Re: "The Only Thing They Learn" -- does anyone else find it irritating?

On Jun 17, 11:56 pm, John Schilling <schil...@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Tue, 17 Jun 2008 19:16:50 -0400, lath...@xxxxxxxxxx (Richard D. Latham)
wrote:

I suspect $5 / gallon (and heading for 10) gasoline will fix that
little problem in the bye and bye.

If gasoline could reasonably be used to generate electricity, or
nuclear power to run automobiles, perhaps.

The reality is, even if we had retro-futuristic too-cheap-to-meter
nuclear power, you'd *still* be driving a car that burns $4/gallon
gasoline. Two completely different markets, now and for years to
come.

In practice, this may well be true. But if fossil fuel supplies are
limited, and their use must be limited to forestall climate change,
while *no such consideration* applies to nuclear power, substitutions
could be made wherever possible - and with rationing enforced if the
market is not swift enough on its own.

Oil and natural gas can be used to heat homes - but so can
electricity.

Diesel fuel can be used to power public transit - but so can
electricity.

If global warming is taken seriously, then we could generate all our
electricity from hydroelectricity, nuclear power, and the "green"
sources of wind power, geothermal, solar power, and tidal where
possible as well - and none from coal, oil, and natural gas.

And heat our homes electrically. And use trolley buses for public
transit.

Gasoline is more difficult to replace. Ethyl alcohol is largely
produced in competition with food. Methyl alcohol can be produced from
more biomass waste products, but requires significantly modified
engines.

Electrolysis of water to produce hydrogen is well-known; I'm not so
sure about a convenient process to produce carbon from carbon dioxide
with just electricity as an input. If one is available, it will still
be simpler to synthesize ethanol than octane, or even pentane, I
think, so minimal changes will be required in any event.

John Savard
.

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