Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I never understand why people would prefer steam for vehicle propulsion over electricity... electric motors are super simple and you remove all the exhaust problems that both steam and oil have. Also as far as renewable resources go if everything switched over to steam we would probably use even more coal (with exception of steam power from solar and renewable source but they are not really an option for vehicles but more large scale power plants)
Batteries are still the weak link for electric cars but I doubt it will be long before that as a reason disappears too.

Electric bikes lap isle of Man at 109.6 mph (176 kph) average speed for 65km,

It won't be long before usable battery powered vehicles are the norm.

look how good the modern Li Fe cordless drills are these days.

Hmmm, batteries are definitely improving .. I can get about 35km from my electric bike without any peddling at 30-35km/h. Pretty impressive really and I can really see that electric transport is the way of the future.. Don't know why more people aren't using ebikes, I think that small light electric vehicles will be far more common in the future.

There is a reason coal fire power generators use coal and not wood.
Its the same reason blacksmiths use coal and not wood.
Wood is not good for high temperature fires, which a boiler requires.
My boiler at work isnt just a stove type gas element, it is a jet forced flame, Does anyone here know how much coal steam trains pull? any idea how long that lasts them?


As far as wood gassification, it is the same problem, cut down a square kilometre of forest to get enough gas to power a car for 100m. Look up how oil forms, i dont have enough detail to explain it here, but DR. Karl has explaixned it a few times over the years i have been listening to his triple j segment, it is something like 1 litre takes 1 square kilometre of forest/animals decaying over millions of years - there is a lot more energy stored there than you could ever get from wood.

Sorry guys, but steam was done away with for a reason.

Yeah my Lancaster electric bike does about the same as that... I love it! Although I use the citycycle system even more as you do not need to make a return trip or lock up your bike... now electric citycycle bikes, I would love that and pay 3 times as much for it
And I would like to say to anyone thinking it is lazy and we should all just pedal... that here in Brisbane at least I would get way too sweaty pedalling 500m during the day (mornings are alright)

Yes, because there was cheap easy oil.... That will run out...



A friend and i were wondering about the possibilities of setting up an electric bike system along the lines of the city bike you have over there.. A little trickier logistically but it's bound to come one day, especially in the denser populated areas. Here in Perth it's a long way off because population density just isn't there.

Yep, methinks fuel cells may be the next big thing. Zero emissions (after they've been manufacutured) they're claiming. We shall see

World’s First Full-production Fuel-cell Vehicles Arrive in UK ("Up to 594 km range.. 162kmh maximum, 0-100kmh in 12.5 seconds.. The only emission is water.")

http://www.hyundai.com.au/about-hyundai ... rive-in-uk

Oil wasnt cheap or in ready supply when IC engines come about.
they ran on whale oil, parafin wax, kerosene, etc, like most other things.
Steam will never come back, because it is oversized, cumbersome, dirty, underpowered, inconvenient, etc.
Sure oil will run out, but hydrogen could take straight over if they worked on better storage tanks for incar.
the obvious choice is electricity though, it is simply a repeat of 100 years ago, the best technology at the time will win out.

.. and in future, hopefully algae derived diesel to power trucks, supplemented with biodiesel. A lot of government grant money is being thrown towards algae research projects at the moment (http://arena.gov.au/projects/bioenergy/)

Rudolf Diesel originally designed the diesel engine to run on mineral oil. Biodiesel technology was overlooked while the demand for crude oil increased significantly as the automotive and industrial age ensued.

"The use of vegetable oils for engine fuel may seem insignificant today. But such oils may become in course of time as important as petroleum and the coal tar products of the present time."
- Rudolf Diesel

wise words.. way before his time

Yes however I think fuel cells will be pushed by big business because it will help them maintain control over distribution much easier than electricity to batteries which can be done from home.. imagine what would happen to all the petrol stations and supply chain if over a 5-10 year period almost everyone was fueling up at home.

Hopefully we will not become dependant on using our already strained food sources for fuel as well.. slight price increases in basic foods like vegetable oil, corn etc can have huge ramifications for the poor around the world who cannot simply pay more for the little food they already can barely afford..
although algae is an interesting direction... I guess it all just depends on how much energy in and energy out occurs... some of the farmer subsidies related to fuel at the moment don't seem to add up.

I think petrol stations, producers, etc will be fine, they are massive companies, they like to have thier hand in everything, they will simply buy out the electricity companies.

I also hope that the world doesnt go to biodiesel, its a horrible option. Im not sure how they will make electric trucks though.
Fuel cells will be used because the holding capacity will probably always be higher than batteries, but really, probably which ever is cheapest to make and is accepted by the public will win.

Yeh it would be pretty sweet recharging your electric car each night off your own solar bank.. saying by bye to the corrupt oil industry dependance

I still dream of running my ute off biodiesel. Did a lot of reading into it and started collecting materials to build my condenser etc, and found a seemingly unlimited supply of waste vegie oil from the tip (all conveniently bottled up already in their 20 litre pails!)

but all the mechanics I spoke to told me horror stories about biodiesel eating away at the rubber seals in the car. I would need to replace them all with Viton seals but haven't got round to it

I'm with you there.

Though there's a fair bit of waste vegie oil still being just dumped into landfill. All my local cafe's/pubs/fast food places seem to just send their waste oil to the tip. A saddening waste IMO. Why not re-use this I say.

Although it is a limited resource. Definately not enough to power all of Australia's diesel engines

The thought that any biodiesel would come from spent oil or food sources is pretty much laughable.
The amount needed and the little gained from each seed would pretty much dictate that palm oil would have to be used, which would all come from borneo and the like, like it does now.