[SunRescue] OT: CA: It's Our Turn

Wed Apr 4 12:24:17 CDT 2001

When I was much younger, there was a guy at a local college who had a
project car that ran on hydrogen.  It was a converted Audi.

It seems to me that hydrogen cars and motorcycles would be a much more
satisfactory "green" solution than regular old electric cars, especially
to people who like performance.

BTW, BMW recent started rolling out a few hydrogen cars at the home plant
in bavaria.  The same article said that BMW hopes to have hydrogen
stations in all european capitals in the next few years and is looking for
companies interested in rolling out hydrogen fleet vehicles.  In the US
there are a number of bus companies that use hydrogen.

--
Joshua Boyd

On Wed, 4 Apr 2001, Cyrus M. Reed wrote:

> IIRC, it would be hard to run a car by burning hydrogen, since it burns
> much hotter than gasoline.  Fuel cells would be a cool way to go, but they
> are still a bit heavy for regular autos (there are a few prototype busses
> around that run on them).  It's been a while since I last looked at this
> stuff though, maybe things have progressed since then.
> 
> -Cyrus
> 
> On Wed, 4 Apr 2001, Joshua D. Boyd wrote:
> 
> > I was searching the net to find info on building alternatively powered
> > cars.  I found lots of info on gutting my car and making it an electric,
> > but what I wanted to find was info on making my car hydrogen powered.
> > Anyone know anything on that topic?
> > 
> > --
> > Joshua Boyd
> > 
> > On Wed, 4 Apr 2001 wa2egp at att.net wrote:
> > 
> > >     Actually you would be polluting less walking or 
> > > riding a bicycle..so there!  Removing some the anti-
> > > pollution crap on the car will increase gas mileage 
> > > without increasing pollution if you keep the engine 
> > > tuned.  I had a 73 Corolla with 1.6 l engine and a two 
> > > speed automatic (yep, no typo).  It got 29.5 mpg on the 
> > > highway and 26-27 average.  It also passed the 85 CA 
> > > standards before I got rid of it after 185,000 miles.  
> > > When it went through inspection they always had to test 
> > > the exhaust system because "your car doesn't pollute 
> > > enough".  My present car is not as good in mpg as that 
> > > car, but far better than SUVs....and it has been off-
> > > road more.  If we were really serious, a external 
> > > combustion Stirling engine would be better if you want 
> > > it fossil fueled.  BTW, I think the record for mileage 
> > > is 358 mpg but you wouldn't want to drive that vehicle 
> > > or they way it was driven.
> > > > It seems to me that there is no one in the U.S. who
> > > > is REALLY concerned about mileage, the environment,
> > > > gas prices, energy, tree hugging, any of that stuff, if you
> > > > drive ANY vehicle back & forth to work with only one
> > > > person in the vehicle.(except MAYBE a fuel efficient cycle)
> > > > 4 people in a car getting 10 mpg is lots better than 1 in a
> > > > vehicle getting 25 mpg.
> > > > AND I am not playing hole-e-yer-than-thou cause I drive a
> > > > Mark VIII and it only gets about 20 if I keep the foot light.
> > > > We all know that higher prices force economy, but we just
> > > > don't want to see those prices.
> > > > Les
> > > > ----- Original Message -----
> > > > From: "Cyrus M. Reed" <reedc at cc.wwu.edu>
> > > > To: <rescue at sunhelp.org>
> > > > Sent: Tuesday, April 03, 2001 6:50 PM
> > > > Subject: Re: [SunRescue] OT: CA: It's Our Turn
> > > > 
> > > > 
> > > > On Tue, 3 Apr 2001, Reagen Ward wrote:
> > > > 
> > > > > On Tue, Apr 03, 2001 at 07:17:54PM -0400, Jonathan Katz wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > > I'm lucky when the '58 gets 10-12mpg. If I hit the hammer a lot that
> > > > number
> > > > > > drops to 7-8. But I do my part, too... the 2000 gets around 30 when
> > > > driven
> > > > > > right. Should those of us who preserve history (drive classic cars) get
> > > > a
> > > > > > price break on gas?
> > > > >
> > > > > I've heard an interesting theory:  Old gas guzzling classic cars burn
> > > > > less total energy than it would take to make a new car, so you're better
> > > > > off with an old car if you're wanting to conserve energy.
> > > > >
> > > > > Dunno if it's true, but it sounds good.
> > > > 
> > > > Don't forget that energy is not the same as pollution.  10kW/hr of power
> > > > from a hydroelectric plant is not the same as 10kW/hr of power from a coal
> > > > or natural gas powerplant, IMHO.
> > > > 
> > > > Also consider that leaded gas also puts out a lower amount of harmful
> > > > emissions than unleaded gas for short trips.  The catalytic converter
> > > > doesn't heat up as much as for longer trips, and unleaded gas actually
> > > > burns less clean on it's own than leaded.  Now think about a short trip to
> > > > the grocery store in an SUV... I'll bet that at 7mpg, there aren't many
> > > > long trips made in those monster SUV's.  Ick.
> > > > 
> > > > -Cyrus
> > > > 
> > > > _______________________________________________
> > > > rescue maillist  -  rescue at sunhelp.org
> > > > http://www.sunhelp.org/mailman/listinfo/rescue
> > > > 
> > > > 
> > > > _______________________________________________
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> > > > http://www.sunhelp.org/mailman/listinfo/rescue
> > > _______________________________________________
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> > > http://www.sunhelp.org/mailman/listinfo/rescue
> > > 
> > 
> > _______________________________________________
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> > 
> 
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