The Cost of Being Green

Would it be a tad bit "greener" if everyone rode scooters,motorcycles,bicycles and public transpotation to work and leave their cars and trucks for weekend use? Just a crazy thought
 

Scott-your phone will be ringing in a few years.  The Tesla isn't really the latest and greatest.  The entire powertrain of that, and the Wrightspeed, are made by AC Propulsion, which has been making the basic power package in the Tesla for a few years.  It is a good system, but relies a on a myriad of daisy chained AA batteries.  Large format, proprietary lithium ion batteries are eliminating the bottleneck. Our new EV truck has a 150 mile range and charges to 80-90 percent with the mega charger in 10-15 minutes.  It can go 90 mph and carry four guys while doing it.   Getting there...

Scott-your phone will be ringing in a few years.  The Tesla isn't really the latest and greatest.  The entire powertrain of that, and the Wrightspeed, are made by AC Propulsion, which has been making the basic power package in the Tesla for a few years.  It is a good system, but relies a on a myriad of daisy chained AA batteries.  Large format, proprietary lithium ion batteries are eliminating the bottleneck. Our new EV truck has a 150 mile range and charges to 80-90 percent with the mega charger in 10-15 minutes.  It can go 90 mph and carry four guys while doing it.   Getting there...

Can you carry the mega charger in the car for long trips?

Nope 

In Seattle we are allowed to buy portions of (or all of) our electricity from Green source ... http://www.seattle.gov/light/green/greenpower/.  Yes, it cost us more.

I checked to see if PG&E has a similar program.  They don't.  But they do have a program they call ClimateSmart ... http://www.pge.com/about_us/environment/features/climatesmart.html

ClimateSmart™ provides a voluntary option for Pacific Gas and Electric Company customers to reduce their personal impact on climate change. When you enroll in the program, PG&E will calculate the amount needed to make the greenhouse gas emissions associated with your personal or business energy use “neutral” and will add this amount to your monthly energy bill. The typical PG&E residential customer will pay less than $5 per month for ClimateSmart.

It looks like (yet another) carbon credit type of program.

What do you all think of these?

-Allen

I just don't know, folks, about all this "green" stuff, since everything comes from somewhere and goes somewhere.  Resources are limited and thermodynamics and the tides of entropy do not care about money and politics and the latest human ideas, no more than the sea and rocks or fish care if we drown.

All this talk of being "green" makes me a little blue.   My preference is to just live a simple happy life with less.  No doubt my footprint on the planet is huge, with my innate fondness for various floating plastics.

In Seattle we are allowed to buy portions of (or all of) our electricity from Green source ... http://www.seattle.gov/light/green/greenpower/.  Yes, it cost us more.

What do you all think of these?

Awesome Pole, I'm all signed up. Thanks!

Z

All this talk of being "green" makes me a little blue.   My preference is to just live a simple happy life with less.  No doubt my footprint on the planet is huge, with my innate fondness for various floating plastics.

Pretty much with ya HS.  At least your floating toys are human powered!

My question about completely electric vehicles is the added cost of electric power transmission.  My understanding is that transmitting electric power from the power-plant to the home is "lossy."  Are these vehicles still efficient when the powerline loss is factored in?

Also, if we (Californians) are experiencing near rolling blackouts during the summer now, what will happen when the 20 million California cars become plug-in vehicles?

Not trying to make a point about EVs, just questions that have occurred to me.

GM really did take a big dump when they got rid of their EV line, at least for what's becoming trendy now.

Dave

Yeah Baby that's what I'm talking about,,,,,,

Or maybe just a hopeful sign

"Betty T. Yee, Chairwoman of the Board of Equalization (BOE), today released gasoline consumption figures that show Californians used less gasoline in September than they did a year ago. September figures declined by 2.6 percent from the same period a year ago.

The complete figures for the third quarter of 2007 mark the sixth consecutive three-month period to show a continuing decline in gas consumption. In the third quarter of 2007, Californians used 46.2 million gallons less than they did in the same period last year."

for the full article see  http://www.forbes.com/businesswire/feeds/businesswire/2007/12/31/businesswire20071231005252r1.html

I'm not sure why the link shows as text, but it still works if you paste in as an internet address.

EVs make allot of sense when the electricity comes from the solar panels on your own roof, otherwise you're mostly just moving the pollution around,  not from the car anymore, but still from the power plant, while green electricity is available thru transmission lines, at this point most of it is still produced by burning fossil fuels.

But the future is out there and it's coming to a roof near you.  

To Sean White in Ukiah from Matt Leach in Mendocino,

I very much doubt, Sir, that we could ever effectively engage in a decent argument together about all this "green" stuff.   So on to more important issues and duties:

When are you coming to the Coast next, and may I at least just meet you in person to just say hello and shake your hand?

And how about them kayaks?

EVs make allot of sense when the electricity comes from the solar panels on your own roof, otherwise you're mostly just moving the pollution around,  not from the car anymore, but still from the power plant, while green electricity is available thru transmission lines, at this point most of it is still produced by burning fossil fuels.

Well, PG&E's electricity is not mostly from fossil fuels.



The weird thought occurred to me as I drove into work this morning.  How many solar panels need to be built before we experience a global cooling effect due to them?  After all, we are deriving energy from the suns rays that would normally be heating the planet.  Come on ScottThornley ... do the math on this one please.   

-Allen

I was going to say the same thing Pole². And to drive the point home even more, gas doesn't come out of the ground ready to go straight in the gas tank. For petrol. it's dirty to make and dirty to use.
For electric, some of the energy (65% by the PG&E chart) is dirty to make and clean to use. And for those who are going to jump on me and say that the batteries are dirty, they're recyclable. You already do it every time you replace you car battery.

Z

Advertisements in the Western Outdoor News...!!!....

Yamaha has a 300 HORSEPOWER outboard.....

They had a picture of four of them powering a yacht.
Fuel supply to each was independent and stand-alone filtered.
Talk about redundancy-guaranteed reliability....!!!...
Beats anything by the National Aeronautic Space Administration.

And three hundred horsepower.....
In a package weighing about 700 pounds...
About half the weight of one medium-sized horse.

Person can't help but be amused

Judd

I have been using a cordless electric lawn mower for the past 10 years or so. It's great! The immediate benefits are very low noise and no fumes. They are a pleasure to use. My place in North Carolina was 3/4 of an acre, and my place in the Santa Cruz mountains is 1/4 acre. The mower is a little smaller than some gas models, but it gets the job done just fine.

http://www.drpower.com/TwoStepCategory.aspx?Name=NeutonMower2Step