From where can we get the electricity we depend so much on?

[Lexus-CT]

What will happen if hydrogen become cheaper than gasoline?

I was looking for a small real green car but bought the hybrid CT. An EV was out of the question as electricity to charge with here is mostly made from fossil fuels and production of large batteries is in no way green, so a hybrid seemed to be best option.

Now it looks like real green hydrogen will possibly be available sooner than previously expected at reasonable price, so just waiting for a CT size hydrogen car to be made.

Thought that least polluting way to make electricity was to use the power of tide, maybe this is more efficient.

 

https://www.hydrogenfuelnews.com/green-hydrogen-newhydrogen-uscb/8560378/?awt_a=1jpsU&awt_l=IFzTR&awt_m=gSs4FIW_u85DlsU

[Lexus-CT]

https://www.hydrogenfuelnews.com/green-hydrogen-newhydrogen-uscb/8560378/?awt_a=1jpsU&awt_l=IFzTR&awt_m=gSs4FIW_u85DlsU

 

Still believe though, that tide is as close to the best eternal power source we know of today.

The heat they use to split the water, need to come from energy created somewhere, but as long as it is waste energy that can make hydrogen instead of just heating the planet, I think it is one of the best ideas I have heard of in quite a long time.

Electric Formula1?

Cannot find any useful data on how much the formula like electric cars, some think shall be replacing Formula1. The amount of energy building the batteries and motors, plus the energy for charging these (most electricity today is still made from fossil fuels one way or the other) compared with what energy is used building the combustion engines they use today with their fuel use. Neither have I seen data on how much pollution is “invested” in both technologies.

Strange actually, as the super batteries used for the electric races, that need to be super speedy charged, will, with the technology that exist today, most likely have a rather short life with the full energy capacity needed.

Toyota is informing that maybe not in 2024 but no later than 2025 they will have a 24 hour Le Mans car ready, and having won that race more than once, they probably know what they are talking about.

Funny thing with this is, that the fuel to be used will be H2 (hydrogen); so far, they have not yet decided (or informed) if only fuel-cell or combined fuel-cell with combustion engine (either gasoline or hydrogen powered) plus the hybrid power regaining they have been used quite a while now.

Anyway, Le Mans is a race worth keeping an eye on.

.

[Lexus-CT]

A bulldozer buries wind turbine blades used for green energy.

Why could you ask?

Because these blades must be disposed of because there is currently no way to recycle them. Yes, that's how green energy works.

Now the wind turbine blades can be used to make other things out of them, but the required energy and other costs do not make it financially sound.

Total fuel consumption in the U.S. to airlines is more or less 72 billion liters per year. The total fuel consumption for mining ore (minerals) for the construction of electric car batteries is more than 79 billion liters per year. The environmental and human costs of digging for the minerals are not mentioned here.

These more than 79 billion liters of fuel can produce enough ore to build about 250,000 car batteries; not the very long-range ones, the common ones. If well built, Li-Ion batteries will last 10 years and still have reasonable power. The minerals still in the batteries can only be recycled with a lot of work, since the battery cells they are glued firmly to survive (not to short-circuit) the harsh life of a car driving around on not always smooth surfaces, meaning it doesn't happen because of the cost of it. If one of these car batteries catches fire, putting it out is a tough job.

This will result in around 25 tons of landfill waste that is not environmentally friendly as it does not decompose. The glue used is so solid that to get cobalt and lithium out of them, it is so expensive and difficult that we will continue to look for more minerals instead. Until the planet is completely destroyed, and no matter how much ore there is, it's not something that will last forever. Not even enough to make all cars battery powered so they can drive around cities without pollution coming out of exhaust pipes. There are not enough minerals to make batteries for all cars, trucks, industrial machines etc. that run on gasoline or diesel today. So, what will we do after 10 years when the batteries no longer hold enough energy. To make the picture a little worse for electric cars, according to Volvo in Sweden they must have driven more than 100,000 km on green fuel to be energy neutral with existing gasoline cars that use gasoline (where the cars are already built).

Petrol and diesel cars are still the vast majority of cars that drive around the world. Another thing that is not talked about much is that long-distance electric cars would have very heavy batteries, which would cause them to wear tires faster. Tires are not made of environmentally friendly stuff. Particles from tires are found in water that seeps down, and will be in water that is supposed to be suitable for human consumption and with the filters used today it just might not be that.

That the electrical grid available today is nowhere near capable of charging all the electric cars our politicians dream of us driving around in is another matter and, funnily enough, the supply grid has not really started being made bigger and nearly robust enough to meet the demand in any country in the world and according to the best I know, no country is even in the start-up phase of doing so.

But: It doesn't matter, since the electricity that needs to charge the electric cars is still for more than 50% made from fossil fuels. In more than 20 years, England has managed to go from 2% renewable energy to around 40%. At that rate green electricity will never come and to get power / make electricity the UK government has just given out 100 drilling permissions to get oil from the sea as they think there is more need for oil than living water. The sea gives us much of what we need, but according to UK politicians that is not as needed as oil.

