Chancellor Kremlin said:
As far as 'alternative resources' being a scam, that is not true. Alec, 1/3 of Brazil's car's run on ethanol extracted from Sugar Cane. It is a form of biodiesel. Brazil leads the world in reseach, production and export of biofuels.
Biodiesel made from foodcrops such as soybeans and sugarcane add to the concerns about rising food prices due to the shifting of crops from food production to energy production. Maybe it's wrong to call that a scam. Let's simply call that 'inhumane'.
Also: 1/3 of Brazil's cars = a fraction of all the cars that roam the Earth.
Alsoplustoo: biodiesel is usually blended with regular gasoline. Most of the time those are 5% blends. The highest recommended blend is 20%. Add more than that and your engine will fail to work eventually. Your garanty does not cover fucking up your engine with crap that has not been approved by the car's manufacturer. The pomo-hippies that retinker your car to run on all sorts of alternative fuels do not tell you this.
Secondly, you mention 'then you drove home with your fossil fueled car'. While this may be true to most, today I drove from uni to the town center on an E-Bike. Think of it as a scooter, only powered by electricity. Isn't it amazing! You plug it into the wall (like a mobile phone) and it recharges! Coming to think of it, thats a great idea to aleviate congestion in Big Cities.
All E-Bikes are powered by electricity (plus reducing CO2 emissions), are small (thus saving space on the road and massively reducing congestion) and a fast and effective form of short range transport (70 miles on a single charge). Wouldn't it be great if E-Bikes were the main form of transport within major cities? Compulsory for commuters, and people who simply *work* (not live) in Cities. Cars could be reserved for travel outside of cities, again massively reducing fossil fuel consumption. Its a shame most businessmen and workers will not be willing to part with the confort of their own cars. Lazy bastards.
70 miles on a single charge. Yeah. I've heard stuff like that. It's a scam. I've heard stuff like 250 miles on a single charge. That's not reality, though. What makes a car a car is the combination of range + speed. Electric car promoters always cite top speed and maximum range, giving people the wrong impression that electric cars can pretty much compete with internal combustion engines. Again: it's a scam. The first electric car that will take you 90 miles at 70MPH freeway speeds has still to be invented. Stuff like "this electric car has a range of up to 250 miles" and "this electric car has a top speed of 85MPH" is a blatant lie. If you actually drive that car at 85MPH, you'll be lucky to travel 10 miles before your batteries are flat. If you want to travel 14 miles, most of those electric cars have a top speed of 18MPH. And that's just a sad fact.
Oh, but we'll just add more batteries? Forget it. Even with the newest alternative lightweight batteries, you suffer a weight penalty. More weight means you'll need more energy to move. Adding more batteries results in less range, so basically having more energy will get you less far.
A very meaningful comparison: gasoline stores 20 times the energy per pound than the most efficient batteries.
Change all cars to electric ones and the Olduvai cliff comes in sight: the electric network will not be able to cope with that, resulting in brownouts, temporary blackouts and eventually: permanent blackouts. Woohoo! Alternative energy rocks!
Not.
Also, fossil fuels are not *everything*. I agree that without it life would be near impossible, but your labelling that fossil fuels is in every corner of life is misleading.
No it is not. Look around your house. I guarantee you that everything you see there is there because of fossil fuels. Whether it is in transport or manufacturing, fossil fuels made it possible.
As mentioned before, a water wheel can power a generator which can power a factory which can make clothing.
There are only so many rivers, waterways.
On a larger scale, a Hydroelectric dam can power a city.
You can only build so many dams as there are waterways that lend themselves to be obstructed by a dam.
To put your argument to shame further, that 'Building almost anything requires fossil fuel', as already mentioned, mining doesn't (Except for transport but electricity can power that aswell), do you seriously believe that if humans could erect the fucking pyramid of giza thousands of years ago by hand, and without cranes (modern ones), bulldozers and tractors and FOSSIL FUELS, that we can't erect a windmill/wind farm today?
How long did it take to build the pyramids?
How long do you want to wait for your house or apartment to be build?
Will the workers that build your house agree to live in a workcamp in the immediate neighbourhood of the construction site?
How are you going to erect windmills in the middle of the Northsea or even close to the shore in the sea if you only use manpower?
How will you shape the iron and get the propellor aerodynamically perfect if you can only use your hands and simple tools? How will you make the isolation for the wires? How will you protect the metal you are using to withstand wind and rain and nature? Which biological paint will keep those from doing harm?
And so on.
Think before you write.
