Posted on 03/31/2014 12:26:07 PM PDT by neverdem
25 pharmaceutical companies will phase out animal antibiotics
Autism Diagnoses Surge by 30 Percent in Kids, CDC Reports
Gunshot victims to be suspended between life and death
FReepmail me if you want on or off my health and science ping list.
What happened to LENR?
Ping.
Here's the reason why: the development of the liquid fluoride thorium reactor, a nuclear reactor that uses plentiful thorium-232 dissolved in molten fluoride salts as nuclear fuel in a liquid form. Extremely safe to run and with very little radioactive waste generation, LFTR's could be assembled on such a large scale that there will be enough excess power generated to do three things: 1) replace gasoline and diesel fueled internal combustion engines in automobiles with future electric batteries that allow for a single-charge range of 800 kilometers (497 miles), electrify all of our long distance railroad lines, and do truly large scale seawater desalinization to turn huge swaths of what was once desert into productive farmland.
Maybe the energy will be there. But progress in battery technology has been depressingly slow despite huge investments. The economy you describe does not exist without order of magnitude jumps in battery technology.
What about using that energy for cracking water for Hydrogen to use in fuel cells? They are making progress in that technology.
Maybe the energy will be there. But progress in battery technology has been depressingly slow despite huge investments. The economy you describe does not exist without order of magnitude jumps in battery technology.
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The tesla car gets 250 miles on a charge. So just doubling that to 500 miles would mean that teslas get more on a charge than most gasoline cars get from a tank of gas.
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Doubling is not an order of magnitude. An order of magnitude is 10 times higher.
What about using that energy for cracking water for Hydrogen to use in fuel cells? They are making progress in that technology.
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seems to me that I see an article in physorg every so often about at new water catalyst that cracks water better/faster/cheaper but I never hear of a follow up.
Hogwash..we have commercial quick charging in 20 minutes...just need them built up all over.
Right. Natural gas will be abundant and cheap until everyone starts using it to power their truck fleets, electric power plants, etc.
Natural gas is great for heating homes and cooking food. Don't waste it on the other BS because it's "abundant". Mine coal, refine the thorium out of it to power LFTR reactors, and use some of the electricity to refine the remaining coal with the Fischer-Tropsch process.
Don't listen to the Watermelon Greenies about natural gas. IT'S A TRAP!
I think it would be more effective to generate hydrogen for motor vehicles.
I would consider a fuel cell fueled by hydrogen produced by electrolysis to be a form of battery in its own right.
IS nasty stuff.
Depends on your number system choice.
Nothing, it's just tough to pull off yet.
Nuclear Energy: Cleaner, Safer and Made in America
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aoAf-wWies
But your reactor could power the process described, or other processes for converting natural gas to liquid fuel. For the trains, and lots of other things, electricity is great, if it's cheap enough. But "go where you want to go, when you want to go there" mobile power is probably not one of them, except in hybrid power trains which take much less battery capacity.
Verses 2-3 minutes to fill up a completely empty tank? Maybe not a big deal, but a big irritant if one travels between cities much.
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