Kinda' like that thought process: The world's oil reserves will last forever.....We just won't be able to access them...... :-)
And yup. The Merlin Roadster is "hot." But let me ask you this.... Would you prefer a demur lil' gal who can offer you cheesecake for life (the Merlin Coupe) or a hot tamale that revs up everyone's engines, but is mostly show and no go (the Merlin Roadster)? 35 mpg? It's a burnout. Heck! My '86 Golf hatchback gets 47 (52 in its hey day). Can't move a half ton of concrete block at a time with the roadster. Besides, that nose looks too much like Joe Camel's. Todd Swearingen ----- Original Message ----- From: womplex_oo1 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <biofuel@yahoogroups.com> Sent: Friday, July 26, 2002 3:12 PM Subject: [biofuel] Re: Merlin > Come on, admit it, the car is HOT. They could put a smaller engine > in it and get waaay better fuel economy, but they want it to sell, > and the image they are presenting is making me salivate. > > BTW the Volkswagen 1-Liter is not headed for production. I emailed > them and found out that it is just a concept car designed to break a > fuel efficiency record while adhering to road-worthiness standards, > and that they will be incorporating only some of its features into > future VWs. Actually too bad, I liked that one too. > > I believe EVs may have a future, but only if electricity is produced > with a fuel cell, and the fuel is liquid, able to be stored in > featherweight tanks, and is renewable. Hydrogen won't work, the > storage tank is too heavy, and production too expensive and energy > intensive. Methanol is produced mostly from non-renewable natural > gas, or from coal, so it doesn't satisfy the constraints either. The > only real option is fuel cell that runs on ethanol. Coincidentally > Medis Technologies recently patented a Direct Liquid Ethanol Fuel > Cell (DLEFC) for use in handheld electronics, cell phones, PDAs, > laptops, and military infantry gear. They are starting out with a > fuel cell battery charger, because electronics companies tend to plan > their products years ahead, and they've planned on using ordinary > batteries. Nobody anticipated an ethanol fuel cell would be > invented, so the technology won't be integrated for at least a few > years. So it is possible. Someone just has to be aware of the > technology and plan to use it. I don't know how expensive DLEFC are > but it is only a matter of time before a concept car is produced. > They are probably working on it as we speak. Just wait and see. > > http://www.medistechnologies.com > > Oil crisis? I've presented my arguments many times at other > newsgroups and nobody believed me. But I'll say this: I don't > believe that oil reserves will run out either. In fact I believe > they will last forever. It is just that it will get harder and > harder to get the oil out. At some point it will be so difficult > that annual yields will start to decrease no matter how many oilwells > are drilled, no matter how much new exploration is performed, no > matter how much new technology is used. This event is called the > Hubbert Peak. The irony is that oil companies will be reporting > proven reserves of 100s of billions of barrels remaining, all the > while supplies will be failing. The annual supply of oil, annual > yields rather, will follow a bell-curve shape, and the Hubbert Peak > will occur long before the proven reserves run out, perhaps as early > as 2010, or as late as 2020, but not really very long from now. So > the oil will last forever, but eventually supply will not be able to > support demand, and the transportation sector is particularly > vulnerable. As for "undiscovered oil", the terminology should make > you suspicious. I mean, seriously, what does that mean anyway?! You > should also be suspicious of the US Geological Survey reports, which > tend to include reserves based on 5% probabilities, and play down the > estimates based on 95% probabilities which are far more pessimistic. > They also include in their estimates oil that has already been > extracted (burned, doesn't exist anymore), as well as "undiscovered" > oil. LOL. Tar sand & shale estimates might be very optimistic but > Suncor abandoned a shale oil project in Australia in April 2001 > because they cannot meet the environmental standards and still > produce it economically. Remember that tar sand & shale are strip > mined, very destructive for the amounts they intend to produce. Also > recently a red flag was waived in Alberta over a tar sand operator > that wanted to inject salt water, which is an unwanted byproduct of > tar sand oil production, into a fresh water aquifer as a means of > disposal. This has outraged local residents and wildlife experts, > who point out that the aquifer feeds numerous lakes in the area. In > my opinion tar sand and shale will not yield the amounts they are > reporting - upwards of 300 billion barrels I believe. In the > absense of those reserves Canada has only a few years of cheap > pumpable oil left, literally 2 years last time I checked. It just > gets worse the more you investigate. For