XJ Dreamin' said:
If I may, in the most general fashion: All of the largest pieces of equipment are electric: locomotives, excavators, crawlers, and heavy haulers to name a few. The catch is that they carry their own generation system on-board, powered by diesel reciprocating engines. In some applications the generation system is be powered by turbines, as with shipboard propulsion. In any case, when big power is needed, particularly in high torque applications, electric is the dominant traction system. Overland trucks could be converted to electric with only the adaptation of locomotive technology, but like the locomotives, they would have to carry their own generation systems.
In the larger picture, taking into account distribution and supply for general transportation, the conversion to electric mobility without on-board generation would require a leap in electrical storage density capacity to something comparable with a Star Trek phaser. We are no where near that. Super-capacitors and ultra-capacitors are making their way into a few public transportation applications, and auto manufacturers should start using them soon, but even ultra-capacitors represent only 2 to 3 orders of magnitude beyond chemical batteries in terms of energy storage density (although the capacitor's efficiency and high amperage capacity give them a distinct advantage). Right now, I'm waiting to see what the nanotube capacitors can do.
In short (very rare for me): Yes, the future is electric. But the big hurtle to overcome is not generation but storage. We need high density electrical storage before we can move forward.
Funny: I had to add 'phaser' to my Google Toolbar spell checker. jeeze. Catch up Google.
Electricity isn't that big of a deal. When you look at locomotives, that's a bit different. They use huge diesels to power motors. On that scale, they operate very efficiently. The engines run more optimum, and motors can produce big torque. Electricity is an easily manipulated energy source. One of it's big advantages is transmission of that energy with little loss. So the benefit in locomotives is the efficiencies of diesel, with the torque of motors, with the very little energy loss in the drivetrain, and the millions of miles they travel.
Cars are a bit different. We can get higher efficiencies for sure. It is more beneficial in cars with all the start and stop driving to allow the generator to run in a more efficient power band. Regenerative braking is then helpful. However, I don't see it as a
replacement. We still need a fuel source to power a combustion engine. We are still producing emissions if that is any concern to you. If we wiped the slate clean today, we could drop our use greatly, but that use will be consumed by our continued growth.
The real benefits to electricity is the ability to transmit it over great distances with little loss. The biggest downfall has always been our ability to store it. Any real breakthroughs in storage would be huge.
To continue to look for alternate fuel sources to burn like biofuel is a band aid. One thing that is overlooked with biofuel is National Defense. What will happen in the future when our national fuel supply is able to be completely neutralized by chemical, or biological, war fare? What happens if some sort of natural calamity grinds the country to a halt and our ability to defend ourselves with it.
We still have huge reserves of oil. It is just more costly to extract. The other problem with new technologies, is expense. There are many ways to convert energy. Oil is a very cheap source to convert. We can look at our problems and say we are going to fix certain ones, but if that doubles the cost, that severely hurts us in our ability to produce goods and compete in a global market.
It's great to reduce emissions, raise efficiencies, and be energy dependent, but not if the rest of the world continues to use the now more available oil to out produce us. It is OK to extract more expensive oil and use it as long as the rest of the world is using it as well. The field is even. One reason we are where we are today is because we have always had cheap energy to power industry. We can't forget about that