I wonder if people would still believe that electric cars, vehicles or equipment are good for the environment if they knew how massive the CO2 emission pressure really is coming from “going green the electric battery powered way”?

If you think solar cells are the solution, you're forgiven, as China, which produces most of them, won't disclose how much energy it costs to make the cells, and how many minerals are needed, and what kind of child and forced labor is used to be over-competitive. Unconfirmed but possibly / presumably reliable sources report that China uses coal to make electricity to make the power needed to make "green energy".

Do you still think it's a good thing to have cars that drive around and don't pollute from exhaust pipes?

If the British government would spend the same amount of effort / money they are drilling for oil from now on to create equipment to make electricity from the ever-reliable tide on their vast coastline, they could get electricity that doesn't need to be burned oil to get, increasing pollution.

Since the Paris Declaration long ago, perhaps no country has reduced pollution nearly as much as they promised when they signed the declaration; some of them have planted trees (which might grow big enough to help a bit in say 50 years) and some have bought permission to pollute from less polluting countries, but overall pollution has increased since the declaration was signed.

The Gulf Stream, which passes by and through the Canary Islands, was 20 degrees Celsius there in 2005, and now 18 years later it is 24 degrees. Ice in polar regions is melting faster than anyone imagined 5 years ago. Glaciers melt and no longer keep the rocks firmly bound to the mountains they are on. In many places in the world, wildfires are destroying forests that were able to produce oxygen and keep CO2 bonded, so there is no reason to blame only Brazil for destroying the rainforest.

Italy and Spain used to produce much of the rice eaten in Europe They no longer have enough water to grow rice, while elsewhere in the world record-breaking rain is falling, destroying roads and houses etc.

This year we used the resources the planet makes for us halfway through the year.

Are the politicians we elect doing a good job of making this planet a safe place for our children? Our politicians are lame ducks. Afraid to tell the truth, and although the industrialized countries promised and signed papers in 2009 that they would use less fossil fuels, the opposite has happened.

What our politicians are working for is to get re-elected, and they think that will only happen if they keep promising higher living standards, more profits – etc.

Not many are trying to use the only constant source of energy on the planet to make the electricity we are so dependent on. Wind doesn't always blow and the sun doesn't always shine and all the energy used to make machines for these 2 power sources could be spent more intelligently figuring out how to make the same or much more electricity out of the tide, that will be constant as long as the moon circles above us.

Do not trust what I write to you.

Don't ask oil company lobbyists or those in their pockets.

Search for yourself and find out. All data is available.

Something to think about and tell your friends. This is bad news that has been known for a long time.

The young part of our generation will feel many of the negative consequences if nothing is done. Some of the rest of us are now hearing about and feeling the rise in temperature; last weekend I was in a place where the temperature was 48 degrees Celsius.

Politicians talk about how much they are doing to help reduce pollution while doing the opposite.

Live in peace and help our little ones.

If you want to see a picture of a bulldozer burying wind turbine blades:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2020-02-05/wind-turbine-blades-can-t-be-recycled-so-they-re-piling-up-in-landfills#xj4y7vzkg

Several wind turbine blades, some longer than a Boeing 747:

https://www.nwaonline.com/news/2020/feb/08/wind-turbine-blades-pile-up-in-landfill/

https://ktxs.com/news/local/old-windfarm-blades-causing-problems-in-nolan-county

2050 there will be 43 million tons of wind turbine blade waste:

https://cowboystatedaily.com/2023/03/01/by-2050-used-wind-turbine-blades-will-exceed-43-million-tons-of-waste-every-year/

[RX400h]

Consumer Reports Magazine has stated in no uncertain terms that the best vehicles to buy today are hybrids. Some, like the Camry Hybrid, have a range of 600 miles, are far less expensive to purchase than EVs, and can be fully fueled in 5 minutes.

 

[Lexus-CT]

10 hours ago, RX400h said:

Consumer Reports Magazine has stated in no uncertain terms that the best vehicles to buy today are hybrids. Some, like the Camry Hybrid, have a range of 600 miles, are far less expensive to purchase than EVs, and can be fully fueled in 5 minutes.

I certainly agree with you that hybrid cars are maybe the best compromise available most places in the world today.

That does not mean that when we bought the little CT (big enough for us, we are only 3) that a hybrid was, what I was looking for but at least the best compromise. In 1984 I was driving in a Toyota Crown a friend let us use while we were visiting and that was luxury then, probably something like a Camry but absolutely a car using a lot of fuel.

I like the idea of not destroying the planet, being an old tree-hugger. When I was young there were no talk about pollution and problems with fossil fuels, so I have had terrible fuel consumers, company cars with fuel paid by the boss, part of salary. Later when I started thinking about our children and the world they are going to live in; that was when information started to pop up about the way we destroy the ocean and born on a little island and loved (still do) to walk on the beach, I was seeing what was washed up from ships sailing by, I started to think about the way we were living.

People living in California are having the possibility to drive in cars not polluting no matter if EV’s or Hydrogen powered, but till now the fuel for them has been made in so big a part from fossil fuels so the green image is only imaginary. As long as we use fossil fuels to make electricity, we are not getting anywhere away from making the planet a dangerous place for those coming after us.

