Premise of this quasi-Utopian vision: If the USA were to undertake a
concerted national effort, we could eliminate all oil imports in five years and
fully and completely extricate ourselves from all political and military
involvement in those hostile parts of the world which have become our worst
nightmare... not to mention, created a cash drain which has driven us
to near bankruptcy. We could also bring back a million lost manufacturing jobs
and 150,000 troops.
The downside: we must give up the myth of free-trade. Not to mention the
myth that we are the World-police - and can get rid of all dictators and end
civil wars. Home grown problems require home grown solutions.
Free-trade never worked, and moreover was never "free" anyway. It has
always been a poorly disguised accommodation to the greed of a small segment of
corporate America. Whether or not this 180 degree reversal in policy is a
true downside feature of this neo-5-year plan, outlined below - well, that
depends on your evolving world-view. For years, I bought into the free-trade
myth, but now am convinced that it does not work, guarantees nothing but
eventual poverty through loss of factory jobs, and that it should be
abandoned in favor of a kind of limited national full-employment scheme.
This net effect of this is that China and the middle-East will suffer, but
working Americans, and the abandoned middle class, will prosper once again
by retaining the jobs and capital which we now export to these regions.
Scenario for summer of 2008: Gasoline is $8 gallon but not-to-worry. We
have retooled much of the domestic auto industry by working 24/7 on a new
standard design - shared by all manufacturers. This was funded by the $500
billion saved by an early withdrawal from the middle-East. We have told all
foreign and domestic auto companies that they will have to manufacture most
of this vehicle *only here* for the first 5 years, before importing from
low-wage areas.
Every "other" new car which is sold or imported following this date -
especially SUVs, gas-guzzlers and the like, will pay a hefty penalty into a
pool which is to be split by purchasers of only this new 150 MPG design,
which any domestic maker can share - and in a myriad of styles, but with common
drive train parts (at least at the start). After 5 years, it is back to normal
competition. This is an emergency measure, in case you hadn't noticed (the
symptoms of a near-death patient).
The new automobile base-design - with which to accomplish this
miracle is a hybrid, like the Prius but more complicated, and about the
same price. We will call it the "V" car. V for victory over OPEC - like the
victory gardens of WWII.
In fact, when you buy this new car, you buy both the car and a small
mini-factor which is installed in your garage by the dealer. It is a turnkey
operation which is partly subsidized by the grid power company, which will be
getting most of what you previously spent for gasoline (but not all). This unit
is about the size of a hot-water heater, and is intended to be operated at night
at reduced power cost. It is connected to the car by a single hose-power-cord -
and performs two other functions in addition to recharging the small number of
batteries.
BTW - no breakthrough is required for batteries (the "bettery" is not
needed), although that particular advance, if it happens, would be beneficial
for reducing weight. Of course if a huge advance were to be made and the real
bettery become a reality (which has been promised for the past several decades
but, like hot-fusion, is always only 5 more years away) then none of the
following complexity will be needed. The same, of course, goes for the
MPI/Strain/Stoern magnetic motor or solid-state generator, should they mature in
time.
Notwithstanding that major breakthrough, the hybrid car itself will need no
large engine, just a tiny genset - similar in size to a present day turbocharger
- except that the compressor-end is gone and replaced with a high speed
electrical generator - operating at only one speed (100,000 RPM) and about 20 kW
output - used to keep the batteries charged for longer trips than the 10 miles
they can go with no genset.
This is basically a tiny steam engine. A slightly larger radiator is there,
but it is used to condense some of the steam back to water so that less need be
carried. The steam is made mostly from water which has been converted onboard
into HTP (high test peroxide), but zero HTP (which is dangerous) is carried
aboard the vehicle.
How can that be??? Simple, my dear Watson - it is all manufactured and
enriched continuously and "just in time" (as detailed in the next posting).
There is a small tank for carrying a few gallons of biodiesel (or fossil
fuel). The vehicle will get about 150 MPG or more, based on the fossil
fuel, so only a modest amount is needed. Much more HTP is needed but there
is little cost involved there.
Several gallons per hour of HTP will be needed to be made. For every gallon
of biodiesel burned (to go that 150 miles) you will need about 5 gallons of HTP
which will supply all of the oxidizer in liquid form and about half the net
energy. The space required for the reactor and enrichment cascade will almost
fit where the missing engine was. The Carnot efficiency of this system is near
65% which is technically not possible without the fuel value of the
peroxide.
Stay tuned, more details on how this can be done in the short-term will
follow.
Jones
