Posted on 05/13/2009 7:54:04 AM PDT by VRWCTexan
Electrolysis from water to hydrogen, and its subsequent recombination are maybe ~60% each to be generous. Ltithium batteries have made good progress over the last decade. Lithium batteries, are ~90% efficient and are looking at a ~80% recharge in 5 minutes, some faster than that, a lifetime of thousands of charge/recharge cycles and a price in the hundreds of dollars per kilowatt hour. The future is likely PHEVs with a battery powered range of ~12 miles and recharging stations in most parking lots.
I believe India has an interest in thorium breeders (due to their thorium deposits), but I don’t have much confidence in their nuclear reactor designs. Is there anyone else working on thorium breeder reactors?
I do not know enough about their program But MSR’s have been around a while are very safe and have the ability to deal with deadly Plutonium as you know neutron's NOT burial is the best way to neutralize the problem..we have a 1000 years of Uranium which leads to waste problems and 3000 years of Thorium.Put them on the coast and use the heat to distill water.They can be in Module form from a factory.
Oil is not single resource vital to economy. If all countries will accept consumerism as base of their societies, they will deplete other recsources in no time - fresh water, land for agriculture, timber, oxygen, some metals, etc.
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