Some say that climate change is a hoax and that the fires around the world and other disasters that seems to be coming more regularly are something that happens now and then and not a result of humans destroying the place we live. Maybe they are the same that as religion has “profit first” and think only about themselves.

We are fortunate to live in a part of the world where some (or most of us) never usually think about anything else than getting more. I have been travelling a lot and often walking around in mountains in Africa, where education was (and very many places still is) not something that was/is important; when family seldom have bellies full, other things are counting.

The higher you get up on the mountain, the cleaner the air is, the quieter it is, and I like to think, the better you are able to think about other things than getting richer – or the best car.

I hope that one day soon we will have enough clean electricity to make H2 reasonable in price and we can transport ourselves securely from where we are to where we need to be without polluting.

[Lexus-CT]

I wonder if this could be a gamechanger for heating houses where it is cold? Global heating is not yet everywhere:

https://www.hydrogenfuelnews.com/hydrogen-duct-burner-fives/8560416/?awt_a=1jpsU&awt_l=IFzTR&awt_m=gkCJbuLyJ85DlsU

 

Where we live all that is needed for the time being is air-condition to get temperature down.

[Lexus-CT]

Ever since a group in a university in California found out an efficient way to split clean or dirty water and get hydrogen just using heat a lot of nuclear plants started to find out that the reactors, they need to cool down can be used to make hydrogen and that way reduce a lot of what they spend on cooling reactors down and at the same time are making fuel that can be sold.

Is that a win – win combination?

I believe that in a few years H2 can possibly be cheaper than other fuels.

Not that I like the left over from nuclear plants that take about 10K years or more to get neutralized but they are making electricity many places in the world and they do not shut down at night when less electricity is needed so that would also split water and make fuel.

Just like in Norway long ago, electricity was so cheap 12 hours at night, that it could be called free - it can be possible to make hydrogen that cost so little that only transporting of it would be something to pay for.

[Lexus-CT]

 

 

[Lexus-CT]

On 8/27/2023 at 4:15 AM, RX400h said:

Consumer Reports Magazine has stated in no uncertain terms that the best vehicles to buy today are hybrids. Some, like the Camry Hybrid, have a range of 600 miles, are far less expensive to purchase than EVs, and can be fully fueled in 5 minutes.

 

When reading about California some positive and also some negative things seem to be actually both rather disturbing.

That Tesla no longer is having headquarter there is positive as Tesla is one of the worst polluters in the world. Another rather positive is that hydrogen is many places available in California and though it still is not completely made from really reusable sources it still is a lot less polluting than the battery powered cars that from beginning to end are much more polluting than the gasoline powered engines in already existing cars both hybrids and conventional. Is hydrogen expensive and are fuel cell cars common? Have read both yes and no to that question.

Among the negatives I have read is that people living there are taxed more than other places in the US and that more people are leaving the sunshine state, no longer wishing to live there, than people are coming in. People are living in tents and garbage piles inside the city and criminality is on the rise more than ever.

I know that it is not always correct what is written so I ask you as living there, you must know what is right or wrong, at least the place where you live.

 

[RX400h]

I see very few hydrogen cars (Toyotas), so I think it's safe to say that they are not very popular. I do see every fifth vehicle is a Tesla.
The main reason many still live here is prop 13, which severely limits property tax rate increases.
For example: My Dad's house in Conn. was purchased for $130,000 in mid to late 80s. It sold in 2019 for $230,000.

Many houses in southern California of equal size and age sold for close to the same (maybe $20,000 more) yet were worth $600,000+ in 2019. Original owner houses worth $1.5 million have property taxes of about the same as that $230,000 house. (approximately $4000/year).
So if you are an original owner or a second owner who purchased a house many years ago, you are wise to remain in the state, since the cost of living can actually less than in some other states. Some folks in Florida are seeing rapidly escalating property and auto insurance costs. Both are very reasonable here in many southern California cities.

 

[Lexus-CT]

Not energy from the moon as it circles around above us, but still from water.

Hope they get it going in larger size as solar cells and wind-mills are absolutely not good things.

https://www.weptos.com/

[Lexus-CT]

There may be more fuel in the planet than we ever imagined. Fuel that does not pollute when being burned. Fuel that has higher energy concentration than oil. There may even be so much of it that there is enough to transport all that need to be transported, heat where that is needed and cool down with air condition where it is too hot. And funny enough it is easier to get out than oil when we first are where that fuel is.

The human race is lazy and greedy and when oil was found those that sell that and make money on that refused to look elsewhere.

Now we know that burning oil and coal is not really that good for the planet, and even though our politicians have known (or should have) for a long time, nothing has been done if it could not immediately bring profit.

White hydrogen enough to solve the climate problem:

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2023/09/white-hydrogen-deposit-france/

When the right people with the right intentions start looking, they may find that in so many places that we can forget natural gas, oil and coal.

I know that some people believe that climate change is not something humans have been helping to make, but luckily there are less of these fools as there were some years ago.