tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7597656451205429515.post6640769105971724969..comments2024-02-16T17:52:44.944-06:00Comments on The Nuclear Green Revolution: The T. Boone Pickens a few bricks short of a full loadCharles Bartonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01125297013064527425noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7597656451205429515.post-13900102782202846722008-07-11T00:28:00.000-05:002008-07-11T00:28:00.000-05:00There is a public discussion forum about Pickens E...There is a public discussion forum about Pickens Energy Plan Called :<BR/><A HREF="http://www.pickensenergyplan.com" REL="nofollow">www.pickensenergyplan.com</A><BR/>Cheers !Scottyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14811290770123585024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7597656451205429515.post-86270387728429778332008-07-11T00:00:00.000-05:002008-07-11T00:00:00.000-05:00David Case: "What happens if Congress doesn't exte...David Case: "What happens if Congress doesn't extend the $20-per-megawatt-hour Production Tax Credit for wind -- set to expire December 31? On a project this size, that's an $80,000 deduction every hour at full capacity."<BR/><BR/>Pickens: "Then you've got a dead duck. It would be hard to go without a subsidy. But they'll probably pass it."<BR/><BR/>http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/126/a-mighty-wind.htmlAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7597656451205429515.post-9262882776624264392008-07-09T13:01:00.000-05:002008-07-09T13:01:00.000-05:00The primary emphasis here for TBP is using nat gas...The primary emphasis here for TBP is using nat gas as a fuel in cars. There are fleets of utility vehicles that do in fact burn gas, but with the rise in prices for gas, despite what he argues, the popularity has actually sunk.<BR/><BR/>Piekens is going after subsidies, that's it, plain and simply. On the back end he gets to sell, he thinks, NG. He is shilling for his own profits.<BR/><BR/>DavidD. Waltershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04534202024416062943noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7597656451205429515.post-55788542070645812792008-07-09T12:03:00.000-05:002008-07-09T12:03:00.000-05:00I agree with you that the Mega-Wind idea is inferi...I agree with you that the Mega-Wind idea is inferior to other options, and requires NG generators to operate in parallel with the Wind Generators.<BR/><BR/>However, there are good reasons to convert NG to methanol, to burn in vehicle engines. The process only costs 8 cents per litre and is 78% efficient, with the high grade waste heat well suited for other processes, like heating Arctic Communities. There are huge Arctic Reserves of NG just sitting there, for 30 years now, waiting for a contentious >$20 billion pipeline to be built. Makes much more sense to convert the NG to methanol, ship it easily by tankers, about the safest fuel to transport, dissipates harmlessly in the environment, worth about $1.25 per US gal and burn it in extreme efficiency engines, in particular as generators for series hybrid vehicles. It makes no sense to deal with the major hassles, hazards, and headaches of gaseous fuels, when you have a clean burning, safe, efficient, environmentally friendly, liquid fuel, like methanol which can be produced from NG, Biomass, and electricity, water plus biomass, flue gas or atmospheric CO2.<BR/><BR/>EPA tested a converted VW 90hp TDI diesel, with a 19.5:1 compression ratio, burning methanol & ethanol. The high octane of methanol allows it to be burned in a high compression engine.<BR/><BR/>The engine was actually simpler than the VW diesel, as only port fuel injection was used, and spark ignition with a much more effective simpler catalytic converter for the small amount of formaldehyde produced by methanol combustion.<BR/><BR/>The engine easily met the tough new tier II new low emission vehicle standards, unlike the diesel.<BR/>The peak efficiency of the engine was 43% vs 41% for the diesel, and peak hp was 112 hp vs 106 hp for the diesel. Most importantly the engine had a much wider high efficiency island, than the diesel. Whereas the 90 hp diesel driving a typical Sedan @ 60 mph on flat highway would use about 13 hp at an engine efficiency of 32%, the methanol version of the engine would have a 40% efficiency at the same output, a 25% improvement in fuel economy. The numbers are even better for lower speeds. A series HEV SUV with this type of engine can be expected to have the gasoline equivalent of 60-70 mpg or 30-35 mpg of methanol.<BR/>See:<BR/><BR/><A HREF="http://methanol.org/pdfFrame.cfm?pdf=2002-01-2743.pdf" REL="nofollow"> The 43% efficient, extremely low emissions, Methanol engine, with a extraordinarily wide island of high efficiency. </A><BR/><BR/>The most stupid thing to do, is converting our precious, clean burning NG into heavy crude, for use in 25% peak efficiency, 10% average efficiency, automobile engines, which is being done in the Athabasca Tar Sands. The only legitimate way to process Oil Sands or Oil Shale, is with Nuclear generated steam. It is expected that Canada’s entire Arctic Reserves of NG, will be utilized in the Athabasca Tar Sands, just to produce dirty, inefficient, high GHG emissions, vehicle fuels. Due to the proportionality clause of the NAFTA treaty, that NG will come directly out of Canada’s domestic NG allocation.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com