Wednesday, March 02, 2005
Imagine: 500 Miles Per Gallon
MSNBC - Imagine: 500 Miles Per Gallon - The current crop of hybrid cars get around 50 miles per gallon. Make it a plug-in and you can get 75 miles. Replace the conventional fuel tank with a flexible-fuel tank that can run on a combination of 15 percent petroleum and 85 percent ethanol or methanol, and you get between 400 and 500 miles per gallon of gasoline. (You don't get 500 miles per gallon of fuel, but the crucial task is to lessen the use of petroleum. And ethanol and methanol are much cheaper than gasoline, so fuel costs would drop dramatically.)
There are transition costs—gas stations will need to be fitted to pump methanol and ethanol (at a cost of $20,000 to $60,000 per station). New technologies will empower new industries, few of which have lobbies in Washington.
Nevertheless, every option that would take us away from dependency on oil and petroleum, (and the nightmare of global warming), should be pursued with purpose and determination. With global warming threatening to continue unabated unless something is done now, driving a fuel efficient car like a hybrid is something that everybody can do to help protect our planet.
A plug-in hybrid would be an even better option: More than half of the electricity generating capacity of the U.S. Power Grid is idle at night, so it makes perfect sense that owners of plug-in hybrids would take advantage of this situation while energy is less in demand and less costly.
"We need to cure our addiction to oil," says AFS Trinity CEO Edward W. Furia, former director of the U.S. EPA’s Middle Atlantic office. "Our current 20 mpg national average vehicle fuel efficiency is embarrassing. While 50 miles per gallon in cars like the Toyota Prius is great for today, to address our transportation energy needs in the near future our national average fuel economy should be more than 200 miles per gallon."
"With most global oil supplies centered in an unstable Middle East, demand rising with the expansion of China and India, and some experts predicting oil prices of $150 a barrel and $5-plus per gallon gasoline in five years, Furia believes that technologies such as the Extreme Hybrid(tm) are a matter of national security. This technology could dramatically change the geopolitical landscape within a decade," he said.
Source: EV World - AFS Trinity Unveils 'Extreme Hybrid' Flywheel Technology
There are transition costs—gas stations will need to be fitted to pump methanol and ethanol (at a cost of $20,000 to $60,000 per station). New technologies will empower new industries, few of which have lobbies in Washington.
Nevertheless, every option that would take us away from dependency on oil and petroleum, (and the nightmare of global warming), should be pursued with purpose and determination. With global warming threatening to continue unabated unless something is done now, driving a fuel efficient car like a hybrid is something that everybody can do to help protect our planet.
A plug-in hybrid would be an even better option: More than half of the electricity generating capacity of the U.S. Power Grid is idle at night, so it makes perfect sense that owners of plug-in hybrids would take advantage of this situation while energy is less in demand and less costly.
"We need to cure our addiction to oil," says AFS Trinity CEO Edward W. Furia, former director of the U.S. EPA’s Middle Atlantic office. "Our current 20 mpg national average vehicle fuel efficiency is embarrassing. While 50 miles per gallon in cars like the Toyota Prius is great for today, to address our transportation energy needs in the near future our national average fuel economy should be more than 200 miles per gallon."
"With most global oil supplies centered in an unstable Middle East, demand rising with the expansion of China and India, and some experts predicting oil prices of $150 a barrel and $5-plus per gallon gasoline in five years, Furia believes that technologies such as the Extreme Hybrid(tm) are a matter of national security. This technology could dramatically change the geopolitical landscape within a decade," he said.
Source: EV World - AFS Trinity Unveils 'Extreme Hybrid' Flywheel Technology
