Richard Moore Posted March 4, 2012 Report Share Posted March 4, 2012 I'm browsing my local paper's website and this pops up in a couple of the ad spaces... Click to Enlarge 23.05?KB I kinda did a double spit take. A free home inspection with a car....just great! And what's with an HI only being worth $99.99? I settled down after clicking on the ad and finding out it's just an inspection of the home's electrical system for the charger. Still, they shouldn't have it worded like that. Some of us old farts shouldn't be shocked like this! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kogel Posted March 4, 2012 Report Share Posted March 4, 2012 "Hey, the salesman said as long as we've got healthy pipe fuses, we're good to go." [] I imagine an electrician gets his foot in the door, tells the client they'll need a 240 volt circuit and a special outlet installed, gives them an estimate and gets the job. Some people will need a service upgrade. I know I would. I guess I could run a generator to power the charger. [] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Dirks Jr Posted March 4, 2012 Report Share Posted March 4, 2012 I think the background of the add should be a coal mining operation. Most of the electricity used to power those things will be from coal fired electric plants. Ah, the dirty little secrets they don't mention. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hausdok Posted March 4, 2012 Report Share Posted March 4, 2012 Hi, I don't know why they'd need a home inspection. They could have a pole, meter and separate box installed outside without tapping into the house's electrical system. The utility probably has a flat rate they charge developers for those when they set them up for temporary power on built sites. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Moore Posted March 4, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 4, 2012 I think the background of the add should be a coal mining operation. Most of the electricity used to power those things will be from coal fired electric plants. Ah, the dirty little secrets they don't mention. Sure, and then Cadillac ads would have pictures of dead sea otters and other marine life covered in oil, right? Or does ridiculous imagery only work one way? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Dirks Jr Posted March 5, 2012 Report Share Posted March 5, 2012 I think the background of the add should be a coal mining operation. Most of the electricity used to power those things will be from coal fired electric plants. Ah, the dirty little secrets they don't mention. Sure, and then Cadillac ads would have pictures of dead sea otters and other marine life covered in oil, right? Or does ridiculous imagery only work one way? Sure enough. Everything has it's downside. Some things are just vilified while others get a free pass. Do you know how many birds are killed by windmills? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hausdok Posted March 5, 2012 Report Share Posted March 5, 2012 Meanwhile, While 3 or 4 new all electric cars are sold to American's every day, about 10,000 new Chinese cars burning gas with 20 year old technology hit the road.* These emerging countries have populations that dwarf our own and they are car hungry. Little Korea had a vehicle population density that was the 5th densest in the world in 1977 - I don't even want to think what it's reached now. Can you imagine what atmospheric pollution will be like ten or fifteen years from now when the number of folks in China and India that own/drive cars has outgrown our own by a couple thousand percent? All electric is an admirable goal but it's unrealistic. Even if we went 100% all-electric tomorrow the rest of the planet won't be there for another century and once those huge populations start all owning/driving cars, our own efforts at controlling polution will be like pissing directly into a hurricane wind. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike *Note: I have no friggin idea how many Americans or Chinese buy cars every day. I'm just swagging numbers out of my arse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Dirks Jr Posted March 5, 2012 Report Share Posted March 5, 2012 The newest internal combustion engines are very clean considering the amount of energy you get from them. For a mode of transportation, please tell me what is better. If all cars were all electric tomorrow, what would we do with all the waste created by the spent batteries 5 years down the road? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Posted March 5, 2012 Report Share Posted March 5, 2012 The newest internal combustion engines are very clean considering the amount of energy you get from them. For a mode of transportation, please tell me what is better. If all cars were all electric tomorrow, what would we do with all the waste created by the spent batteries 5 years down the road? Recycle them. Nonetheless, plug-ins can't compete range-wise with combustion engines. Who's gonna stop every 80 miles or so for a fill er' up that takes 6 hours? Engineers need to stop looking at just the car and look at the whole cycle of photosynthesis/combustion...get your hydrocarbons from the surface and stop bringing it up from million-year old storage deep in the earth. It's fouling up our swamps anyway. Marc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kogel Posted March 5, 2012 Report Share Posted March 5, 2012 These emerging countries have populations that dwarf our own and they are car hungry. Little Korea had a vehicle population density that was the 5th densest in the world in 1977 - I don't even want to think what it's reached now. Can you imagine what atmospheric pollution will be like ten or fifteen years from now when the number of folks in China and India that own/drive cars has outgrown our own by a couple thousand percent? All electric is an admirable goal but it's unrealistic. Even if we went 100% all-electric tomorrow the rest of the planet won't be there for another century and once those huge populations start all owning/driving cars, our own efforts at controlling pollution will be like pissing directly into a hurricane wind. