Yes, remember that term, "Regulated Monopoly"? I remember it well having worked in the telecommunications industry for 15 years in the "unregulated" paging and cell phone industry after the US system of market duopoly with a** backwards analog technology finally opened up leaving us a minimum of 5 years behind the rest of the developed world. The telecom companies who were regulated monopolies were the worst run companies in the nation, keeping Americans in mid 20th century telecommunications all the way through the Internet creation and evolution as a consumer accessed network that became what it is today. Dealing with them was like dealing with the Kremlin. To this day, America is 5 to 10 years behind other developed nations like S. Korea, Germany, Japan, Singapore etc. in it's telecommunications infrastructure.
So, what I read today from the power industry side was stirring. I can tell you for sure, America's regulated monopolies, the power companies, were just as bad throughout the history of power in America. The problem we have today is as our impotent government "deregulated" the telecommunications and power industries they did so by rubber stamping plans created by the pigs (think tanks, "non-profit" corporate funded institutions and directly from the companies themselves) legislation that did nothing more than deregulate the regulated pricing mechanisms without allowing any competition to gain access to the infrastructure or industry on reasonable terms or at profitable prices. Competitors were sued and the weakly written legislation was challenged in court by the very industries who were "deregulated" using their limitless lawyer bank accounts managing to overturned any hint of "real" competition written into the toothless laws.
I could go on and on just using the pathetic example of the "deregulation" of Constellation Energy in the Mid Atlantic / Maryland market (BGE is our local distributor here) and how it hamstrung any potential competitor for 10 years after the signing of the pathetic legislation. One could also write a dissertation on the "deregulation" of Bell Atlantic (now Verizon) on the same basis.
So why am I babbling about this today?
It's a great opportunity to permanently get off foreign oil by getting the big three to create green cars:
Stipulations for Big 3 Government Aid:
Step 1: Require loan applicant to come up with a modern and extremely detailed business plan including employee pay and benefits, as well as a time horizon for developing a practical fleet of clean, oil free autos.
Step 2: No management or executive pay shall be derived from the loans. Loans are to be used for R & D (with detailed weekly progress reports or funding is pulled), worker compensation, care, and benefits, advertising, and building materials.
Step 3: Funding will be granted on an "as needed" basis and all allocations must be requested from the government monthly. The government will issue individual checks to employees and contractors employees directly.That's It..
Give them a time horizon to get it done. 5 years should suffice and those rich executives will have the incentive to turn a profit in order to get paid anything! They do have the choice to quit. Let this be a model to expanding the "greening" of our infastructure to:
1. Wind turbine production and installation companies
2. Solar Power Companies
3. Road and Bridge Improvements
4. GeoThermal
5. Other Great New Clean Energy Inventions
Josh Needleman BA
(Musician, Composer, Tutor, Philosopher)
Here is the Simple Steps to Tackle the Crisis of American Auto Companies
1. Plug In Electric Cars are the Need of the Day - GM Volt takes a Long time for Launch
2.GM to Forge Alliance with Several Small Car companies which make Electric cars and Start building thes new generation cars and start selling these cars at their dealerships.
3. GM To Import cars which it makes in other part of the world like the GM Spark it makes in India to sell in North America.
4. Quality is the Key, People are buying Japanese cars because of their High Quality.
The GEM electric car is a neighborhood car. I have been looking into saving gas during the week when all I do is go back and forth to work. It is 4 miles one way. The electric car can easily make my needed trips and the cost on e-bay is only about $3500 for a used one. They can only travel on streets with 35 mph signs as they travel at about 25 to 30 mph. They are street legal with safety belts, windshield wiper and turn indicators. This would fit into Obama's energy plan of conservation.
If you have not read his full policies, go to Issues tab and select the issue you are interested in then drill down to the full plan. They are very well written and will answer your questions on what he wants for America.
"Holy barrel of oil, Batman!!"GM took your EV-1 away from you, too??"
See why even Batman is against off-shore drilling!
Mr. Obama,
Your acceptance of an energy policy that embraces off-shore oil drilling will be your downfall.
