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I am interested in forum members opinions with regard to if they would be supportive of government funding of research, developement and sales of coal powered personal transportation vehicles within the USA. The US seems to have abundant coal reserves. (at least the info I have seen would indicate this but I am always open to new info)
Totally against it. Removing mountain tops and destroying the environment for coal is antiquated. Much cleaner technology is available. :twocents:
Turn coal states into hemp producing states and revive their economies with clean agriculture and clean environment. :thumbsup:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Max Blast
I would be interested to see a car powered by burning tires.
i totaly agree with you.Quote:
Originally Posted by gypski
goal powered cars:D sounds like something from some cheap comedy from 50s:D
Or one of those old black and white features about what the future will be like, such as a coal powered flying car and robots will be made by 1975Quote:
Originally Posted by Dexter007
:S2:Quote:
Originally Posted by RedLocks
:postgood: :jointsmile:Quote:
Originally Posted by RedLocks
I am a little disappointed that out of more than 80 views only 2 members have posted their opinions. I did not make this thread as a joke.
Perhaps it will help if I point out that there are a very small number of coal powered cars currently available for sale in the USA at this time. I too am disappointed that the predictions of flying cars made decades ago are not even close but coal powered cars are here today. I have yet to make up my mind whether this is a good or a bad thing.
I hope this encourages some of you to actually leave your opinion regarding government funding for these cars.
thank you,
Max Blast
First fact: 45% of the nation's electricity comes from coal-powered generating plants. (Interestingly, an environmentalist website places it at 57% â?? but they're using figures from ten years ago. Maybe they should update their "facts.")
Second fact: On average, 7.2 percent of the electricity generated at any power plant is lost between source and destination.
Other companies know this issue as "line losses." When electricity passes through conductors over a long distance, it generates heat and some of the electricity is dissipated. Put together 1,000 feet of household extension cords, for example, and the power from wall plug to lamp will weaken so much that it will no longer light a 100-watt bulb.
Large power plants sometimes are significant polluters and unwelcome neighbors, so they typically locate far from the urban centers that consume most of the power. That means power sometimes has to move hundreds of miles to its final destination, and that means line losses.
Third fact: Only about 40 percent of the thermal energy in coal can be converted to electricity in the first place â?? i.e., 60 percent is wasted.
So here's what we've got so far. The electric car runs on batteries, which are recharged at electrical outlets, which deliver electricity from power plants. 45% of that power, nationwide, comes from coal ("bad, bad! dirty, dirty!"); 19% from nuclear plants (which produce radioactive waste that we still have not figured out a way to dispose of long-term); 6% comes from hydroelectric dams ("bad! bad! let the rivers run free!"); and 24 % comes from natural-gas plants â?? which I happen to like very much, because the stuff burns amazingly clean, and we have lots of it, but environmentalists condemn because the carbon dioxide given off supposedly causes global climate change. Basically, for an environmentalist, there is no acceptable way to generate electricity â?? and yet, they keep promoting these electric cars. Go figure. (Oh, but they, unlike us evil conservative hicks, are "facts-and-science-based.")
As long as we're laying facts and science on the environmentalists, how about this one:
Fourth fact: A typical 500 MW coal-powered electric plant annually produces 10,000 tons of sulfur dioxide (the main cause of acid rain) and 10,500 tons of nitrogen oxides, which cause smog and acid rain. Coal-burning also produces smaller amounts of mercury and other problematic elements, including radioactive ones. Oops. In all the hyped-up, ballyhooed hullabaloo about "man-caused global warming," folks seem to have forgotten about bad ol'-fashioned air pollution â?? the real thing, which causes massive deaths in places like China, India and Mexico City, but which has been dramatically reduced in our own country because of advanced coal-burning technologies.
So, next time a U.S. president or his lackeys try to shove an electric car down your throat, hit 'em back with some facts.
draft_lens14832221module129525761photo_1_128828803 1Energy_Sources_July_2010.png
Dexter, thanks for being one of those who left an opinion (based on facts presented) on this thread.
Not to nitpick just to further inform, I found today on DOE.GOV that more than half of the electricity in the USA comes from coal powered generating plants. Of course that does not mean that they are correct but just another source of information.
I sincerely hope others will leave their opinion of government funding for coal powered cars with or without supporting facts.
thanks again,
Max Blast