example more than 50 > countries around the world have already passed their own local > Hubbert Peak. The United States passed Hubbert Peak in 1970 and > their domestic production is down more than 30 percent since then. > The pipeline from Alaska is only transporting a fraction of the gas > it was designed to carry, and as such the cost is 4-times the going > rate. British Petroleum runs the Alaska Pipeline and they had to lay > off something like 20 percent of their on-site staff and 75% of their > contractors since the mid-1980s. The North Sea oilfield passed > Hubbert Peak in 1998, and yields are dropping 11 percent annually. I > looked at European reserves, and a linear graph predicted they would > run out completely in 2007. I guess now that Hubbert Peak has in > fact occurred, their oil supply can be expected to last forever, > albeit at exponentially decreasing yields. If the big oilfields in > Saudi Arabia pass Hubbert Peak the drop in the worldwide supply would > be unmanageable I suspect. But I'm probably off topic now. > > We really need cars that are cargo-proportional (1-passenger, perhaps > 2) with perhaps cargo trailers for occasional extra capacity. For now > we need flexible fuelled cars that can run on ethanol or biodiesel, > so that we can switch over to an alternative fuel without completely > decommissioning the vehicle, if necessary. This trend with SUVs that > can carry 7 people but usually only one person, and burn nothing but > gasoline is going to get us into alot of trouble. > > > > > --- In [EMAIL PROTECTED], Keith Addison <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > womplex_oo1 wrote: > > > > >I think the Merlin Roadster is a significant improvement in style > > >compared to the Morgan, Messerschmitt, or the BMW 3-wheeled cars. > > > > Style. Oh. What about utility? Actually the BMW Isetta was a > > four-wheeler, but the two back wheels were very close together. I > > think the Messerschmitt especially got a lot more utility out of > its > > mere 200cc than the Merlin ever will with its 1500cc Harley. Not > very > > efficient, Harleys. > > > > <snip> > > > > >I'm going to buy one as soon as I can. I live alone so I don't > care > > >if it doesn't have a second seat. I like the fact that the Merlin > > >Coup gets 70-90 mpg, that's equal or better than any diesel or > hybrid > > >electric on the market. > > > > Huh? Which market is that? There are quite a few diesels on the > > market that do better than that. You get that kind of mileage out > of > > real cars these days. And then there's this: > > http://www.vwvortex.com/news/index_1L.html > > > > And also this: > > http://evworld.com/databases/storybuilder.cfm?storyid=312 > > > > And by 2003 things will be a lot more interesting yet. I suppose > the > > 70-90 mpg projected for the Coupe is acceptable, and but 35mpg for > > the Roadster is dreadful. So's the price, for both. > > > > >If they made it diesel it'd probably get 120 > > >mpg, and a hybrid-electric version 150. A direct liquid fuel cell > > >version would probably get 400 mpg, but would be too expensive. > > >Maybe I'll be lucky, by the time they are in production (mid 2003) > > >they will be flexible fuelled, i.e. gasoline/ethanol, so I won't > have > > >to do the conversion myself (not that I can't). > > > > > >After that I'll start building an ethanol still. After all, the > oil > > >crisis is coming, say 8 years from now, maybe 12-14 years if we're > > >lucky... > > > > Been saying that for 50 years. Eg, US Department of State, "Energy > > Resources of the World", p. 71 - all known petroleum reserves will > be > > exhausted in 25 years. Date of > > publication: 1949. Ah, but of course we know *now*... Scientists > say > > that every two years. And every couple years vast new oil reserves > > suddenly seem to get discovered. I wrote a news feature in 1980 > > detailing six previous fuel crises where that had happened. Another > > eg: > > > > "RESTON, Virginia, March 24, 2000 (ENS) - The latest U.S. Geological > > Survey (USGS) assessment of the world's oil and gas reserves > > estimates there is about 20 percent more undiscovered oil than > > previously believed." > > > > I don't think we'll ever run out of oil. Not that it matters much. > > There are very pressing reasons that we can't go on using it the > way > > we do now, whether we're running out of it or not. However much or > > however little is left in the reserves, that's right where most of > it > > ought to stay, until we learn to use it properly without wrecking > the > > joint, if we ever do. > > > > Best > > > > Keith > > > Yahoo! Groups Sponsor > ADVERTISEMENT > > > > Biofuel at Journey to Forever: > http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html > > Biofuels list archives: > http://archive.nnytech.net/ > > Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. > To unsubscribe, send an email to: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service. > > ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Will You Find True Love? Will You Meet the One? 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