Nissan LEAF

post #16 of 23

3/3/11 at 12:57pm

Pilot

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Quote:

Originally Posted by ComboOrgan

yeah, it's a two step problem 1. power cars with electricity 2. switch most electrical generation to nuclear Electric cars match up beautifully with nuclear power, since nuclear provides high baseload with less variability than coal. Since electric cars do most of their "refueling" at night when there is plenty of available baseload, it's a good solution. So there is still good reason to switch to electric - it's taking the first step, and hopefully the government/utilities will follow though with the next step

Nuclear power plants take up massive amounts of resources and billions of dollars to build. How do you plan on harvesting the uranium out of mines without gasoline powered vehicles? Or what do we do in the meantime while it takes them over a decade to build a reactor?

Quote:

Originally Posted by SField

That's a massive if. If we had the technology and infrastructure to be able to do that, we wouldn't be driving cars anymore. We'd have already figured out teleportation.

Of course that is a HUGE if. Just thought it was a cool bit of information.

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post #17 of 23

3/3/11 at 4:59pm

Steve Thomas

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There are so many problems with electric and hybrid cars. They are a marketing ploy by the auto industry. They are not really designed to decrease dependency on oil.

You want to put a big dent in the problem...buy a used diesel-powered vehicle and convert it to bio-diesel. Volts, Leafs, Priuses, hybrid BMWs and the like...they're just a way to pat yourself on the back.

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post #18 of 23

3/3/11 at 10:45pm

ComboOrgan

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Pilot

Nuclear power plants take up massive amounts of resources and billions of dollars to build. How do you plan on harvesting the uranium out of mines without gasoline powered vehicles? Or what do we do in the meantime while it takes them over a decade to build a reactor?

I don't think you have a proper understanding of the numbers involved. The amount of energy which is extracted from uranium is so great that the energy used in extracting it from the ground is insignificant. As far as the time required to build a reactor, there's really no quicker solution. I'm quite confident that getting that same amount of power on a large scale with any other clean energy source will take longer. I don't know where "10 years" comes from. Westinghouse is building some AP1000s in China (AP1000 is their most modern plant design), and they are estimated to take around 6 years I believe. If you want, you can tack on the 3 years of regulatory BS the US currently requires, but there's no reason that can't be cut down if people stop being such rubes and realize that nuclear power isn't really scary.

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post #19 of 23

3/4/11 at 3:02am

ramuman

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Pilot

Nuclear power plants take up massive amounts of resources and billions of dollars to build. How do you plan on harvesting the uranium out of mines without gasoline powered vehicles? Or what do we do in the meantime while it takes them over a decade to build a reactor?

This is a joke right? Or do you seriously have no idea about energy density?

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post #20 of 23

3/4/11 at 11:34am

Pilot

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^^^ I have no idea and I watch too many documentaries that say we are screwed.

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post #21 of 23

3/4/11 at 12:37pm

SField

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Pilot

Of course that is a HUGE if. Just thought it was a cool bit of information.

It would only be cool if it were relevant or made any sense.

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post #22 of 23

3/7/11 at 2:30pm

runner-guy

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve Thomas

There are so many problems with electric and hybrid cars. They are a marketing ploy by the auto industry. They are not really designed to decrease dependency on oil. You want to put a big dent in the problem...buy a used diesel-powered vehicle and convert it to bio-diesel. Volts, Leafs, Priuses, hybrid BMWs and the like...they're just a way to pat yourself on the back.

Absolutely. I've come to terms with the fact that hybrid cars are a joke. They cost more to buy, cost more to maintain, and cost more to insure.

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post #23 of 23

3/7/11 at 2:53pm