I think if the government just stopped building roads, and thereby subsidizing the auto industry, people would generally and naturally shift to rail for transportation. And suburban sprawl wouldn't be the hot-button issue it is now. Using the petroleum products efficiently and wisely could be just as fruitful as shifting to other energy sources.
You have a valid point, but remember that there are economies of scale that are achieved by producing that energy in a central place.
*One multi-billion dollar electric plant produces less total polution than many thousands of internal combustion engines to produce the same amount of energy.
*As you pointed out, electricity can produced in a number of ways - many with low environmental impact.
*The ability to run existing sources at low peak times allows for more efficient use.
Just my thoughts - but an interesting post none the less.
I agree with your article, but there are 2 points I have to mention.
"Hydrogen may be produced using sea (or river) weeds, or whatever they are called - all it takes is sunlight and water " I'm not sure I know this. Do you mean by cultivating the plants and then processng them afterwards? As far as I know plants, weeds and the like only produce oxygen. The rest gets built into plant mass.
From what I was taught in school, car engines burn fuel much more efficiently and cleaner than power plants do. It doesn't seem to make sense burning fossil fuels at a plant for electricity for cars.
All this would speak for generating electricity at clear nuclear plants.
In 1939 a German researcher named Hans Gaffron, while working at the University of Chicago, observed that the algae he was studying, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii (a green-algae), would sometimes switch from the production of oxygen to the production of hydrogen.
Gaffron never discovered the cause for this change and for many years other scientists failed in their attempts at its discovery.
In the late 1990's professor Anastasios Melis a researcher at the University of California at Berkeley discovered that by depriving the algae of sulfur it will switch from the production of oxygen (normal photosynthesis), to the production of hydrogen.
He found that the enzyme responsible for this reaction is hydrogenase, but that the hydrogenase will not cause this switch in the pressence of oxygen.
Melis found that depleting the amount of sulfur available to the algae interrupted its internal oxygen flow, allowing the hydrogenase an environment in which it can react, causing the algae to produce hydrogen.
Chlamydomonas moewusii is also a good strain for the production of hydrogen.
4 Comments:
I think if the government just stopped building roads, and thereby subsidizing the auto industry, people would generally and naturally shift to rail for transportation. And suburban sprawl wouldn't be the hot-button issue it is now. Using the petroleum products efficiently and wisely could be just as fruitful as shifting to other energy sources.
Peace,
Tor
3:26 PM
You have a valid point, but remember that there are economies of scale that are achieved by producing that energy in a central place.
*One multi-billion dollar electric plant produces less total polution than many thousands of internal combustion engines to produce the same amount of energy.
*As you pointed out, electricity can produced in a number of ways - many with low environmental impact.
*The ability to run existing sources at low peak times allows for more efficient use.
Just my thoughts - but an interesting post none the less.
Peace,
P. Del Ricci - Dark Glass
12:20 AM
I agree with your article, but there are 2 points I have to mention.
"Hydrogen may be produced using sea (or river) weeds, or whatever they are called - all it takes is sunlight and water "
I'm not sure I know this. Do you mean by cultivating the plants and then processng them afterwards? As far as I know plants, weeds and the like only produce oxygen. The rest gets built into plant mass.
From what I was taught in school, car engines burn fuel much more efficiently and cleaner than power plants do. It doesn't seem to make sense burning fossil fuels at a plant for electricity for cars.
All this would speak for generating electricity at clear nuclear plants.
3:09 PM
Quote fromWikipedia:
[Quote]
Hydrogen production
Algae can be grown to produce hydrogen.
In 1939 a German researcher named Hans Gaffron, while working at the University of Chicago, observed that the algae he was studying, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii (a green-algae), would sometimes switch from the production of oxygen to the production of hydrogen.
Gaffron never discovered the cause for this change and for many years other scientists failed in their attempts at its discovery.
In the late 1990's professor Anastasios Melis a researcher at the University of California at Berkeley discovered that by depriving the algae of sulfur it will switch from the production of oxygen (normal photosynthesis), to the production of hydrogen.
He found that the enzyme responsible for this reaction is hydrogenase, but that the hydrogenase will not cause this switch in the pressence of oxygen.
Melis found that depleting the amount of sulfur available to the algae interrupted its internal oxygen flow, allowing the hydrogenase an environment in which it can react, causing the algae to produce hydrogen.
Chlamydomonas moewusii is also a good strain for the production of hydrogen.
[End Quote]
4:21 PM
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