Gettin hot in Seattle

[devildog80]

STATEMENT - This is MY opinion only, and hereby release anyone commenting to it of any liable, as I claim it as MINE, and take full responsibility for the way I see things and think of them!

I do not sign on, read, or post there, as I refuse to succum to the drama and BS it allows the participating humans to spew out without thought, intelligence, consideration, or conscience of anyone but themselves.

I mean come on......you want to read about people literally posting they had trouble taking a s**t?

I hear about posts like this from my grown kids, or at least they look similar to my kids, but seem to have grown this rectangular looking electronic device thing off the front of their faces that is connected to the palm of their hand and will light up their faces in the dark and for some reason they notice NOTHING else around them now and I almost need to yell trying to get their attention!

And they claim the reason they came over was to visit?
Visit who?
Still have the disease attached, so nothing else can get through to the gray matter anymore, except through that thing....UGH!

The joys of my life I share with those who are not afflicted with the dreaded CELL disease, as they are the only ones who will understand and remember.

So few of us left.......

[Crankyolman]

... or at least they look similar to my kids, but seem to have grown this rectangular looking electronic device thing off the front of their faces that is connected to the palm of their hand and will light up their faces in the dark and for some reason they notice NOTHING else around them now and I almost need to yell trying to get their attention!

And they claim the reason they came over was to visit?
Visit who?
Still have the disease attached, so nothing else can get through to the gray matter anymore, except through that thing....UGH!

The joys of my life I share with those who are not afflicted with the dreaded CELL disease, as they are the only ones who will understand and remember.

So few of us left.......

Here's what you do. Whenever they come over take a lesson from a 5 year old and repeatedly text them with "pay attention to me...pay attention to me...pay attention to me...PAY ATTENTION TO MEEEE!!!!!!!..." until they put the phone down and pay attention to you

[devildog80]

Interesting.........

[rang-a-stang]

I've been offline for a few weeks and just catching up. I think Babywag said it best. I hope no one has left. I read differing opinions throughout this thread but the respect is obviously there on both sides. I appreciate you guys not getting personal.

anywho... on electric cars. I watched a news article, recently, of a woman in FL who bought a 201X (I don't remembed the exact year but it was 2014-2017'ish) Ford Focus electric. She got it for a steal. Something like $8500 and it only had about 40k miles. She was stoked on it for the first 2 months. Then her range started to drop QUICKLY. She took it back to the dealer and the dealer said it needed a new battery. Those batteries were no longer available and therefore her car was totaled. Insurance would not pay becuase it was similar to her buying a used car and throwing a rod on the freeway. She was just out the money with a car she could no longer sell and could not be fixed. I see this with electric tools, too. You can get a SMOKING deal on a 2 or 3 year cordless drill/grinder/blower/lawnmower but that's becuase everything works except the battery. Which cannot be replaced OR the replacement battery is 20% more than just buying this years tool. The fat man in the smokey room giggles a little because you have to buy another one of his tools/cars and he gets more of your money.

I am not saying this because I won't buy an electric vehicle. I would very seriously consider one. BUT as we do shift to electric, I would assume those vehicles will have a 8-15 year service life, then go to wrecker. I think this will be the case until manufacturers start making modular batteries that can be rebuilt or universal batteries that work on multiple platforms.

I love the idea of an electric FSJ transplant. But the difference there is, whoever does it first will probably use modular batteries and not some unique one-off design that only fits one manufacturer, one platform, a short year range, or one configuration.

[jeepman42]

All the fossil fuel will sooner & much later be used.(burned & many products)
Since I believe this, I think it is my job to use my share of the fossil fuel so the whiners can get on with finding other energy sources! My guess is they will still whine about unintended consequences.

[SJTD]

How are the batteries going to be charged when the dead dinosaurs are gone? Is there enough oil/coal/gas to build all that solar/wind/whatever and also keep cars on the road in the interim? Not to mention room.

This is the question the the alternate energy proponents can't answer or choose to ignore.

But then fusion is only 20 years away, right? Still and always.

Nukes.

[rang-a-stang]

BTW, on a related note. CA has outlawed gas fired hot water heaters and furnaces after 2030. So you can't run your A/C in the summer becuase brown outs and we are being asked not to charge our electric cars during prime charging times during the summer. I guess winter felt rejected so in order to make sure we all don't complacent during the winter time, now we will be told not to run our heaters or hot water heaters during the winter. .

[letank]

It is going to be a few challenging years ahead and probably for the upcoming generation. The war in Ukraine has curtailed energy and food sources for a lot of people worldwide.

