Energy

This EV project has given me concrete reason to read and think more about energy.

It will be a long time until we see many EVs on the road. It could happen, but it won't. At over $40K the Chevy Volt will be way to expensive. I think that a 5 buck tax is the only way we can move to alternative fuels. Self guided conservation hasn't worked (and won't) with only a 5% decrease in use. Tax incentives are way to complicated and controversial. Import tax or blockades will only piss off our suppliers.

Clearly we need a path to alt. fuels because of pollution, global warming (possible), and keeping all that money home (foreign exports). Our cars are a good place to focus at about 45-55% of the petroleum use. With 65% imported oil we need to get 3x more efficiency out of our fleet than the current 19 MPG.

The options are:

• Ethanol which messes with food prices
  
• Methanol from coal has no existing distribution channel
  
• Biodiesel has a limited supply (only a few mcdonalds)
  
• Propane and diesel are good but only a small percentage more efficient 45-55% vs. 35-45%
• Hydrogen is a battery technology not a energy source
• So that leaves electric. With up to 89% efficient motors and a distribution network already in place it looks pretty good.

A $5 a gallon tax over time would give us money to fund a transition to renewable electric wind, solar, hydro, geo, nuclear and clean coal.