Mr. Nesmith:
Your article on alt-energy advocate infighting contained nothing
I have not seen before.
http://www.ajc.com/business/content/business/stories/2007/03/25/0325sbi
zenergy.html
As in every past energy crisis, the present oil-addiction and air-
pollution concerns of Americans has advocates for various alternative
fuels and energy sources competing for attention, grants and
government funding. I am a member of the Florida chapter of the
Electric Auto Association. So sue me.
Now to the other axe-grinders.
Howard Hayden, the retired professor calling solar energy "a
fraud," might have been asked to retire, since his opinion
contradicts that of millions of happy photovoltaic (PV-)electricity
users; solar water heating has been in use for almost a century. His
retirement income may be supplemented by the nuclear industry for
which he shills.
The great thing about ethanol is that it will keep the liquid-
fuel (read: oil) industry in profits, by propping up its fuel-station
network feeding the internal-combustion engine (ICE) industry and
continuing ICE pollution, as well as the ICE maintenance and repair
industries.
Finally, we have Bob Rose, executive director of the Fuel Cell
Council, who calls the current battery technology too expensive,
and "Some," who call rechargeable batteries for autos environmentally
suspect.
No manufacturing or product is without environmental
impact. "Some others" might say that battery making and use's measured
emissions would be dwarfed by the eco-destruction caused by the
manufacture and use of the combustion-powered products that they
displace.
Naturally, batteries capable of powering cars will be relatively
expensive until mass production of highway-capable electric vehicles
(EVs) begins in 2010 (Subaru and Mitsubishi.) Large lithium batteries
are already dropping in price as tens of millions of dollars' worth go
into Phoenix, Tesla and other EVs being built and sold this year.
The electric-drive Chevrolet Volt will also be mass-produced in
2010; General Motors' claim that lithium batteries to power the car
required a "technological breakthrough" was contradicted by GM's own
chief vehicle engineer, Nick Zelensky, in an interview in MIT's
Technology Review, a week after the Volt debuted in Detroit.
James Woolsey is right: hydrogen takes huge amounts of energy to
produce, store, ship and pump into cars (after billions are spent
building a network of filling stations.) Just the electricity needed
to produce enough hydrogen to power a fuel-call car over one mile
would propel an EV four miles.
We've heard about the sniping. Now, how about the industries that
stand to lose when EVs become common?
The oil industry has spent millions in anti-EV ads, lobbying
campaigns, planted op-eds, free-lunch "protests" with befuddled
seniors bussed in for the occasion and scare-tactics "research"
publicity. The auto industry has spent more millions in anti-EV ads,
lobbying campaigns, planted op-eds, political contributions, legal
threats to avoid and and Federal lawsuits to evade State EV mandates.
What are these industries afraid of?
First, EVs themselves are zero-emission and use no oil-based
fuel; even counting the fuels burned to generate the electricity
needed to recharge EVs, they produce less than 5% of the pollution
emitted in pumping, piping, shipping, refining, trucking and again
pumping (and then burning) oil and its refined products in today's
cars.
Second, electric motors are simple, require almost no repairs and
last up to a million miles. Think what that will do to engine spare-
parts sales and new-auto dealer service profits. Dealers joined in one
Federal case.
Yes, we alt-fuel-and-energy advocates will snipe, but one
technology will predominate. With home-installed PV systems charging
our EVs, Americans will one day drive virtually emissions-free for a
few pennies per mile.
Breathe free,
Hugh E Webber
Electric Auto Association, Florida chapter
http://www.eaaev.org/ http://floridaeaa.org/
Earth Shuttle Pedalcab www.pedalcab.us
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