[DIGRESSION] RE: the news from bush's speech...H-power

[Mike Rosing]

On Wed, 29 Jan 2003, Major Variola (ret) wrote:

> Oh come on.  Its all economics.  (With tech changing the params)
> Fuel cells for cars are too expensive today.  There is not enough
> methanol
> production/distrib infrastructure, which costs to create.  [insert
> Metcalfe's law (aka fax or network effect) blurb here]
> And where do you get to strip-mine the coal for the methanol?

Even H. Ford was figuring on using hemp for methanol.  The problem
is that you need a nuke plant to do the final distillation.  That's
politics, not economics.

> The economics will make battery + capacitor + constant-rate Otto engine
> (aka 'hybrid') keep petrol cheaper than alternative
> energy carriers and sufficiently clean for a while.  You'll see 42 volt
> cars (soon) before you see fuel cells in cars.

Yup, the ability to run the Otto at fixed speed maximizes it's efficiency.
When the price of fuel for the 25% max efficiency runs into the 90%+
efficiency of more expensive motors, we'll see things start changing.
Just gotta kill off a few more arabs to extend the time when that happens
is all.

Patience, persistence, truth,
Dr. mike