I had what became known as “Standard Lecture Number 23”. It addressed when to stop chasing diminishing returns in a new design, start building, and begin the next project.
BJC
BJC
Regulation is important here because coal and gas remain a cheaper source for this carbon and so to avoid hundreds more years of liquid fuels production from coal and gas after oil runs out, we must regulate just a little to ensure that the externality costs of using these 'dirty' sources are priced into the raw material cost so that the advantages of cleaner sources can be monetized by industry.
The bottom line is that once oil gets passed $100/barrel or so, these 'alternative' methods will begin to enter the market, not because they are 'clean' but because they can be cheaper. And so aviation can continue to perfect present technology in the comfort that 'clean' liquid fuels will soon be readily available as drop-in replacements. No massive leaps of technology required. Just pricing signals to the market to invest in the transition.
Where are batteries in all of this? Nowhere.
I have worked most of my life in the clean-tech industry including a solar biofuel company. In that company we looked at Co2 cracking and/or biomass pyrolysis (using solar energy) to get CO + H2. Thence water/gas-shift or solar reformation and Fischer Tropsch method into subsequent heavier octanes such as Gasoline or Diesel. Direct fuels production from chemistry and sunshine.
has been happening longer than any of us have been alive, and will likely continue long after we're gone. Contrary to (apparently) popular belief, it is continuing to pick the traditional means of energy production over new sources. We just don't often see it, because we've been the frogs in the pot; not feeling what's always been there as the temperature changes.Government picking winners and losers
Because it creates a closed loop, instead of an ever-expanding volume. Solar pulls the crud emitted yesterday out of the atmosphere and converts it to fuel you burn today, and tomorrow the process repeats.Besides which why bother? If, in the end, you are going to create 100LL for me to burn, what's the point? I'll put the same amount of carbon into the atmosphere. All you've done is find a way to make it more expensive.
You're old enough to realize that if you're going to fly in your lifetime, that's what you have to do. Use existing technology. I remember stuff that the younger folks won't: the broken promises of imminent new, cheaper engines, flying cars (like Moller's) and other stuff that folks fell for; they waited and waited and didn't get started on buying or building anything, and never did fly. Likely never will, now.I’ve operated several types of powerplants, but I prefer a Lycoming power plant turning a Hartzel propeller and a B and C alternator, all mounted FWF in a Home Built Airplane.
BJC
I'm on my fourth vehicle in my life. (Not including my wife's vehicles.) Too many people that I know have wasted money on vehicles; some buying too many new, some buying too many used, some buying a vehicle that they didn't need, some just buying lousy vehicles.I have never bought anything but used cars.
Champs are great airplanes - much more to my liking that that other brand. There are airplanes to be had for most people who really want to fly.My 70 year old champ cost less less then a used truck, costs virtually nothing to operate, and is easily worked.
I know a fellow who trucks the stuff collected at bottle depots and the like to recycling sorting centers. They separate the plastic and glass and plastic. The glass is crushed and trucked to the landfill. It's often cheaper to make new glass than to recycle it.Several places where I have lived operated, at additional cost, segregated collection systems for paper and plastic. They did that to make citizens feel good. It wasn’t recycled, because it wasn’t / isn’t economical.
To be blunt,
has been happening longer than any of us have been alive, and will likely continue long after we're gone. Contrary to (apparently) popular belief, it is continuing to pick the traditional means of energy production over new sources. We just don't often see it, because we've been the frogs in the pot; not feeling what's always been there as the temperature changes.
The issue is, do you want it to pick the ones that will leave an unlivable environment for your kids & grandkids, so you can avoid a little short term pain? How day trader oriented are we, and can we afford to lose?
Because it creates a closed loop, instead of an ever-expanding volume. Solar pulls the crud emitted yesterday out of the atmosphere and converts it to fuel you burn today, and tomorrow the process repeats.
...The issue is, do you want it to pick the ones that will leave an unlivable environment for your kids & grandkids, so you can avoid a little short term pain? How day trader oriented are we, and can we afford to lose?
That is the Tragedy of the Commons in a nutshell. The problem with the "free market" is that the environment doesn't get a say in it, and the future of humanity's existence absolutely depends on the environment. Near enough as makes no difference, the Earth is a closed system; a space ship where nothing comes comes in or goes out except radiated energy. And as simple as that is, we've already f***** it up pretty badly. And that's not theory or conjecture; at this point it is an economic fact and you can already see the money moving around to follow the habitable climate.
I generally don't respond to those on my Ignore list, but I'll make an exception here:
Is there some other part of "radiant energy" or "near enough as makes no difference" that is unclear?
Thank you for citing two good cases where government regulation made huge improvements in environmental quality and quality of life by restricting industrial practices. Don't forget LA smog (catalytic converters) and ozone depletion (CFCs).
Aaaaannnndddd.......
BoKu beat me to it; without government regulation (it's worth pointing out that the government in the USA is what we make), the path we were on throughout the industrial revolution up to the beginning of our 'EPA era' would have continued, and our air and water would look far worse than China's currently looks.
I'm forever amazed that people still believe that corporations are our benevolent caregivers, and that if we just give them enough tax breaks and deregulation, they'll create a perfect world for us.
Is anyone here besides me paying any attention to what this winter is looking like so far? St. Petersburg's "Deep Freeze" Breaks 1893 Record; Sweden Busts All-Time December Low (-46.8F); Bethel, Alaska Suffered Its Coldest November in 82 Years; + Grímsvötn Volcano Alert - Electroverse1. The earth is not a closed system - it's gets radiant energy from the Sun and is hit by meteors.
In addition, it is hit by particle storms from the Sun (coronal mass ejections) which impact the
magnetosphere and has impact on weather.
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