Uh... Water.... pump it up a hill, when you need power- you drop it down again. It's not the worlds most efficient method, but you can scale it up as large as you please.
During the era of cheap fossil fuels it was cheaper and easier to just generate the electricity without having to store it so our infrastructure isn't geared towards storing it. The technology exist and with all of the problems with non-renewable power there is a greater impetus into better storage and transmission of energy.
I agree with your cost argument. T_J's arguments about lack of storage and scalability assume that non-renewable energy will always be cheap. The same arguments were made against hybrid vehicles, and we're starting to see truly viable technologies there, and prices continue to drop. Go figure. All I know is that electronics goods keep getting cheaper when everything else gets more expensive. Makes sense that electric-powered transportation is the future, doesn't it? The more electricity can be lowered in price by renewable sources, the more attractive it is as a replacement to fossil fuel.
O.K. Pretend I'm not telling you all that there exists today energy storage methods which scale up to multiple megawatts, no new inventions required. That's fine.
well when its sunny and windy you know like during those times couldnt you like use that to supplement the main source. and you know like that would help. who knows
Gore alluded to the fact today on MTP that he could work with our swift boating friend T-Bone on this wind (clean) energy push. Gore called natural gas powered cars a good intermediary before we have 100% electrics on the road. Do you think these two can really get together on this issue? Having a major player on the left and right seems to be the way to push this as a bipartisan must have for the country.
You can store direct current electricity more efficiently than alternating current electricity. Let's convert everything to DC.
Good thread. It is good to see that T Bone Pickens and Gore are getting on the same page. Interesting that Pickens was behind the despicable Swiftboat episode. I like Picken's example of Eisenhauer's interstate highway project. It was great when the country could actually do projects of that scope. Now you would have anti-government ideologues and those who want to own the highways as toll roads etc. objecting.
I was reading a while back there are 8m vehicles powered by cng worldwide, but only 140k in the us. Also 80% of brazilian vehicles run off sugar cane ethanol. Imagine 80% of our vehicles running off sugar cane ethenol and the rest off cng. We would create so many new jobs and the dollar would be so strong.
