[SpardaSon21]

My solution:  SCIENCE!

[WeatherOp]

I don't know if you are still working on the paper, but look up these terms, AO, NAO and PNA, La Nina and El Nino(for more fun look up both west and east based versions of these) and neutral.


Should add a flare to your existing data used. Note though, these are short term climate modifications

[iamzack]

Sorry for waxing poetic but I always feel that if we, collectively, set our minds to solve problems a bunch of people will come up with some really great ideas and a few of them will even work. We do need a bit of a game changer.

You, sir, have inspired me. BEHOLD:

fuel efficient aircraft!


appliances requiring no electricity!


vehicles requiring no oil whatsoever!


vastly increased food supply!


And so much more!!

All we have to do is resurrect dinosaurs and all our problems will be solved

[Mika]

My laptop lasts 7 hours actually doing stuff (notes, documents, light web surfing). It lasts 4-5 hours doing multimedia and about 2 hours gaming. So improvements are possible

Do not mix up improvements in the laptop power management to improvement in the batteries. A large fraction of the improved up-time can be explained with power management, and that effect I can see. My mobile works for a week with a single charge, and my gut feeling is that this is mainly due to more energy efficient design of circuitry. By the way, how many of the posters that participated to this thread are ready to give in their iPhones or Communicators for saving the environment?

The laptops in 2002 lasted about the same time in my work than the laptops in 2010. Work being heavy duty ray-tracing mostly. Yes, I get nowadays double the performance, but the actual hours haven't improved. This would indicate about a factor of two improvement in the capacity of the battery.

Can anyone find a chart of mobile phone battery capacities since the end of 1980s? I tried to look for that, but couldn't find one.

[BengalTiger]

My solution:  SCIENCE!

But that would only work if some wise guys didn't reduce the hydrogen car research funds by 100 000 000 USD (unless that news is no longer true).

[jr2]

1. advanced nuclear reactors (capable of burning thorium, current nuclear waste, and our uranium resources will last for thousands of years with them)
2. Solar concentrator plants (mechanical, not photovoltaics) - the most promising alternative energy source
3. energy storage and car fuel using hydrogen and this - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1351341/Relief-pumps-Revolutionary-hydrogen-fuel-cost-just-90p-GALLON-run-existing-cars.html

Problem solved.

But AA president Edmund King warned: ‘The fact the hydrogen is cheaper now doesn’t mean it always will be because the Government would soon get its hands on it and increase the tax.’

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1351341/Relief-pumps-Revolutionary-hydrogen-fuel-cost-just-90p-GALLON-run-existing-cars.html#ixzz1D74x0nIJ


Dumb money-grubbing politicians...

[Ravenholme]

Sorry for waxing poetic but I always feel that if we, collectively, set our minds to solve problems a bunch of people will come up with some really great ideas and a few of them will even work. We do need a bit of a game changer.

You, sir, have inspired me. BEHOLD:

fuel efficient aircraft!




vehicles requiring no oil whatsoever!

Dinotopia, **** yeah! I loved that when I was a kid.

And for non-Brits, the reason why GALLON is capitalised in the above Daily Mail links (And take it with a pinch of a salt too, the Daily Mail is the worst kind of Tabloid, think fox news but a newspaper) is because in the UK we pay per litre, not per gallon. (In my area, diesel is currently £1.30 a litre, with unleaded petrol being around £1.25 per litre)

[General Battuta]

oh my god dinotopia

[Drogoth]

Thats hella expensive. Gasoline here is only 99 cents a litre... CAD

[Luis Dias]

hydrogen cars are DOA (dead on arrival). Probably DBA.

EV cars will run the decade from 2020 to 2030. Mark my words.

[Mika]

hydrogen cars are DOA (dead on arrival). Probably DBA.

I also checked some of the reasons behind cancellation of the hydrogen based fuel research, there seems to be some reason behind the cancellation. It turned out there were plenty of difficulties that I didn't know of, including making of the hydrogen in the first place, and then the delivery of it to the location where it is needed. From energy density point of view, hydrogen really seems good, but practicum begs to differ.

