I forgot to mention his call for research into hydrogen powered cars. As I posted earlier, fuel cells do not get us off foreign oil, nor do they reduce pollution because the energy to make the hydrogen has to come from somewhere. In fact, because of losses, we will use more energy, not less. Part of this money will have to go to developing clean energy sources, such as solar, geothermal, wind, or nuclear.
Posted by Rich at January 29, 2003 11:30 AMRich, that was one of the few encouraging things I heard. Of course, $1.5 billion isn't exactly the "Manhattan Project" I'm hoping for. And nobody has addressd your valid concerns. I think it was just a bone being thrown to the environmentalists. Something for everybody, you know.
Posted by: SK Bubba on January 29, 2003 11:35 AMI think it was just a bone being thrown to the environmentalists. Something for everybody, you know
Bingo, we have a winner :)
Posted by: SayUncle on January 29, 2003 11:59 AMActually, I like the idea of fuel cells for cars. WE can generate the power needed through green power, including cleaner burning coal plants, thereby reducing our oil imports. Since the major R&D work is already completed on the cars, I'd like to see the bulk of the money spent on improving the efficiency and cost effectiveness of green power.
Another are for improvement would be to replace friction brakes, which waste as heat all the energy stored in the momentum of the car and replace it with electromagnetic braking, which would capture that energy as electricity for re-use.
Posted by: rich on January 29, 2003 1:51 PM