The GOP is towing the Bush Administration line which is geared up to cloak the fact that the Auto Industry has been shirking the already-established, viable and workable technology of an electric car whose battery can last longer than General Motors ever publicly acknowledged, because the Federal Government and the Auto Industry are in bed with Big Oil. Enough is enough. The public does not exist to bolster Big Oil. General Motors and all other auto-makers, be on notice that the public is ON TO YOU, now that the video, "Who Killed The Electric Car" is becoming more and more widely known.
Seriously, take a look! Innovation is creativity with practicality!
George: Electric Surge Car (Surge technology)
Mickiboop: Important Information for Our Futures... (Water-powered technology)
Why aren't they being explored more aggressively?
EMK
Clean transportation revolution may not be based in old engineering. BioFuels for transportation may compromise food needed around the world. Seeking fuel alternatives for the old combustion engine model is falling short from a revolution.
In places like PopularScience and EVWorld magazines we have seeing through the years how engine innovations for cars and airplanes have been discouraged by the oil-based dominion. I remember seeing few years ago on PBS a young group of engineers that were able to test successfully a magnetic based engine/transmission car here in America. It needed such a small fraction of fueling compared to the distance accomplished yet they were discouraged at how the industry wouldn't be ready for it somehow.
The Apollo/Manhattan vision needs to go beyond the engines that dominate our struggling world today. Make sure to turn this quest away from politically based staffing and create a nimbler scientist and engineer based type of NASA without disregarding the average Joe that has already being successfully testing their inventions. Not be afraid at looking at foreigners (Einstein: Manhattan) that are not been heard in their skeptic countries. Aim at finding a new engine for commercial planes. Then cars, boats, trains and perhaps new hybrid ways of transportation will automatically follow.
There are engineers testing solutions as we speak years ahead of government intentions. As our God and Creator brought you this far, may He grant you and those involved the needed wisdom.Thank you for caring and best wishes!
A Black Man Why is it that a Black Man can create a tiny piece called a filament (electric light - Lewis Latimer) That allows people to see in the dark? But can't be seen fit to lead a country to the true light. Why is it that a Black Man can create an instrument (clock - Benjamin Banneker) that all People use to tell time? But people don't think it is time for him to run a country. Why is it that a Black Man can design a place for the high authorities to meet in & a place for the President to live in (The Capital & the White House Phillip Reid (a slave) & Pierre L'Enfant)? But not good enough to lead these meetings or live in himself. Why is it that a Black Man was brilliant enough to do the first open heart surgery (Dr. Daniel Hale Williams) And show the world how to get and preserve plasma (Dr. Charles Drew)? But not good enough to put a program in place where everyone can afford this surgery. Why is it that a Black Man was creative enough to design an instrument (traffic light - Garrett Morgan) To bring multiple people (traffic) to a halt? But not seen creative enough to design a plan to bring all this unnecessary and worthless Fighting between countries to an end. Why is it that a Black Man could create the soles (shoes - Jan Matzeliger)that people Walk on everyday? But not seen good enough to fill the shoes of a bad president. Why is it that a Black Man was smart enough & brave enough to teach himself ( Fredrick Douglas & Thomas Fuller - both slaves) and others how to read, write and/or calculate math? But not seen (as) smart enough and bold enough to calculate a platform to be President to a countryThat sure needs another first by us. So you see my Brothers and Sisters what I am saying is let us not forget our past, Which led us to our present and can definitely be the backbone to our future. We were good enough, smart enough, creative enough, and bold enough then, so Lets all give Obama the chance to show w that we are still these things and more. We all are as strong as our weakest link, so don't be that weak link that denies Our people that chance to show we still can OVERCOME & BE THE FIRST
Yes we have! And "Yes we can" do so again!
(Thanks to Birdalone for suggesting this article.)
"... the world appears to be on the verge of a boom in a little-known but promising type of solar power.
It is not the kind that features shiny panels bolted to the roofs of houses. This type involves covering acres of desert with mirrors that focus intense sunlight on a fluid, heating it enough to make steam. The steam turns a turbine and generates electricity.
The technology is not new, but it is suddenly in high demand. ..."
