Wednesday, May 31, 2006

This New World


Today at lunch, I found myself getting animated as I described to my two luncheoneers an energy scenario that is totally plausible and possible. We were looking out the window while we were eating some tacos and I pointed at the stop light.

The conversation started as I was describing how ultra caps work. And how, with just a little luck, some of the same technology that has given us the computer chip, might in a very reasonable time, give us a super ultra capacitor that is capable of storing 50 KWhs in an area roughly the size of your gas tank.

Imagine a car, I said, with a 40 horsepower motor in each wheel, with a chassis with embedded ultra capacitors in it. Given the torque of an electric motor and the spunk of a capacitor, this so- called "car "would perform like none other you have seen before.

As an all-electric car, it would go from 0 to 60 in nothing flat. It would leave the fastest car you have ever driven in the proverbial dirt. There would be no drive train, no engine, and the special nano fiber carbon body would be super light and super strong.

There would be a plug about the size of the plug on your monitor that would plug in another body style onto the same chassis. You could have a pickup, a sports car, or a sedan depending on your mood or need.

Since its energy and power came from a capacitor, it would recharge in moments, not hours.

Getting more out there, I even mused that as each car came to a stop at the red light, it could be recharged by a magnetic plate in the road itself. These plates could be installed in parking spots at restaurants, theatres, and all over the place. But the neat thing is to imagine that you could get a fresh tank of electric fuel right there at the red light. Then, instead of running the light, you stop instead and get some more juice.

When you got your electric bill at the end of the month, there would be a section for your transportation fuel.

There, itemized on your bill would be the 3 Kwhs that you received while waiting at the light at the corner of San Gabriel and 24th street. That would be enough to get you another 12 miles.

Electric fuel doesn't weigh anything, (odd isn't it) so it doesn't really matter if you always have a full tank of electricity on board.

The billing, tracking, and selling of the electric fuel would be handled automatically through the use of the grid itself as a carrier for the information. Of course, this super fast, super cool, super efficient, all electric car has all of the onboard computer and communication capabilities of a space ship.

In this world, there would be no gas stations, no fuel at all.

In this world, there would be no pollution and no loud engine noise.

In this world, you would just drive around all day and not even think about fuel. You don't think about fuel for your entertainment center do you?

In this world, your car might be running on electric energy that came from a wind turbine two hundred miles away. You might be running on the solar electricity created from the power paints on your own roof or wall. You might be running on the energy that was stored in the capacitor on the pole in your alley from the off peak energy that was purchased from another utility.

In this new world, the juice for your ride is sustainable, it's renewable, it's local, and it just might be less than what we are paying right now.

In this new world, OPEC, Coal Mines, Nuclear Energy, and Oil Wars

are all history.

They get the shaft.

We get the juice.

Better them,

than us.

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4 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

nice oz keep the vision coming

6:24 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I want one! Elasticity of possibility to satisfy human wants is nirvana. Good things must be imagined before they appear in the marketplace.
Thanks, Oz,
FM

7:13 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Very cool vision.

Just this side of astral travel and I know that it is not as far fetched as it sounds.

10:06 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Beam me up Scottie.

Or is it beam me over there.

10:07 AM  

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