We can always use our energy wisely. I agree that hot water heater and gas appliances restrictions seemed like a bad joke, but it is only on new constructions.... who need hot water shower, lets see our elected officials show us how to do it ... besides we might be running out of water in the southwest! No deodorant either so we can detect our covid status... ha, ha, what a show!
Otherwise EV is one of the solutions, as long as you are not in a hurry! Solar works, folks in the remote area of the California Sierras have been using it for over 20years.... and yes you can have A/C, dishwasher and enough electricity to power appliances and entertainment and recharge small vehicles*.... to recharge EV, it may take a long time on solar, probably a good week, it all depends on how many panels and batteries you have!
*: yes, there is usually a diesel back up generator for those long overcast weeks in the winter

[sierrablue]

How are the batteries going to be charged when the dead dinosaurs are gone? Is there enough oil/coal/gas to build all that solar/wind/whatever and also keep cars on the road in the interim? Not to mention room.

This is the question the the alternate energy proponents can't answer or choose to ignore.

But then fusion is only 20 years away, right? Still and always.

Nukes.

Uh...what? Your argument against moving away from using oil is that we're going to run out, thus we can't possibly make the switch? So we should just keep burning through it like we are now and have absolutely no backup or anything and are 1000000000000% screwed? Is that what you're saying? I'm not sure I follow this logic...(not trying to make you feel bad I just really don't understand)

Fusion would be awesome...but I'm sure not gonna be the one to get rich off of it.

[SJTD]

I'm not arguing that. I ask again: Is there enough oil/coal/gas to build all that solar/wind/whatever and also keep cars on the road in the interim?

Maybe my last comment was obscure.

Nuclear seems the only viable solution.

[rang-a-stang]

I think we all need flux capacitors, myself. They provide 1.21 Jigawatts. Now, granted a FSJ will get terrible miles per jigawatt compared to say a Delorean but it would be a fun truck!

[sierrablue]

I'm not arguing that. I ask again: Is there enough oil/coal/gas to build all that solar/wind/whatever and also keep cars on the road in the interim?

Maybe my last comment was obscure.

Nuclear seems the only viable solution.

What difference does it make whether or not we can use the oil to make the renewable energy? If we don't then we're not going to stop making combustion-reliant machines. We're just gonna run ourselves out of oil and then curse at ourselves and everyone since the start of the industrial revolution. Besides, even if we CAN keep combustion cars on the road, pretty soon it's not gonna be affordable for anyone anyway.

I got the joke about fusion.

Flux Capacitors? I want a Mr. Fusion myself...or 5.

[SJTD]

If we can then we should of course and there is movement that way. There's acres if not sq miles of solar outside Mojave. If that continues I think the nature guys are going to get upset.

To answer my own question I've been perusing the subject and it seems that solar panels do make more over their lifetimes than they consume but how much is the question. Some of the answers are suspect since they seem to use the numbers to make an individual cell and use that to compute a whole system where the real number would include the cost of cells plus building the panel plus installation and all the peripheral equipment.

I'm about to build a house and will take advantage of the subsidies to do solar. That makes the payback pretty quick. What the actual payback is energy-wise I don't know.

I still think nukes is most viable solution. That was the obscure comment I was referring to, not the fusion joke.

[Crankyolman]

I think the solution is Bull S**t....or maybe better put Cow S**t...Honestly.

Quite a few dairy farms have begun using methane digesters for their cattle waste which produces enough methane to constantly run a large diesel generator. Farms can often produce electricity to power the entire farm and all the farm vehicles and even sell it back to the electric company.

I've seen a figure that said that two cows could produce enough methane to power a car for the average commute to work.

Personally I'd like to be able to put bumper stickers on my truck that says "Powered by Poop"..."Behold the power of poop"..."Methane is a gas!"...or something like that

When it comes to electric conversion I've looked into it but the field is ever evolving.

There is a company or two that makes a drop in electric conversion that bolts in in place of the engine and bolts up to the standard manual transmission in older cars to make a simple EV conversion. Extra batteries can be added if more range or power is desired. The only problem is they are horrifically expensive ($49,000 for the base kit for a Jeep Scrambler, the bigger one for full size pickups has a base price of $65,000)
https://electricgt.com/gte-motors/
and of course batteries only last 8 to 15 years.

[SJTD]

Lectric cars are a red herring. They may solve the no mo gas problem but you still have to get the electricity from somewhere. Covering your roof with PV might run your house but not your car.