Turning Glare Into Watts (The New York Times): http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/06/business/06solar.html
See also:
R. James Woolsey, CIA Director during the 90’s, wrote an editorial in the Wall Street Journal last December talking about the national security advantages of ending the US dependence on imported oil. He described the dramatic reduction of oil imports and greenhouse gas emissions that will happen if transit combustion is moved from the street to power plants. (1) A week later, GM rolled out the Volt concept car at the Detroit Auto Show. It will be powered by the plug-in hybrid electric drive train that Mr. Woolsey was advocating. (2)
Since electricity costs one third of what we currently spend on gasoline to power cars and recharging would be done overnight, it was apparent to Mr. Woolsey that widespread adoption of plug-in electric drive technology would be practical, particularly since 84% of the 220 million cars on the road in the US can be replaced by plug-in electric cars, having equivalent performance and amenities to existing fuel powered cars, without having to build additional generation and transmission infrastructure. The only remaining bar to implementation was the need for safe and affordable high power batteries with a vehicle lifetime service rating that weren’t available.
Three weeks later, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its 2007 report finding that greenhouse gas emissions coming from human activity are definitely causing global warming and if they are not abated, progressively more severe consequences will follow including the flooding of our coast lines – a key finding was that the ocean level has been rising faster than was predicted in the previous report. Twenty five million people have already been displaced by global climate change. (3)
But there have also been technology advances this spring that indicate that there’s reason for optimism. New materials innovations are now out of the laboratory and in production that, when widely adopted in the US, will cap greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. High power, long life batteries that recharge in 10 minutes are now being manufactured in the US that can power both fully electric plug-in vehicles and plug-in hybrids. (4)
The First Practical Electric Drive Vehicle
It used to be that battery electric propulsion was only good for golf carts, fork lifts, and neighborhood cars that went 30mph. But seemingly out of the blue a private Canadian company doing business in Ontario, CA is producing a no compromise, all electric, five passenger sport utility truck (SUT) with a 130 mile range that cruises at highway speeds with the air conditioner running. (5) They’re being marketed to fleet operators to whom they makes fabulous good sense. Using a high power charger, the batteries “fill up” in ten minutes (or over night from a 220 V outlet using the onboard charger). Phoenix Motorcars will introduce an extended range SUV later this year to accommodate families.
Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV)
The Phoenix SUV will have performance that’s comparable to a Ford Escape Hybrid (0-60 in less than 10 seconds vs. the Ford at 10.3 seconds). If electricity costs ten cents per kWh, charging the Phoenix will cost $7.00 to go 260 miles. Even getting 34mpg which is great for an SUV, with gas at three dollars per gallon it costs $23.00 to travel that distance in the Ford – over 3 times more.
And that’s only half of the savings story - the maintenance profile of battery electric vehicles is 25% of the most durable internal combustion configurations. How can that be? Well, for openers, the motor has only one moving part. And then there’s no:
If you’re a fleet operator, the reduced maintenance translates into increased availability that means you need fewer electric vehicles to keep the required number in service – for some fleets that means close to half as many. A 260 mile per day range will get most people where they’re going so much of the time and saves them so much money that renting the right vehicle for extended trips is perfect. But plug-in hybrid cars being planned by GM and Toyota will be able to go 650 miles with the combination of a less costly battery and a gas tank.
Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV)
Plug-in hybrids have an all electric drive train, a battery sized to go 40 miles (per day = ~15,000/yr that’s the US average) and on-board gasoline powered generation strong enough to recharge the battery going 70mh down the highway. In normal use this car is inductively charged from a regular outlet using paddles with no exposed metal - commuting will be mostly electric. GM expects a 150,000 mile service life.Based on common usage profiles, the Volt will average over 150 miles per gallon – three times the mileage of a regular hybrid. In January GM said that they were waiting to produce them while lithium battery technology matured.
They must be encouraged by progress since then because this month they announced the transfer of 500 engineers from R&D to Volt production engineering. (6) They now plan to build 1000 vehicles by 2010 and a million in the next five years. It appears that GM’s strategy is to leapfrog the Toyota hybrid franchise to gain a leadership position making plug-in hybrids that get double or more the fuel economy after the cost of electricity is added in and half or less of the combined emissions between the car and the power plant.
