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lithium ion getting pretty good; eg, my Milwaukee gun has been pretty good with ni-cad batteries...lottsa recharges, good power...much more than a "homeowner" version...well, their new line (28-volt) supposedly has the power of corded tools, batteries last longer between charges and recharge quicker... not saying Li-ion "the answer," but "battery technology" in general is getting real attention these days.
-------------------- Nashoba Holba Chepulechi Adventures in microcapitalism...
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I'll point out where a tremendous waste of energy is and how to reclaim much of it.
Just like the roof of a house, the roof of a car can be covered in simple solar cell material (rather than paint) that is wired to the battery to charge it and to the car's electrical system to supply it. When you first start your car, there is a significant discharge of the battery that then is recharged via the alternator (generator) and that is a physical drain on the engine, requiring a meaasurable amount of energy and, thus, a measurable amount of gasoline. With modern computer chips, the control and maintainence of such a system would go on un-noticable.
Although that is a seemingly trivial amount of wasted fuel, multiply that over the billions of engine startings every day and you get a very significant savings of gasoline (or whatever other sort of source supplies power to the car).
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My electric bills doubled in May because that's when PSE&G starts their summer rates...Heating oil was around $.65/gal 10 years ago...now I feel lucky to be offered contract pricing at $2.69/gal payable by end of July. Not to mention the propane that we need to run the dryer, stove and heat part of my house. AC just went and the man tells me that my 10 year old units are garbage with SEER ratings of 10. No wonder I have $350 electric bills in the summer.
Switching to solar sound great but even with a 30% discount, I'm looking at about 10K outlay at least. H E L P .....
-------------------- Just the facts, ma'am.
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Oh, and a great way to save energy is using dimmers and sensors for auto shut off of lights. Aside from using less electricity, dimmers can extend the life your bulbs exponentially. At least, I got that right.
-------------------- Just the facts, ma'am.
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I only stated the idea for the starting system, but with a computer chip in control, much of the electrical needs of a car might be fed with solar cells. Think about a car driving across West Texas on a summer day. Yhe airconditioner might need more power, but there isn't much else in a car, even a stereo, that couldn't be fed from solar cells rather than an alternator, hence, the gas milage wouldn't be cut by that amount of drain to run an alternator.
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Here in Claifornia with rolling blackouts. I am turning everything off in the house for 2 hours a day and making the kids read at the library. They run there comuters all day and if my kids are not on them someone else is. 1 hour reading then 1 hour computer. No electricity at my house.
-------------------- Lookin for the money
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I'm reading that Califirnia is in serious trouble with electricity again.
And I'll bet that, like Enron did before, some power companies are making a killing.
All this free market bull ignores the greed of the very wealthy, who seem to think the "little" people were put on this Earth for them to exploit.
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