The apocalypse is here..."normal" is over.

[Speedy]

Don C wrote:
Schumer was talking to Rachel tonight and talked about a federal initiative supporting electric vehicles with the goal of replacing internal combustion by 2030 or 2040. Part of the initiative is building recharging stations throughout the country so that the fear of losing power a long way from the nearest station would be removed.

Not sure if that works completely. Refilling a gas tank takes 5 - 10 minutes; recharging batteries is quite a bit longer than that and folks on a trip might not be willing to wait. Also the turnover time at the "pump" is very different, even for a 30 minute charge so a lot more stations would be necessary than current pumps.

That said, if I were in the market for a car right now I would consider that one car would be electric.

I have no doubt there will be technical advances that will make a recharge happen as fast as filling a gas tank is now.

[Sarcany]

Speedy wrote:
[quote=Don C]
Schumer was talking to Rachel tonight and talked about a federal initiative supporting electric vehicles with the goal of replacing internal combustion by 2030 or 2040. Part of the initiative is building recharging stations throughout the country so that the fear of losing power a long way from the nearest station would be removed.

Not sure if that works completely. Refilling a gas tank takes 5 - 10 minutes; recharging batteries is quite a bit longer than that and folks on a trip might not be willing to wait. Also the turnover time at the "pump" is very different, even for a 30 minute charge so a lot more stations would be necessary than current pumps.

That said, if I were in the market for a car right now I would consider that one car would be electric.

I have no doubt there will be technical advances that will make a recharge happen as fast as filling a gas tank is now.
While improving power-density and the durability/lifespan is still a poser, rapid-charging is easily within reach. Within 5 years there will be cars that can plug in at a quick-charge station and get a 50% charge in 5 minutes or so. These germanium and silicon battery packs have already been produced for automobiles in small runs.

Not saying that they'll be prevalent. Just that they'll be available. Could take 15-20 years from there for the tech to trickle down within reach of the average consumer.

Quick-charging to the full capacity of the battery-pack is still elusive.

[cbelt3]

I... still find it frustrating that the focus is always on vehicles and home use of plastics and whatnot. Industrial power usage and pollution are still much larger than a couple of hundred million households.

Yes, we've gotta do it ALL. But telling people 'just walk and you will save the planet' is a falsehood.

[Ombligo]

What needs to be done vs what people will accept is a no-win. The world population remains focused on getting theirs today before no one can get it tomorrow.

I've told my son and his wife that the kindest thing they could do for their children is not to have them. My advice was not what they wanted to hear and will be ignored. I can understand that reaction, but also know it is ignoring the reality of the situation.

[DeusxMac]

The action that must-not-be-spoken, the “third rail” of global warming mitigation - ZPG

[mrbigstuff]

DeusxMac wrote:
The action that must-not-be-spoken, the “third rail” of global warming mitigation - ZPG

Better get to work on that forced sterilization plan.

[DeusxMac]

mrbigstuff wrote:
[quote=DeusxMac]
The action that must-not-be-spoken, the “third rail” of global warming mitigation - ZPG

Better get to work on that forced sterilization plan.
Your response makes my point.

[Acer]

Making people richer tends to reduce population growth, which is nice. Trouble is, our resource demand increases with wealth. One rich kid takes the place of the energy consumption of 100 poor kids. (Figures made up, but you get the idea). ZPG may slow but not solve the problem. We'd have to go negative, and in the higher-using sectors.

[davester]

mrbigstuff wrote:
[quote=DeusxMac]
The action that must-not-be-spoken, the “third rail” of global warming mitigation - ZPG

Better get to work on that forced sterilization plan.
Abundant research shows that the level of formal education achieved by women is the single most important determinant of population growth. The next most important determinant is generally economic and social well-being. For example: https://iiasa.ac.at/web/home/research/re...on.en.html

There is no need to wave around totalitarian threats like forced sterilization.

Ombligo wrote: I've told my son and his wife that the kindest thing they could do for their children is not to have them.

That's also a non-starter. Humans (and all other life forms) are hard-wired by a billion years of evolutionary pressures to reproduce. It's folly to tell them to "stop doing that". Also, the cry to "not bring children into this terrible world" has been a common theme for generations (associated with things like the population bomb, the atomic bomb, air and water pollution, etc). For the most part, the predictions that have triggered such pronouncements have proved to either be unfounded, solutions have been found for the problems that produced them, or unanticipated changes (such as women's education in the developing world) have resolved them. Furthermore, if the intelligent people who might produce offspring who could solve mankind's problems decide not to have children, then the great unwashed masses who only contribute to the problem will win out.

[Carnos Jax]

davester wrote:
Abundant research shows that the level of formal education achieved by women is the single most important determinant of population growth.

^^^This....just look at the post-WW2 example of the Indian state of Kerala in comparison to the rest of India. College education of women kept it from having excess population growth, despite still being a somewhat poor state.