rantage

I really dislike it when hydrogen fueled cars are touted as an automatically environmentally friendly alternative to gasoline powered cars. Hydrogen is really more like a battery than a fuel. We don't have large pools of pure hydrogen somewhere we can tap into. Ever bit of hydrogen has to be extracted which takes energy. At present, that hydrogen will be produced the same way most of our electricity is produced, by burning fossil fuels. The only way hydrogen can be a fuel that requires no other input is through fusion and we aren't there yet. Tomorrow's hydrogen will be produced by coal fired plants in the rust belt. It's not an alternative to pollution, it's an alternative avenue to pollution.

The hydrogen hype is to distract. If they can convince you that hydrogen is environmentally friendly, you'll be willing to pay more for something that is still produced with the same energy structure we have. If they can convince you that these things take time to roll out, the oil companies can abuse the environment for another few decades. And if they are working on that, well you'll forgive them if they don't raise the average auto to 40 miles per gallon highway.

There have been cars that could easily get 40mpg city and in excess of that highway. Those were gasoline powered vehicles. If people voted with their pocket books and bought those cars we'd use half the gas we currently use. Instead we have cars that can haul 10 people or that can go zero to 100 in no time flat. I guess that's more important than trees, air, icecaps, and those nice things.

(no subject)

I've been thinking about trips I want to take this year and things I want to do. It occurs to me that other people may be doing the same thing. If any of you are interesting in coming to visit us in the great city of Portland, Maine, please let us know when you're thinking of. Our circumstances have changed in the last year so visits are not as convenient as they were at our last apartment. We don't have a guest room so accommodations are limited. You'll either have to sleep on the couch in the room with the loud cat or share our rather palatial bed. Very few people will be welcome to the latter even on a platonic basis, so the couch is the thing. It's a nice couch and comfy, but the cat is obnoxious.

That said, we are delighted to see friends.

Some things you should know should you choose to visit( Read more... )