Posted on 01/12/2002 5:41:48 PM PST by Deacon_m
“FREEDOM CAR” “The Bush administration is walking away from a $1.5 billion eight-year government-subsidized project to develop high-mileage gasoline-fueled vehicles. Instead it is throwing its support behind a plan that the Energy Department and the auto industry have devised to develop hydrogen-based fuel cells to power the cars of the future. (This plan) aims at the eventual replacement of the internal combustion engine. Fuel cells use stored hydrogen and oxygen from the air to create electricity, and the only emission from engines they power is water vapor.” (“U. S. Ends Car Plan On Gas Efficiency; Looks to Fuel Cells” by Neela Banerjee with Danny Hakim, The New York Times, Jan. 9, 2002, Front p According to The Wall Street Journal (“Fuel-Cell Makers Get a Boost From Bush’s Auto Subsidy Plan” by Jeffrey Ball, Jan. 10, 2002 , p. B2): “Even fuel-cell suppliers, whose stock prices jumped on yesterday’s announcement of the Freedom Car program, tried to calm the market’s enthusiasm. Although they praised the big new federal subsidy for their industry, they recognized that their stocks could fall as quickly as they rose once investors realize that big volumes of fuel-cell vehicles are at least a decade away. “Ballard Power Systems Inc., a Vancouver , British Columbia , fuel-cell company owned partly by DaimlerChrysler AG and Ford, shares rose 99 cents to $35.95 as of 4 p.m. in Nasdaq Stock Market trading, but surged to $38.50 earlier in the day.” According to The New York Times (“U. S. Ends Car Plan On Gas Efficiency; Looks to Fuel Cells” by Neela Banerjee with Danny Hakim, Jan. 9, 2002 , Front page): “The stocks of several companies that are developing fuel cells surged yesterday on news of the of the administration initiative. Shares in Ballard Power Systems, probably the best known of these companies, jumped 15 percent, to $34.96. FuelCell Energy rose 22 percent, to $21.85; Plug Power was up to 39 percent, to close at $12.04.” “ROLLING THUNDER” Another publication (“Wind-Power Revolution” by Marianne Lavelle, US News & World Report, Nov. 12, 2002 , p. 36) makes a compelling case that wind power in a plan called “Rolling Thunder” will demonstrate that the blustery Great Plains will become “the Saudi Arabia of wind power” and that land values will skyrocket in this major energy market, the Midwest . Based on federal research, “12 central states had wind potential to produce four times the amount of electricity consumed nationwide.” North Dakota alone can meet 36 percent of U. S. energy needs and “capturing wind power and pouring it into regional electrical grids” is already thriving in Texas . Farmers in South Dakota have already leased land for 2,000 turbines. The magazine states that this wind power revolution will let “the public in on a secret well known in the electricity business.” It is now economical to do this on a large scale. The cost of generating wind power has already dropped from about 38 cents per kilowatt hour in the 1980s to about 4 cents today. “Rolling Thunder” is a new class of wind-power planning. “The 3,000-megawatt project, on a par with the largest U. S. nuclear power plants, would feed the grid serving Chicago .” It will take five years to obtain rights of way and build transmission lines to central Illinois . As Americans become aware of the oil threat to our sovereignty, a Manhattan Project type nation program looms as a possibility Republican Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa is among the biggest proponents of federal support for wind.
BTW, deek, think we could get some paragraph breaks next time?
Energy Conversion Devices, Inc. does a lot of very good work (some of it my work, but good nonetheless... (grin))
There's a lot of answers that need to come forth before I sign on to this new mode of transportation. If it means I have to make a million bucks a year to drive, then I'm out, just like 99 percent of America.
That and how fast can you get to top speed? I'm not driving a car that does a 15 second quarter mile
As far as the whole new hydrogen power cell deal goes, I'm more interested in seeing how it fairs, how efficient it really is and how affordable it is. I for one am not up for being one of those people who are pedestrian by force. I'd rather be one by choice. To legislate behavior is not right. It's bad enough that we're creating a two class society one of which is a huge majority of people who are struggling economically. A two class society where only one class seems to be held accountable for their actions and punished for all wrongdoings. A two class society where the ruling have greater priveledge to do what ever they want, and the average citizen is lucky to be law abiding as more and more regulation is poured onto them.
When the Hydrogen powered cars are able to do what gas powered cars can, and are at the same price range, then I'll sign up. However, until that day, I will not.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.