rlegro’s Recent Comments

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  Not entirely suburbanite

  Good story. However, there are exceptions to the situation where suburbanites are eating healthy while lower income people are not. Most notably, in Milwaukee, former pro basektball star Will Allen helps feed a lower income urban community through his Growing Power urban farm, with strong environmentalism and localism as his guiding principles.

  A cover story on Allen's operation, which has spread its wings regionally, appeared in the 9/22/05 issue of the Shepherd Express, Milwaukee's main alternative weekly. Check it out at:

  http://www.shepherd-express.com/9_22_05/cover.htmOn To create a truly sustainable food system, we'll need to make some fundamental changes. posted 4 years ago 26 Responses

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  Re electric cars: It just isn't that simple

  The math you present is going in the right direction, but the variables are even more complex than you suggest. I learned in my years at electric power utility that while big turbines do extract more energy (as electricity) out of a given amount of petrochemical than a small internal combustion engine, other factors come into play, such as the current (!) need to transmit that power over a long-range grid.

  That, in turn, involves transmission loss, which reduces efficiency. Now, superconductive transmission lines -- which the industry has been studying -- would all but eliminate this drawback, but not the aesthetic and other impacts of high tension lines and their corridors going through our environment. Broadcast power, anyone? Shades of Tesla!

  Beyond that,we'd still have hundreds of millions of cars on the road, burning rubber tires and creating thermal pollution, and probably spraying toxic window wash and other lubricants all over hell. Beyond THAT, while coal is our number one energy source for electric power production, we also rely on nuclear power. And all major power plants have environmental impacts.

  However, I submit that this is a transitional issue, not a deal killer. Indeed, going to the long-throw grid to charge our electric cars would have drawbacks but would help the power industry localize itself, in all likelihood.

  Even in the current power production environment -- be a step forward. Later, we can assume that plug-in vehicles would create demand for localized solar power generation -- wouldn't a garage rooftop be a natural, er, extension of having an electromobile? Hell, at some point, plug-in cars might well begin to feature solar panels on their roofs and other vertical surfaces, too. It's trickle charging, to be sure, but every little bit helps and it's free, once you buy the panels -- at some point a GM option and a Toyota standard feature, probably.On Friedman drives home the geo-green point. posted 4 years, 4 months ago 18 Responses