As a short conclusion, it doesn't seem to be easy to replace fossilized fuels, not with battery technologies or hydrogen based fuels. There might be more potential in the battery technologies, but then again there is a lot to do in order to improve the energy densities of the batteries.

[jr2]

Any practical way to artificially create petroleum that is less... polluting?  Since it's a great energy storage medium, why not tweak it and use it?

[WeatherOp]

Any practical way to artificially create petroleum that is less... polluting?  Since it's a great energy storage medium, why not tweak it and use it?

This was linked on a local weather forum I'm a part of. I don't know much about the article or how true it is.

http://www.gizmag.com/breakthrough-promises-150-per-gallon-synthetic-gasoline-with-no-carbon-emissions/17687/

[Mars]

hydrogen cars are DOA (dead on arrival). Probably DBA.

I also checked some of the reasons behind cancellation of the hydrogen based fuel research, there seems to be some reason behind the cancellation. It turned out there were plenty of difficulties that I didn't know of, including making of the hydrogen in the first place, and then the delivery of it to the location where it is needed. From energy density point of view, hydrogen really seems good, but practicum begs to differ.

As a short conclusion, it doesn't seem to be easy to replace fossilized fuels, not with battery technologies or hydrogen based fuels. There might be more potential in the battery technologies, but then again there is a lot to do in order to improve the energy densities of the batteries.

Hydrogen has a great energy / weight ratio, but even in liquid form has something like 1/12 the energy / volume of petroleum. 

[Scourge of Ages]

On batteries: I work with them. So I can very reasonably say that battery technology is improving.
It's not moving nearly as fast as the technology that it powers, but it's steadily advancing, getting more efficient and generally better. I think a pretty safe estimate would be that Ni-MH and Li-Ion technology has roughly doubled in capacity while the cost has been halved over the past 10 years. And research continues to find solutions: http://news.cnet.com/A-tenfold-improvement-in-battery-life/2100-1041_3-6226196.html

Sure your phones, laptops, etc. work about the same amount of time on a modern battery, but remember that even with better power management, all devices are still using WAY more electricity. Think that a smart phone purchased today would probably have more computing power than a top-shelf gaming PC 15 years ago.

[Beskargam]

where did i find that. . . found a thingy on solar power. problem with it is space required for panels or gettin gpower to areas that need it withou blowing out the grid. anyway article was about solar paneling that was more akin to paint than smthing else. and you can put it on ur house, car etc. which wld help. cant find the link. . . gotta check with my enviro sci teacher tomorrow

"I don't know if you are still working on the paper, but look up these terms, AO, NAO and PNA, La Nina and El Nino(for more fun look up both west and east based versions of these) and neutral."
       
             already turned it in. familiar with la nina and el nino. did include them in paper. hmm can you spell out the acroynms for AO and PNA? no idea what those of the top of my head and google lies

[Beskargam]

correction. not paint. nano solar film. still in expieramental stages

[Mika]

Hydrogen has a great energy / weight ratio, but even in liquid form has something like 1/12 the energy / volume of petroleum. 

Yes, but it is still better than batteries, but the problem is that it doesn't seem to be very practical after all.

On batteries: I work with them. So I can very reasonably say that battery technology is improving.
It's not moving nearly as fast as the technology that it powers, but it's steadily advancing, getting more efficient and generally better. I think a pretty safe estimate would be that Ni-MH and Li-Ion technology has roughly doubled in capacity while the cost has been halved over the past 10 years. And research continues to find solutions: http://news.cnet.com/A-tenfold-improvement-in-battery-life/2100-1041_3-6226196.html

Sure your phones, laptops, etc. work about the same amount of time on a modern battery, but remember that even with better power management, all devices are still using WAY more electricity. Think that a smart phone purchased today would probably have more computing power than a top-shelf gaming PC 15 years ago.

Would you have a chart of capacity increase per year for the batteries? I'm looking for the trendline, and if the trend is linear, exponential or logarithmic. Also, replacing combustion engine with battery begs for question that how much does the cost of lithium increase due to the increased demand?