Politics

[Opposite Pole]

Every since TMI, nuclear is the boogeyman. The vegan version of the environmentalists is we should all be driving pedal cars with wooden wheels.

Sorry, can’t use wood, you need to cut the trees down for it.

 

[sgt_zim]

Something that's been annoying me for the past few weeks is the constant ignoring of nuclear energy while people lionize either fossil fuels & fracking (pollution and other nasty crap) or wind & solar (too inefficient and lots of mining). My only good hypothesis for why we fear nuclear energy is the Cold War paranoia (A topic I can't comment on as I was still just an egg at the time) but with new advances, I think we can leave that behind. Here are 2 fairly basic videos that should explain my shtick a little better.

Sorry i seem to be picking on you...

Oil production today is not like Spindletop in 1901. With directional drilling, the oil companies can frequently tap into several pools of oil, located a few miles from each other, all from a single well-head.

I was in Ecuador in 1998. I saw with my own eyes the care Atlantic Richfield (ARCO, since bought by BP) was taking to not spoil the eastern slope (located in the Amazon). They rode these mud buggies, except when they got in soft stuff, they'd actuate legs that would fold out and walk their buggies through so the tires wouldn't tear things up. Also built a mono-rail to the drill sites to haul people and stuff in and out. Of course they had to cut down trees, but the tree cutters were mounted on the tram, with this HUGE arm which would reach a good way up the tree trunk. They'd lock on to the tree, cut it, then lay it down so it wouldn't knock down a bunch of other trees like would happen if you just cut it and let if fall.

Fun fact I read a few years ago. If you pooled all of the oil which has ever been pulled out of the ground and put it in one place, it would fill up about 1/3 to 1/2 of Lake Tahoe. Tahoe is certainly an impressive lake, but you could fit Tahoe into Lake Ontario (the smallest of the Great Lakes) almost 40 times. On a map with a scale of 1":200 miles, you can only find Lake Tahoe if you know it's in Nevada's western "corner" into California.

Another fun fact about petroleum: its discovery literally saved the whales from extinction.

I'm a fan of nuclear power, but it has no utility as a source of locomotive power (unless you're talking about submarines and larger ships).

For the average man, petroleum is far and away the most efficient (read that as both the cheapest and cleanest) form of energy to which he has need or access. Horses are a fun hobby, but there is the practical matter of their care. I've owned horses, and they are a massive amount of work. Unless one owns a lot of pasture land, they have to be fed a lot, whether they're being ridden or not. Their hooves have to be trimmed regularly. They need veterinary care. And while they're a good deal faster (and more efficient) than walking, relative to the amount of feed and water they need, they are far less efficient at converting the feed and water to miles traveled. There is also the matter of their waste, which is copious. An average horse poops about 10x/day - up to 50#/day. That's about 9 tons per year. Imagine having to clean that up in a city like New York or Houston or London. And then imagine hauling it off and disposing of it. We'd be looking out at horse turd mountains.

 

[Beretta391]

 

[Ray B]

What or who is going to replace the billions of dollars of motor fuel tax to maintain highway infrastructure? .

there will be no need for the highways. the total potential energy to be derived from all of the wind & solar power would be insufficient to support anything beyond just the rulers having automobiles, let alone powering farm equipment and transportation.

 

[Newboomer]

Despite all the bull and ballyhoo, oil will never be totally replaced. Other forms of energy will handle a small fraction of the needs but they can't be developed on a wide enough scale to make significant inroads. Costs are prohibitive and efficiency is limited.
Case in point: Electric cars. They require vast amounts of resources for production, They are expensive to build and the cost of electricity to run them is very high. People say they are clean and economical. Not so. Where does the electricity come from? Fossil fuel generating plants. Considering the amount of electricity required to power them and the cost and possible pollution to generate that power the benefits are negated. It has been studied and the cost to run an electric car compared to a gasoline powered vehicle: Gas powered, about about 1/3 the cost of electric powered per mile.

 

[tigris115]

Sorry I seem to be picking on you...

Nah, it's cool man.

 

[tigris115]

Besides, my lamenting was more that it seems to be such a black sheep among energy options and the mere mention of it conjures a large amount of fear.

 

[sgt_zim]

Besides, my lamenting was more that it seems to be such a black sheep among energy options and the mere mention of it conjures a large amount of fear.

The distaste for it seems almost entirely on the left.

 

[Ray B]

There's a hole in the sky where the tree used to be. Really??

the only solution that I see for this bunch of morons is for global warming to increase to melt the ice and raise Sea Level. Most of Seattle is below 100 feet elevation. It would get rid of these imbeciles and solve the homeless problem at the same time.

 

[Hogpatrol]

The Candidates sing Bernie's campaign song.

 

[tigris115]

If I can be impartial, I feel Bernie's problem is that he's never really shown any indications that he knows how to implement what he says he will. This is super dangerous because he makes such grand promises to his base that if he fails to follow through, he's gonna be abandoned.

