Dave wrote:
> "stephen pridgeon" <
[email protected]> wrote in message
>
news:[email protected]...
>> "Tony W" <
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> news:<
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>>> "AndyMorris" <
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news:[email protected]...
>>>
>>>>> 2 tonnes of metal and plastic vs. 30 tonnes of fuel.
>>>>>
>>>>> Ummm.
>>>>
>>>> Sounds borderline to me. Steel and alu production take an awfull lot of fuel, plus the cost of
>>>> making it the right shape and shipping it about.
Link posted in a diferrent part of this thread:
http://www.ilea.org/lcas/macleanlave1998.html
It's still 5 units (driving it) to 1 (making it) after these costs are taken into account
>>> The reason steel works are always near the coal fields and not near the iron ore mines is that
>>> it takes about 5 tonnes of coal and 1 tonne of ore to make steel. Trouble is I can't remember
>>> how much steel you get per tonne of ore. You might be right.
>>>
>>> T
>>
>> It will depend on the quality of the ore I guess.
>>
>> I haven't seen figures for; obtaining the fuel, obtaining the ore, smelting it, forging the
>> steel, transporting it, re-working the steel, producing the paint, transporting the paint,
>> producing the plastic, moulding the plastic (anyone got figures for how much fuel it takes to
>> make plastic?)
4% of the world's oil use. I imagine that's lots less than metal.
http://www.bpf.co.uk/bpf/industry_issues/general_issues/environment/sustaina bility/
>> I would have thought that the sum of all this energy comsumption / toxic byproducts would far
>> outweigh the environmental impact of actually running a well-serviced large car. I'm also
>> starting to think that nuclear power is going to be a necessity, rather than a "viable
>> option" :-((
>>
>> SteveP
>
> ...nah, there is another energy source out there that we just haven't learned to utilise yet.
> Infinite, indestructible and omnipotent and best of all, not harmful. Once we manage to link into
> it, we won't need any other energy sources, least of all nuclear...ever. We just have to be
> patient. But then again, I might just be insane, right ?
Go on, what is it? Wave power, offshore wind, solar roofing tiles? Coppicing for charcoal?
Biodiesel?
Or maybe a combination of all of these.
My guess is that we could fairly easily use just sustainable energy _if_ we wished to, and the
vested interests would go that way.
A