GM and Toyota are working with the A123 Company that supplies fast recharge batteries for DeWalt and B&D tools. (7) These batteries do not emit the oxygen (when they heat up during fast charging) that’s emitted by Li-Ion battery packs. And they tolerate heat better to resist thermal runaway issues that plague laptop computers using first generation Li-Ion batteries with a carbon anode and a protective layer that brakes down. (8)
By reducing the internal resistance to a few thousandths of an ohm, the Altair Nanosafe™ batteries used in the Phoenix SUT eliminate the problem completely because they don’t heat up during fast recharge. (9) These batteries are so heavy duty that AES Corp (1/10 of US power generation) has invested a chunk of money and gotten a seat on Altair’s board. They’re interested in being able to get high capacity battery installations that can respond to load fluctuations that come and go in abrupt chunks giving their generators time to adjust and to time-shift ad hoc generation from wind that’s a growing part of what they do. (10)
Implications of Transport Electrification
Even though the battery problems appear to have been solved, widespread adoption of plug-in transit is not assured while it threatens oil company profits. Compared to a Prius (45mpg), an electric power plant burns one half of the oil and emits one third of the carbon dioxide (well to wheel) per mile to power a Phoenix SUV. (11) Plug-in hybrid and battery electric sedans comparable to the Prius will be even more efficient and that means if they become popular we will use a lot less oil.
It’s within our technical and manufacturing ability to convert enough of the cars in the US to plug-in electric transport to cut oil utilization by half or more in the next decade – about the amount we now import. This is coming just in time; some estimates show world oil production peaking in 10 years. Aside from doubling the time it will take to deplete oil supplies, the impact on international politics and economics would be something to see. If we stop importing oil:
Oil companies have been successful at derailing conservation initiatives thus far. It’s unfortunate but arguable that they have a duty to their stockholders to be diligent at protecting their market. Even if public opinion coalesces unsympathetically as Mr. Woolsey predicts, these companies have the clout and the resources & creativity to act all over the map to sour opinions and place bumps in the road. (12)
The Problem with Oil Company Opposition to Conservation
I worry about the wealth of opportunities there are out there for organized oil interests to hamper the progress of changes that promote conservation. They are currently running an ad campaign that advocates increasing oil production with no mention of conservation to meet growing energy needs. Though novel, it would be equitable and pertinent to add a modest increment to the inevitable carbon tax (about 13¢/gasoline gallon equivalent) to fund a proportionate stock buy-back program to stabilize affected fuel producer corporate earnings per share (eps) as their output scales back because of transport electrification efficiencies. And the capital would be freed-up for investment in other ventures. I’d give a lot to avoid the opposition we can expect from embattled oil companies unless there's something to alter their view. 13¢/gallon doesn’t seem so bad if it gets them to join the club of everyone else and support the wholesale conservation that it will take to stabilize the climate and preserve our shorelines.
I know, I know – this looks like shameless corporate welfare but it really isn’t. These stocks are so widely held (1.75 Trillion Oil & Gas Sector market capitalization) that there will not be a material transfer of wealth and the money doesn’t go to the corporations anyway – it makes stockholders like your parents, who depend on a pension or a mutual fund for retirement income, whole. Indeed, market driven creative destruction is not to the point – these companies will continue to be valuable for the foreseeable future while their output is used more sparingly.
Consumers are slow to adopt change. Spending big bucks on a car, many people want to have as little drama as possible – that’s why mouse-gray Camrys are so popular. But times are changing and electrification is so beneficial that it’s only a matter of time until the word gets out. Toyota plans to make a million hybrids in 2010 and GM is right behind with plans to build a million plug-in hybrids by 2012. From there, production from all manufacturers must scale up tenfold to be able to hit that 84% replacement sweet spot by 2020.
On the other hand if you like drama, live in California, and have an extra $96K burning a hole in your pocket take a look at the all electric Lotus-based Tesla Roadster. (13) It goes from 0-60 mph in 3.9 seconds, 250 miles on a charge, has a 130 mph top speed, and it’s drop dead gorgeous. Powered by nearly 7,000 liquid cooled Li-ion laptop batteries, the 250 hp motor, that produces full torque from a standing start, is the size of a watermelon and weighs 70 pounds. They’re being produced now. And there are the Th!nk (14), Zap-X (15), and a radical Mini QED (16) that has 160hp motors in all four wheels (only adding 4lb to unsprung weight because the breaks are eliminated) in development.