Also @Hogpatrol, it's funny you post a Beatles song when they wrote a song with the message of "wanting change is fine but if you're gonna be a violent jackass or be a tankie, bugger off."

 

[tarbe]

It has been studied and the cost to run an electric car compared to a gasoline powered vehicle: Gas powered, about about 1/3 the cost of electric powered per mile.

I’d love to see that study.

Is it right next to the settled science of man-caused global warming?

I pay nine cents per kilowatt hour for electricity and even with the losses in the charger, I use 1 kWh per 4.5 miles driven.

What gasoline car operates at two cents per mile for the gas?

Not to mention the maintenance costs are minuscule compared to a vehicle that operates on petroleum constantly.

And you better believe that the emissions created at a power plant to create 1 kWh of electricity delivered to my outlet is less than the emissions from running an ICE for 4.5 miles (Not to mention all the associated admissions from exploration, transportation, refining, more transportation, etc.).

No, I am not advocating electric vehicles to “save the earth”.

So setting aside all of the arguments about emissions versus mining for lithium etc. etc. I find electric vehicles very cheap to operate and maintain...and certainly not triple that for a gas car! More like the other way around

 

[Hogpatrol]

I’d love to see that study.

Is it right next to the settled science of man-caused global warming?

I pay nine cents per kilowatt hour for electricity and even with the losses in the charger, I use 1 kWh per 4.5 miles driven.

What gasoline car operates at two cents per mile for the gas?

Not to mention the maintenance costs are minuscule compared to a vehicle that operates on petroleum constantly.

And you better believe that the emissions created at a power plant to create 1 kWh of electricity delivered to my outlet is less than the emissions from running an ICE for 4.5 miles (Not to mention all the associated admissions from exploration, transportation, refining, more transportation, etc.).

No, I am not advocating electric vehicles to “save the earth”.

So setting aside all of the arguments about emissions versus mining for lithium etc. etc. I find electric vehicles very cheap to operate and maintain...and certainly not triple that for a gas car! More like the other way around

Electric vehicles are a form of elitist welfare. I pay the motor fuel tax to maintain the roads and bridges and the electric vehicle car owners pay nothing but use the same infrastructure. From this chair, all electric vehicle owners should pay a tax equal to the miles driven for a CAFE fuel powered vehicle.

 

[Wheels]

Why in the world would Trump commute the sentence of the Democratic Mayor of Chicago, Blagojevich? Wonder what exposure there is to a certain US Senate seat that got sold.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-to-commute-sentence-of-ex-gov-blagojevich-pardon-kerik

Trump commutes sentence of ex-Gov. Blagojevich, pardons Kerik

 

[tarbe]

Electric vehicles are a form of elitist welfare. I pay the motor fuel tax to maintain the roads and bridges and the electric vehicle car owners pay nothing but use the same infrastructure. From this chair, all electric vehicle owners should pay a tax equal to the miles driven for a CAFE fuel powered vehicle.

Trust me my other vehicle is a Land Cruiser. I pay plenty of fuel tax!

But I can’t say that I disagree with you on the tax for non-petroleum vehicle use

 

[Mort Hill]

Something that's been annoying me for the past few weeks is the constant ignoring of nuclear energy while people lionize either fossil fuels & fracking (pollution and other nasty crap) or wind & solar (too inefficient and lots of mining). My only good hypothesis for why we fear nuclear energy is the Cold War paranoia (A topic I can't comment on as I was still just an egg at the time) but with new advances, I think we can leave that behind. Here are 2 fairly basic videos that should explain my shtick a little better.

My father in the 1960-70 worked for a major corporation selling nuclear fuel to TVA along with the reactor equipment to make nuclear power. I was the only 16 year old kid driving a car to school with a bumper sticker, sanctioned by my God fearing Christian parents, that read “Nuclear Power - Safer Than Sex”.

 

[meigsbucks]

Ohio upped it’s fuel tax last year by $0.105 / gal.. They added a $100 annual registration fee for hybrid vehicles and $200 for electric cars.

 

[tarbe]

Dang you hogmeister - this talk about tax iniquity has reminded me that in the past 10 years I’ve paid $40,000 in school taxes without having a child in the school system.

 

[Ray B]

in the past 10 years I’ve paid $40,000 in school taxes without having a child in the school system.

So are you complaining that you haven't had enough children to get your moneys worth? or that you're paying all this money and look how functionally illiterate, mathematically ignorant and completely lacking of critical thinking abilities those students that you subsidized have become?

 

[tarbe]

So are you complaining that you haven't had enough children to get your moneys worth? or that you're paying all this money and look how functionally illiterate, mathematically ignorant and completely lacking of critical thinking abilities those students that you subsidized have become?

Actually, neither (although the second point is well taken! ).

I was really just pointing out that while some my grouse about a hybrid/electric car driver skipping out on $400 per year of fuel tax, there are others who are getting nailed for 10X as much to fund something everyone theoretically benefits from, but not all pay for.

There are plenty of things in this world to get worked-up over. We should try to major in the majors and let the minors slide (if we want to have any energy left for hunting).