[Greenbuilding] re OT What car?/Reuben (Bob Korves)

Mon May 5 05:12:37 CDT 2008

There are physical limitations mainly because of limited paradigms.

Wean myself of my mobility because of a lessening of fossil fuel
availability? 

No thanks, I'll switch to solar recharged battery powered electric drive,
thank you.

One moving part in an electric motor has far less environmenal impact than
300 (plus another 100 in the tranny) moving parts in an ICE motor. Plus
electric motors have so many fewer regular replacement parts, (think
environmental impact) such as oil filters, air filters, fuel filters, spark
plugs, plug wires, caps, rotors, belts, hoses, anti-freeze, mufflers,
catalytic converters, sensors, tail pipes, fuel pumps, water pumps,
alternators, (you know, all that "planned obsolescent hardware) along with
CO2, Nox, etc. going into the air we breathe or into the environment by way
of discard and dumping.

Some people postulate we should awitch to hydrogen. That doesn't eliminate
the afore mentioned environmental impact. Plus less than 1% of the energy of
any ICE engine's fuel is used to actually move your butt down the road.
Whereas electric cars demonstrate over 75% efficiency. And if recharged by
the sun....how do you quantify an efficiency rating when you're not using a
man made fuel commodity? 

Plus the Lithium is recycleable. And even better batteries using aluminum
for example are in the labs today. It's a matter of deciding which is more
important...extreme wealth for a few people, or a healthy planet.
Hmmmmmm.....not much of a decision for me.

The challenge is weaning the special interests and some consumers off
gasoline for mobility and maintaining it for all the other things we need
like plastic and fertilizer....until we figure out alternative sources. I
don't have any concern for the wealthy at all....they can always invest
their millions elsewhere....such as in Zero Energy House Technology
proliferation. Geee that's a tough choice when fuel is rising and 60% of a
family's utility bill is for the energy the house wastes. Eliminate that 60%
with a true zero energy house, and you only need a "small" Solar PV system
to cover the remaining 40%. Plus there are ways to reduce that 40%...LED
lights use 1/10th the energy, solar hot water can replace the electric or
gas water heater. A horizontal refrigerator that opens like a tackle box
could be built that uses 1/10 or less electricity. 

Geee, right there we have the three most wasteful appliances, the house
itself and mobility issue handled by paradigm shifts.

We live on a planet with inexhaustible geothermal energy orbiting about a
star that emits unlimited energy every day. Do you suppose we'll ever get
smart enough to design systems to use that instead of limiting our thinking
to some rich guy's snake oil that his salesmen have conditioned some of us
to think is the only way to live successfully? 

I reject the conservationist mantra of lifestyle reduction, spacial
sacrifice and down toned existence.....sorry I have wings to unfurl. And,
speaking of wings....the U.S. has already been crossed by an airplane
powered by solar cells.....so again I SHOUT......open your minds and rethink
your paradigms. 

Freedom is just a gasp away.

ZeroEnergy at cox.net     

-----Original Message-----
From: greenbuilding-bounces at listserv.repp.org
[mailto:greenbuilding-bounces at listserv.repp.org] On Behalf Of MKL
Sent: Sunday, May 04, 2008 9:05 PM
To: greenbuilding at listserv.repp.org
Subject: Re: [Greenbuilding] re OT What car?/Reuben (Bob Korves)

>Thanks for your thoughts, Michael.

 Well they were the right price perhaps?

>Do I detect some subtle difficulty in coming to grips
with the end of
> the
>world as we have known it?

You mean I might have some difficulty in accepting the horror of existence
the inevitable void or the possibility that regardless of what "we" do life
in some form or another will prevail on this planet? No?
Well perhaps you mean I have yet to evolve to a degree where I understand
something that "everyone else"
understands but dares not speak of? In which case by all means tell me.

>
>Reuben is doing what he thinks he needs to do to fit
in the world as he
> sees it. 

I could  allow your opinion to be simply seen for what it might be but no I
have to point out that according to Sartre Reuben probably cares less about
fitting in than doing what he wants to do and to that I say "well done" to
Reuben (as I do often to some of my Amish
friends) but if I thought there was the slightest hint of "moral"
superiority in his tone (which I do not) I would of course let his immodesty
speak for itself. 

 >Nowhere in his post did I see any hint that he prescibed his
> specific
>actions for anyone else.

You are accusing me of accusing Reuben of "preaching"
? Not I Bob, reread my post. I assure you I was genuinely interested in the
absolutism of his viewpoint in my inquiry. As an aside I dont think it will
be possible to support a world bred on fossil fuel usage to change without
nuclear proliferation on a scale at least equal to France but thats another
story.

>Reuben described his world, and you described yours,
Michael.  

Reuben didnt describe his world old bean he described his bicycle and if you
think my world can be described in a couple of paragraphs then you are
obviously  one sandwich short of a picnic. 

>The participants on this list will no doubt take both
under advisement.

Nicely wrapped up Bob .

 Michael Lough

Admiration of the proletariat, like that of dams, power stations, and
aeroplanes, is part of the ideology of the machine age.
Bertrand Russell

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