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike I'm afraid you've got a good point there. In western Canada, the big focus right now is how we can get the max amount of coal and oil to China so they can burn it while we play around with gearing up for electric. *Note: I'm just swagging numbers out of my arse. Now you're onto something. Methane gas. We could be buying farts from Asia. [] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Moore Posted March 5, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 5, 2012 My OP was just a reaction to the free HI ad and not meant to turn into this, but... Why does everything have to be so damn absolute? I've never seen anyone seriously suggest that electric cars are for everyone, for all circumstances, or should replace all vehicles. They would make no sense at all for many, especially outside of the cities. But within those urban settings, there are a lot of options that can work. We have a growing number of Nissan Leafs in my neighborhood. I have considered trading the Mini in for one myself as the range would easily cover my HI travel + errands per day. Dollar wise it wouldn't make much sense due to the initial expense but I could plug it in overnight in the driveway and really enjoy never visiting the pump (BTW, most of our power in this region is not from coal). But it wouldn't be our only car as we do also like long road trips. Hybrids, plug-in hybrids, natural gas, clean diesel, and, yes, efficient petrol engines, all help. Maybe the ultimate will eventually be hydrogen fuel cells. Who knows? The point is, no one is forcing anyone to buy any particular technology, despite the BS fear mongering that spews from the extremes. What I really can't accept is the argument that we should just throw our hands in the air, do no more research, risk no bold steps, develop no new infrastructure, etc, etc, all because some others aren't playing nice. OK, I'm done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Dirks Jr Posted March 5, 2012 Report Share Posted March 5, 2012 For the foreseeable future, nuclear would probably be the only viable replacement for coal. And I agree Richard, we should be tapping all sources. But as far as clean green energy, there's not much there. Furthermore, if it were viable, it certainly would not need government subsidies to ramp it up. The issue is strong on emotion and lacking in logic in some ways. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Raymond Posted March 5, 2012 Report Share Posted March 5, 2012 Funny, Dirks is worried about battery life cycle while being a proponent of nukes. Not poking, just amused. We went green this weekend and traded the wife's Subaru for an Optima Hybrid. We're saving $45 a month on the payment and nearly doubling the MPG. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hausdok Posted March 5, 2012 Report Share Posted March 5, 2012 So you live in snow country and have left the security of Subaru AWD for 2WD? Oooooo....K. Did you check first to see whether you're insurance rate would go up when switching from one to the other? ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erby Posted March 5, 2012 Report Share Posted March 5, 2012 A couple of years ago, when the market crapped all over itself, new car sales in the United States fell BELOW 1 million PER MONTH for the first time in a lot of years. Don't know what it is now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allseason Posted March 5, 2012 Report Share Posted March 5, 2012 The newest internal combustion engines are very clean considering the amount of energy you get from them. For a mode of transportation, please tell me what is better. If all cars were all electric tomorrow, what would we do with all the waste created by the spent batteries 5 years down the road? From an energy standpoint-bicycle. A lot of miles people put on their cars are for trips of only a couple of miles. Or refer to photo at top left. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Dirks Jr Posted March 5, 2012 Report Share Posted March 5, 2012 Funny, Dirks is worried about battery life cycle while being a proponent of nukes. Not poking, just amused. We went green this weekend and traded the wife's Subaru for an Optima Hybrid. We're saving $45 a month on the payment and nearly doubling the MPG. I don't take it personally. Poke away because you made a good point. There's just no free ride no matter how you slice it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Dirks Jr Posted March 6, 2012 Report Share Posted March 6, 2012 Oh, and I didn't say I was a proponent of nukes. I'm a proponent of all forms of energy. There's plenty of it to be had in sensible ways if we stop emotions and politics from mucking things up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Katen Posted March 6, 2012 Report Share Posted March 6, 2012 Last spring, the Bonneville Power Administration had to shut down a bunch of wind turbines because they were producing too much power for the grid to handle. It was a wet spring and the hydroelectric plants were already producing plenty of power. This caused some disapprobation among the turbine owners who had invested heavily in their equipment with the expectation of being able to sell a give amount of power at a given rate. We're working on expanding the grid to handle all of this excess clean energy . . . (But we draw the line at sending any more to Cali) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurt Posted March 6, 2012 Report Share Posted March 6, 2012 When are they going to take the dams out so the salmon can live? [:-angel] Just kidding..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hausdok Posted March 6, 2012 Report Share Posted March 6, 2012 Heh, They've already begun deconstructing them here, Kurt. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nolan Kienitz Posted March 6, 2012 Report Share Posted March 6, 2012 And coal plants are being EPA'd to death in many states.[:-censore Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurt Posted March 6, 2012 Report Share Posted March 6, 2012 I'm no fan of the EPA, but........trust me, you really want the EPA to lean on some of the big picture stuff like coal. Anyone that wants to see what happens when you relax environmental regulation should get a plane ticket to China. No regulations, lots and lots of coal burning, and environmental crap you wouldn't believe until you see it. If Americans had to live in the dirt that is modern China for a half a second, they'd change their minds about government intrusion into environmental issues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inspectorjoe Posted March 6, 2012 Report Share Posted March 6, 2012 The Eisenhower era coal-fired plant in my county will be closing in three years. The loss of jobs is unfortunate, but I still say good riddance to the plant and thank goodness for the EPA. http://www.nj.com/times-opinion/index.s ... tland.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hausdok Posted March 6, 2012 Report Share Posted March 6, 2012 I'm no fan of the EPA, but........trust me, you really want the EPA to lean on some of the big picture stuff like coal. Anyone that wants to see what happens when you relax environmental regulation should get a plane ticket to China. No regulations, lots and lots of coal burning, and environmental crap you wouldn't believe until you see it. If Americans had to live in the dirt that is modern China for a half a second, they'd change their minds about government intrusion into environmental issues. Which is kind of what I was saying above. We think that when we knock a dam down to save some salmon we're doing such a nobel thing; but unless the entire planet is working in concert to reduce pollution, instead of increasing it hand over fist beyond what the entire planet creates now, we're screwed. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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