Industry needs and Consumer needs "fuels"
#11
03-22-2005, 12:10 PM
Hi All:
___Excellent thread …
___“As GM goes, so goes the country” as the saying used to be. In the real world, some of that statement still has truth to it. There are plenty more troubles in the US then just GM right now and much has to do with out our affliction to crude based energy use as a bottomless pit. Our Trade Deficit figures on crude and its by-products alone are absolutely staggering and they will hit those that do not know as well as those of us that do know just as hard. Some might be better prepared then others but there will be coming hardships the world may have never considered before.
___Waste heat from power plants … Working at a nuclear facility, there is much truth to the fact that we dump ~ 2/3 of our heat production to the environment as do most electrical generation facilities. Some gas plants have their efficiencies up to the 40% range and still only have this low quality waste stream (heat waste, not pollution waste). The problem is that the temperature and quality of the waste heat is so low as to be almost useless other then possibly heating bath water and homes if they had their own heating systems cross connected to the plants discharges. Would you want your home HX tied directly to a nuclear or coal generating plants discharge stream? We most certainly wouldn’t want the latter given the liabilities and such … It is a very clean discharge but the low quality nature of the waste heat (120 degree stream or less) cannot do much else other then heat homes.
___The Johnny and Susie analogy is a good one … Having just arrived home from a Florida trip, there are so many in this country driving RV’s the size of small houses, semi’s and sedans driving at 80 + mph, and those of us that should not be on the road no matter our FE that it is almost insane. Let the price of gasoline dictate our future as it is a bleak one imho
___Again, watch GM go down. They (CEO’s and the like) can blame their retirees or whomever but take a look the product mix. No wonder … Will they ever become Toyota? Probably not as Toyota’s engineering excellence is simply too far ahead of everyone but I do not want to see them disappear in the least as it will be a huge blow to the economy that the US as a whole may not be able to recover from.
___Good Luck
___Wayne R. Gerdes
___Hunt Club Farms Landscaping Ltd.
___Waynegerdes@earthlink.net
___Excellent thread …
___“As GM goes, so goes the country” as the saying used to be. In the real world, some of that statement still has truth to it. There are plenty more troubles in the US then just GM right now and much has to do with out our affliction to crude based energy use as a bottomless pit. Our Trade Deficit figures on crude and its by-products alone are absolutely staggering and they will hit those that do not know as well as those of us that do know just as hard. Some might be better prepared then others but there will be coming hardships the world may have never considered before.
___Waste heat from power plants … Working at a nuclear facility, there is much truth to the fact that we dump ~ 2/3 of our heat production to the environment as do most electrical generation facilities. Some gas plants have their efficiencies up to the 40% range and still only have this low quality waste stream (heat waste, not pollution waste). The problem is that the temperature and quality of the waste heat is so low as to be almost useless other then possibly heating bath water and homes if they had their own heating systems cross connected to the plants discharges. Would you want your home HX tied directly to a nuclear or coal generating plants discharge stream? We most certainly wouldn’t want the latter given the liabilities and such … It is a very clean discharge but the low quality nature of the waste heat (120 degree stream or less) cannot do much else other then heat homes.
___The Johnny and Susie analogy is a good one … Having just arrived home from a Florida trip, there are so many in this country driving RV’s the size of small houses, semi’s and sedans driving at 80 + mph, and those of us that should not be on the road no matter our FE that it is almost insane. Let the price of gasoline dictate our future as it is a bleak one imho
___Again, watch GM go down. They (CEO’s and the like) can blame their retirees or whomever but take a look the product mix. No wonder … Will they ever become Toyota? Probably not as Toyota’s engineering excellence is simply too far ahead of everyone but I do not want to see them disappear in the least as it will be a huge blow to the economy that the US as a whole may not be able to recover from.
___Good Luck
___Wayne R. Gerdes
___Hunt Club Farms Landscaping Ltd.
___Waynegerdes@earthlink.net
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