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<blockquote data-quote="wkmac" data-source="post: 56925"><p>traveler,</p><p>As for old cars? That's just one of the many pitfalls I was talking about. One interesting proposal I saw was that we would have side by side systems with the newest hybrid/high mileage vehicles having the GPS system and then each fuel dispenser would have a wireless comm. device to communicate with these newer vehicles. Upon arrival at the pump the comm. device would signal the pump not to charge the normal fuel excise tax as well as upload mileage data to the taxing authorities. This way older car owners would still pay at the pump while the high mileage vehicles would pay via another process where they pay by the mile driven. Sounds interesting but I've no clue how well it would really work and to be honest I don't think we are close to this type system until we begin to see a far greater number of these newer type vehicles on the road and the gov't really starts to experience a tax shortfall from their broader useage. </p><p> </p><p>I agree with you that we are about to have a serious conversation in this country about how we travel. From the cost of fuel, to pollution to the hours and hours wasted sitting in traffic we are about to radically alter how we move about in this country. It will take many years to happen and I'm thinking decades but I do believe it will in form or fashion.</p><p> </p><p>Hydrogen because it is so plentiful seems to have captured the collective imagination but production and distribution are still the major question. I think for the immediate future until some technological breakthroughs happen the Hybrid vehicles are the more likely and obvious paths to go. I also think we tend to sit in a box when it comes to energy needs but the real solution is not one solution at all. I believe the average home for example may in the future have multiple sources of energy. Lighting in the home for example could be a closed system that is not only low voltage, 12 VDC LED, but gets it's power via a solar panel system or even a wind system and back feeds any excess power into the grid system. This leaves the larger utility grid to power larger items like AC units or refrigerators while a home based power generation system could power smaller items that don't require or consume large quantities of power. A small amount of people are already taking this approach and the utility companies are watching as they are looking for ways to not have to build new power generating plants in the future as our national energy needs continue to only grow. Ironically one of the biggest investors in solar technolgy is BP oil so everything is on the table at this time. Hopefully we will finally learn that there is no single solution and that in some parts of the country you may get larger degree of power from solar, another part of the country from wind, another part from hydro specially micro hydro and we all may get power from the larger grid made up of hydro and hopefully more nuclear. 30 years ago we were justified after 3 Mile Island to be suspect but it's time to sit down and have a serious conversation about nuclear with all the cards on the table and all the pros and cons. I'd really like to see that.</p><p> </p><p>Take care and enjoyed talking about not only a topic worth broader discussion but a topic I find of great interest. As a side note, I live on a large stream and I am looking at what it would take to build and install a micro hydro generator. It's not as easy as baking a cake but it's not overly impossible or improbable either. </p><p></p><p> </p><p>(Message edited by wkmac on June 08, 2005)</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="wkmac, post: 56925"] traveler, As for old cars? That's just one of the many pitfalls I was talking about. One interesting proposal I saw was that we would have side by side systems with the newest hybrid/high mileage vehicles having the GPS system and then each fuel dispenser would have a wireless comm. device to communicate with these newer vehicles. Upon arrival at the pump the comm. device would signal the pump not to charge the normal fuel excise tax as well as upload mileage data to the taxing authorities. This way older car owners would still pay at the pump while the high mileage vehicles would pay via another process where they pay by the mile driven. Sounds interesting but I've no clue how well it would really work and to be honest I don't think we are close to this type system until we begin to see a far greater number of these newer type vehicles on the road and the gov't really starts to experience a tax shortfall from their broader useage. I agree with you that we are about to have a serious conversation in this country about how we travel. From the cost of fuel, to pollution to the hours and hours wasted sitting in traffic we are about to radically alter how we move about in this country. It will take many years to happen and I'm thinking decades but I do believe it will in form or fashion. Hydrogen because it is so plentiful seems to have captured the collective imagination but production and distribution are still the major question. I think for the immediate future until some technological breakthroughs happen the Hybrid vehicles are the more likely and obvious paths to go. I also think we tend to sit in a box when it comes to energy needs but the real solution is not one solution at all. I believe the average home for example may in the future have multiple sources of energy. Lighting in the home for example could be a closed system that is not only low voltage, 12 VDC LED, but gets it's power via a solar panel system or even a wind system and back feeds any excess power into the grid system. This leaves the larger utility grid to power larger items like AC units or refrigerators while a home based power generation system could power smaller items that don't require or consume large quantities of power. A small amount of people are already taking this approach and the utility companies are watching as they are looking for ways to not have to build new power generating plants in the future as our national energy needs continue to only grow. Ironically one of the biggest investors in solar technolgy is BP oil so everything is on the table at this time. Hopefully we will finally learn that there is no single solution and that in some parts of the country you may get larger degree of power from solar, another part of the country from wind, another part from hydro specially micro hydro and we all may get power from the larger grid made up of hydro and hopefully more nuclear. 30 years ago we were justified after 3 Mile Island to be suspect but it's time to sit down and have a serious conversation about nuclear with all the cards on the table and all the pros and cons. I'd really like to see that. Take care and enjoyed talking about not only a topic worth broader discussion but a topic I find of great interest. As a side note, I live on a large stream and I am looking at what it would take to build and install a micro hydro generator. It's not as easy as baking a cake but it's not overly impossible or improbable either. (Message edited by wkmac on June 08, 2005) [/QUOTE]
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