Getting Greedy?
 

Zero fossil fuels in you grandchildren's lifetime is probably a pipe dream.

Engineers say the perfect is the enemy of the good enough.

Going directly to non-fossil fueled vehicles is probably a bridge too far.

But there are a lot of partial measures to use to assure a prosperous transition.

1. We could at least partially beat the battery/recharging problem by using direct catenary electrification of railroads and long-haul truck. Electrified railroads are a long proven alternative. The Russians manage to operate 10,000 km of fully electrified railroad from Ekaterinberg to Vladivostok. Yeah, they power it with roadside coal plants but they also have plenty of natural gas.
A European consortium is experimenting with electrified eighteen wheelers in Scandanavia. I see no reason it can't work. All the tech is well-proven old-school stuff.

2. The US could substantially reduce its "carbon footprint" by transitioning independent IC motor vehicles by converting much of the transportation system to running on CNG or LPG - supplanting gasoline, ethanol, and diesel. Natural gas emits 60% less CO2 (in lb CO2 per HP-hr than gasoline or diesel. Don't believe that? Peruse EPA Publication AP-42. A night time satellite phot of the northern US shows a light signature nearly as big as Chicago out in the Dakotas. That's flaring of gas needed for pressure control of the wells. Just by building enough pipelines to market areas that flared gas could be compressed/liquified natural gas to run millions of vehicles. Just reducing CO2 by 60% from say ten million vehicles is quite a bit of progress.

Considering the most recent IPCC GHG emission inventory showed that China emits more GHG than the rest of the world combined - and that includes the US. If we cannot get China on-board, what's the point of impoverishing everyone else?

BTW, I am STILL of the opinion that Global Warming is an elitist scam.

Building pipelines is politically problematic. Natural gas is lighter than air, is it not?

Zeppelins! Else, blimp-rigid hybrids. https://plimpairships.com/

Even though I don't hold my breath for that, I do believe non-fossil fuels may play an important role.


That's when a pipe dream turns into a practical nightmare.


Fuels are not the only matter of concern. Nowadays lube oils and greases, and other fluids, have been harder to find a non-fossil replacement.


Catenary electrification could be interesting on some routes, even though I would still be favorable to some degree of hybridization instead of supporting a full-EV setup.


CNG has the advantage of being also possible to replace with biomethane, which can resort to the same pipelines and dispensers already in use with CNG, not to mention the same fuel systems already in use in many vehicles worldwide. But I also consider ethanol a reasonable fuel under some circumstances.


Making it easier for China to spread its influence all around the world.


I am of the opinion that global warming is a scam too, mostly because some relatively simpler solutions to fix its claimed damages are discouraged by the media and most governments, while approaches that are more likely to fail are pushed down everyone's throat.

I don't know. I believe the scientists that say that global warming is a problem. If global warming is just a scam and therefore I can't believe the scientists, then who can I believe??

Just because there is no good solution doesn't make it a scam. Maybe the solution is something we don't want or can't achieve and the damage that has been done has been done and we'll just have to face the consequenses and that's that.

Meanwhile my state keeps getting bombarded with forest fires every year, and every year it seems they keep getting worse. I'm just waiting for the day it's my town and my house that's burnt down. (Good thing I rent I guess). All the forests here are full of dry dead trees. You can't find a forest that's nice and green anymore. Is this just a normal cycle or part of mankind's effect on the environment? Scientists say it's the latter, drought from global warming and previous clearcutting and seeding operations.

What's the most efficient forms of transportation? Railroads are far more efficient than vehicles. Big vehicles can transport a lot more than smaller ones for the same amount of fuel/electricity. The more we rely on public transportation (AHEM! covid...) the more efficient transportation becomes and therefore the easier it is to transition to other fuels. (Air-ships are also more efficient than airplanes, but are slower.)

Smaller vehicles could be made to be much more efficient but would have to become Aero Civics or Apteras. (Safety?)

The more efficient things are the few batteries and less electric grid expansion we need.

ICE's currently out there can be converted to CNG (good bye trunk space).

Else it's a scam and the scientists are bought and paid for, choose your scientists wisely.

There is a solution but it is beyond a single post. Basically people don't know what they could have.

It involves building [fired ceramic] houses out of the dirt from their footprint and not needing to go anywhere in the first place. Elon Musk's best part is no part, best process is no process.

Doctors are paid lots of money. So don't go to the hospital for any reason?? :confused:

I don't know of a scientist that works for free either. Not that there isn't bribery and bias. But how do you prove one side or the other even if the money for the project comes from here or the results favor that politcal party or religion?

I'd be all on board with a clay house and not needing to commute distances requiring a motorized vehicle.

9 out of 10 doctors no longer recommend smoking Camels. The times, they change.

I'm glad you like the idea of mud bubbles. :) They could be egg-shell thin or built like a bunker with a living roof. I have this scheme that involves lifting the wet material in an Olds elevator (probably wind powered) to drop it into a print head/nozzle that's placed via three ropes -- manually by three crews that coordinate their movements with sea shanties.

I'd want it thick for maximum thermal mass. It's 45°F 7°C right now (is it summer already?) and I fell a bit chilly. A living roof would help cool the place (not sure I'd need that though).

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Forest fires...


https://youtu.be/raR_IkUD7is



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Massive forest fires are nothing new. Isn't it possible that many of the fires today are the result of massive changes in forest management over the last 30 years? So back at the turn of the previous century we had the worst fires ever before we managed forests. Then we went through a golded period of few fires and strict management. Now we are back to hands off and massive fires. It's like an A-B-A test but instead blame it on C.