclear powered, with an afterburner… No idea how that was supposed to work).
The problem with the Nucleon was that they didn’t at the time have radioactivity shielding that was light and thin enough to be used in a car. They figured at some point in the future we’d come up with it.
The other problem with nuke cars that they didn’t seem to acknowledge is that… Well look at how terrible people are about maintaining gas cars. Now we want to entrust them with a nuclear reactor!?
I apologize if anyone has misconstrued my original reference to nuclear power. It was meant as a means to provide the power to recharge electric cars (and provide general electricity). As regards nuclear powered cars, I would say this: I read in the late 70s or early 80s that at that time, 90% of all of mankind’s knowledge had been accumulated since 1900 and that knowledge base was doubling every 2 years. If that continues I see no reason at all that some sort of nuclear power plant could not indeed be made small enough to power a personal conveyance at some time in the future (although shadowfax’s point about maintenance cannot be ignored).
There’s quantity, and there’s quality…I reject the claim that 90% of important knowledge has originated since 1900…it’s amazing what the Greeks, Mayans, etc, knew. And to relate it to cars, engine tech was remarkably advanced in the 1920s. Just needed high octane fuel to take advantage of it.
All of you guys are making excellent points… all valid I believe. I think “we” are supposed to labor under the pretense that we aren’t able, or haven’t been able to crack difficult problems of a similar nature to what has been mentioned already.
The real B of it all is how much our technology has been DELIBERATELY DUMBED DOWN or hampered in a mindbending myraid of ways, never to be fully understood by the economics of Big Oil and their interests at large. I firmly believe that this industry / entity has done more than any other in the history of mankind…not only to elevate our standing as a whole…while at the same time has kept its thumb on any real alternative energy solutions being realized that would or could have replaced this Black Menace (as far as energy and its storage or production etc) for decades… if not longer.
Its beyond my pay grade but I’m sure many would agree with me on this idea. I am sure that I cannot even fathom just how far reaching these missed advancements could go into. Oil is nearly involved in almost everything… not just as a fuel source…far from it. I cant imagine, but I can be angry at the fact that I know that this advancement hampering is a real thing and many others have not only known of this, but have died for it also and its been going on a long long time…far before I was alive I have no doubt.
Its disgraceful to put it mildly. I’m doing my idiotic rambling thing again, my apologies…dont listen to me.
