tony sayer wrote:
In article
nal-september.org, Tim scribeth thus
tony sayer wrote:
I

Leccy cars are fighting weight all the way..Titanium, carbon fibre,
aluminium...expense...

Well...

One day perhaps the perficke electrical storage system may be invented..

One day they might see the need for all the power thats going to need
and might just start building the nuclear plants to cope with that
rather than ****ing it away with subbed solar and windymills..

One day they might just perfect a type of prime power engine for
vehicles that perhaps burns, reacts, or converts something that releases
no pollutants and is easy to store and carry like petrol..

One day perhaps but seemingly not too soon;(...
Yeahbut, if electrical storage is dramatically improved, renewable energy
sources make more sense, not less.

Tim

Do you seriously think that renewables alone can power the motor
transport needs of the country?.

Or even go someway to achieve that?...

Or more to the point, if wishes were horses, beggars would ride.

"if electrical storage is dramatically improved"

The society would be totally transformed. Why has this not happened?

Because no technology exists within the known laws of physics and using
elements or compounds that are in the periodic table that can allow this
'if' to become 'when'..


Energu is 'stored' in kinetic, potential, chemical and nuclear forms. Or
in small quantities in electrical fields.

None of these offer simple conversion and easy storage beyond chemical.

The energy density of direct electrochemical storage (batteries) is a
function of the molecular weight and the energy in the outer electron
shells. The best ration is lithium, bar none. Nothing beats lithium
Lithium is not good enough. And there isn't enough of it. End of better
batteries pipe dream.

Kinetic energy is dangerous..flywheels spinning at 500,000 RPM? Made out
of what?

Potential energy is VAST. Think raising the whole north sea 500 meters
to power europe for a month.

What's left? straight chemical energy, like coal or diesel fuel. Good.
But its still fossil or has to be synthesised at rotten efficiencies .

Fuel cells? Burn FUEL. And if made small enough and light enough no more
efficiently than a diesel engine.

Supercapacitors? well a battery powered electric model aircraft can fly
for an hour or more. I think the record for a supercapacitor is 30
seconds. Nuff said. Understand the nature of insulators, capacitors and
the MV/m rating of even the best and you understand why THAT wont save
us either.

What's left? well a kg of fissile material is enough to power you for
life..if ONLY it didn't need a reactor the size of a church to do it
safely...

Or carry on dreaming ..

PERHAPS CERN or the LHR will come up with a sub quantum twist that in 50
years will mean we have more energy than we know what to do with from
some level of reality we don't yet understand or even think exists. That
is FAR more likely than a 'better battery' coming along. Mind you all
that will happen then is someone will make a bloody bomb out of it.