Patrick Turner said:ray said:Having a discussion (well, more like argument, he signed off snottily)
with my brother yesterday about alternate modes of transport.
Planning for The End of the World As We Know It (conveniently, after he
retires) AKA When the Oil Runs Out, he wants to build a vehicle,
preferably electric, that will allow him to do the basics he does now.
So check this out. He wants to haul a load of 160 kg for 10 km on a
gradient of 1 in 10, on the power of a hair-dryer running on only 60,
not 240, volts.
Where do those figures come in? 160 kg is based on Bro's weight (c. 80
kg), the weight of an average weekly load of shopping I haul (20-30 kg),
and the weight of the vehicle and batteries (40-50 kg). The 10 km is the
distance from his place to the shops, and the 1 in 10 because he chose
many years ago to live on the ridge at an altitude of 500m. (I live at
147m and use a conventional bike trailer)
And the asthmatic hair-dryer? Well, that, (hair-dryers are about 800W,
so one quarter of that is 200W) or 49cc if petrol powered (assuming
there's any petrol) is all the power rating you get before incurring
Divine Wrath.
Or in other words VicRoads, which is near enough the same thing.
Anything with more power than that has to be Registered. And he wants
to home build this himself, which is an absolute no-no.
So I hereby christen this putative vehicle the Asthmatic Hair-Dryer. And
I want to be invited to the maiden run, so I can watch the uselessly
heavy beast conk out half way up the hill. Not to mention being told to
get off the f---ing road by the Land Barges (as I have been with the
trailer several times).
Cheers,
Ray
Next door to me, a kid of about 8 is experimenting with electric bikes
and
scooters, and maybe when he matures with his ideas something will come
of it all,
and perhaps whatever he makes will become attractive to those forced to
give up motoring
when oil runs out, and when "carbon taxes" have become grossly onerous
to pay.
Maybe nothing comes of it, and when he turns 18, his hormones will lead
him to a sheila,
and from there to having children, and without fixing the world's
problems first.
A racing cyclist makes about 400 watts, does he not?
What can be done with 400W applied to
say 70kg up steep hills is evident in Tour De France.
99.9999% of cyclists cannot do what the TDF guys do, and so have to make
do with 200W of leg power,
unless they are old and feeble, when 50W might be all they can make.
But anyway, 200W applied to 160Kg, rider, bike plus batteries, and rider
not pedling
isn't going to whiz you up a steep climb very fast, but at least faster
than not getting up the hill at all.
There are now plenty of electric powered "travelling aids" easily
available to anyome wanting to use one.
The people who use them have nearly all lost the use of their legs, so
hence.. ----electric wheel chairs----.
These smart modern contraptions have been around for awhile now, and it
allows the elderly and infirm
to go shopping and get out and about without someone pushing a
wheelchair. They cost thousands $$$
to buy, but afaik, can be leased, because an old person might only need
such a thing
for the last few years of life.
I am not aware of a version of such things designed for the young person
who likes to be
seen putting on the agony and style most of the time.
The fact that electric vehicles don't already exist is due to a large
number of complex reasons
which could be summarized by saying "because of multiple failings of
human beings".
There was a very good film produced recently 'Who Killed The Electric
Car'.
This dealt with the story about the GM electric car produced for a short
while by General Motors.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_Killed_the_Electric_Car%3F
The GM car was only ever leased to users from GM, and only one survives
in a museum.
The story about the GM car is, imho, a terribly sad one about car
makers, car parts makers,
politicians, and the US way of life. The US way of life depends on each
person needing
1,000 watts (or more) of power to live 24/7, 365 days a year. Attemps
by anyone to reduce the energy
use will be seen as terribly upsetting to power producers, regardless of
who they are,
or what sort of power in involved. A macro conspiracy exists to keep
people hooked
up to the electricity grid and to require petrol supplies. Old
establishments all
say the same about change, "W'ell all be rooned".
All forms of power supplied from coal burning or motive power from fuel
burning
will have to be reduced probably 70% within 20 years if we are to have
any hope of reducing greenhouse,
maybe more even, because world population looks set to at least double
in 50 years,
and all this lies within the life span of the kid next door.
