Al Koop wrote:
KP: 2. A significant increase in support for wind energy installations -
the
"renewable" technology that has the most going for it.
AK: From what I know it is cheap and competitive now. We should build
as many windmills as possible. The problems are that wind requires a
backup since it is not available on demand, plus the total power that
could be generated won?t come close to meeting the needs of everyone.
In California we have lots of windmill farms. To see a hundred or so windmills all spinning at their varying rates is novel and interesting, maybe even pretty. But they get old fast. To see thousands of them covering all suitable hills and ridges is not so nice. Most people I know regard them as a blight. I've also heard repeated rumors that they would not be a profitable source of electricity without the special incentives government offers, and that people invest in them primarily to take the tax write-offs. Maybe you know whether or not those things are true.
KP: 3. An increase in support for "hybrid" transportation vehicles -
(gasoline -
electrical)
AK: We have the Honda Civic and Toyota Prius on the roads now. If we
had the political impetus we could have had vehicles right now getting
an average of 40 miles per gallon. The political situation mentioned
above has ruled this out. We need a crisis to get most people driving a
hybrid and even then it will take a long time to switch the
infrastructure of the manufacturing process to build the hybrids and to
phase out the total gas vehicles present today.
One positive indicator is that, where I live, the waiting lists for such cars are long. We can't get enough of them, even though the manufacturers are tacking a premium onto prices because of the demand. Evaluations I've read indicate that at today's fuel prices owners will not come out ahead financially because of the high initial capital outlay required. Of course, vehicle prices should come down with time and mass production.
Don
Received on Sat, 13 Dec 2003 00:56:11 -0800
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