Anyway, since the demise of the wonderfully bright idea of th GM
electric car,
other makers have stepped in with things like the Toyota Prious, which
gives very much better fuel consumption figures than most other things,
but obviously not quite as good as an electic bicycle, which alas will
never be bought
in large numbers because people want to be enclosed while travelling.
Economics might force ppl onto electric bikes, but there are no such
forces right now.
Even if petrol prices tripled, i'd still own a car.
The energy of 1,000 watts continuously for each person on the planet
365/24/7 will has to come from somewhere.
I just cannot see a future for our species without such power
capability.
So "Planning for The End of the World As We Know It (conveniently, after
he> retires) AKA When the Oil Runs Out" means we must plan
for the world as we DON'T know it.
Solar power looks the most acceptable. There are some sobering figures
about solar collector area per person
to make that 1,000 watts per hr all day every day and including being
able to charge up
batteries for use at night when the sun don't shine, or when the weather
is cloudy.
Probably, I might need an acre to be covered with solar panels just for
my little frugal use of power.
Such a quantity of panels might cost more than a house, and need to be
replaced each 20 years,
and then there is plant maintenance.
There are 330,000 ppl in my town, and where do they each find a spare
$200,000 and 330,000 acres of land to
erect solar power instalations?
Nobody prominent is at all asking the hard questions about alternative
power and about alternative transport.
"Alternative" is a word not used much by politicians because it means
"unacceptable"
and is only mainly used about one's political enemies.
Alternative = [censored].
They all know they would be roundly condemned by everyone because of the
bad news, which
of course is the horrendous cost of genuine alternatives.
John Howard wants to make Australia generate its energy by nuclear
power, like all those other countries,
and no doubt a large amount of [censored] will hit the fan about the issue
from the greens,
and the NIMBY mob. Personally, I don't like nuclear power, and don't
like the probable fact John Howard
has basically been told by Big Brother US ally to "go nuclear, youse
need the bombs" for your security.
But I don't see too many viable alternatives likely to arrive soon.
I am technically a complete nobody. My life will end about the time the
8 yr old kid next door becomes quite alarmed
about having 100 summer days over 35C, and Australia being in drought
most of the time and forced to reduce
almost all of its food exports, and the Murray Darling bone dry, and an
outside unstable world
with continual wars over land and food amd water due to climate change.
There is NOW a war over oil in Iraq.
Perhaps the way forward with the ""putative vehicle the Asthmatic
Hair-Dryer""
is to mount a small but efficient petrol or diesel engine of perhaps
400watt capacity on the "cycle",
and have it generate power to store in the batteries which can only be
released
at the legal limited rate of 200W to the drive wheel/s
There does not appear to ne any law against having a large sized
generator carried by the 200W limited vehicle.
The principle of the hybrid should be just as viable with an "untralite"
vehicle such as a bicycle/tricycle
as it is in any electric car designed for high speeds with safety.
The kid next door is yet to wake up to all this stuff about life being
complex, and there being no
easy simple solutions, but no doubt ppl in future will be forced to
think about it more.
Once you have to build a generator and store the energy, its depressing
to
see just what inefficiancies and losses are involved. Life wasn't meant
to be simple.
Meanwhile, my sleep has been disturbed at times by ppl in the suburb
using strap ons,
ie, petrol power two stroke motors with a jockey wheel thet presses
against a front or rear
bicycle tyre, after the strap on is strapped to the ordinary push bike.
My main grouch is that
such things deafen all those around; the problem of noise pollution has
not been addressed.
But if its possible to get 100HP from a 1,000cc engine, 5cc can give 0.5
HP, or 375 watts,
and of course about 2,000 MPG, and if diesel, could easily be run using
canola oil.
If 12 billion people used 5cc engines and 2 tablespoon fulls of
vegetable oil each day to get around,
we might solve part of a problem. Only part. Certainly not the other
part, the bigger part,
and the hard part, eg, it takes more than a spoonful of oil to heat the
water for a bath.
But people just ain't ever going to settle for glorified bicycles, and
many
will remain addicted to agony and style, even if it kills them.
Patrick Turner.
I read all of that, and it was worth it, thanks Patrick.
