+susieice Posted August 13, 2016 #51 Share Posted August 13, 2016 (edited) Been a really hot and humid summer here. I don't remember 90's with humidity so high you can't go out lasting over 2 weeks before. Last winter was warmer with one 36" snowstorm. The three winters before that were really cold and a lot of snow. I think this Bermuda high thing is probably the reason why. I just hope this winter is mild also. When the jetstream drops we get a lot of Canadian air and it gets really cold here. Three years ago, all the Great Lakes froze over. Last Christmas Eve, it was 79F. Funny thing, weather. Now NOAA says this year's Atlantic hurricane season could be bad. The East Coast has been very warm, and so is the water temps. Unbelievable humidity. Edited August 13, 2016 by susieice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorvir Posted August 13, 2016 #52 Share Posted August 13, 2016 (edited) Meh. I remember it more humid a lot hotter in the past. I do remember warm winters. i know there have been really nasty winters. But summers always get hot, maybe some not as much as others, but, yeah, that's weather for you. This summer isn't that bad. It's not the end of the world people. Oh, NOAA always seems to claim that "this year's" Atlantic hurricane season is going to be a bad one. Sensationalism gets attention after all. And if they keep saying it, and it finally happens, they can claim they were right. Meh again. Edited August 13, 2016 by Thorvir Hrothgaard 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leonardo Posted August 13, 2016 #53 Share Posted August 13, 2016 On 01/08/2016 at 4:38 PM, Doug1o29 said: Battery technology isn't up to making an adequate car, yet. A car needs a range of 300+ miles and has to be refueled quickly. Neither of these are feasible for electric cars at this point. Batteries are getting better quickly, though, and hopefully in a few more years a feasible electric car can be put on the market. I know this is a little off-topic, but I don't think electric (battery) cars are the best alternative to fossil fuel-powered cars. Even on a fast charge at a service station, it will take 30 - 40 minutes to recharge the batteries, so consider how many more recharge stations will be required to handle any significant volume of traffic. Plus, the batteries in electric vehicles need to be replaced every 5-7 years at significant (many thousands) cost - and this is if you use the slow charge option. Using the fast charge regularly will reduce the battery lifetime by a couple of years. So, you also have a problem with a huge numbers of discarded batteries to cope with and (hopefully) recycle. It seems that Toyota, however, are pinning their stickers on the future of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. Sure, they still produce and sell a lot of hybrid electric/combustion vehicles, but they've been investing heavily in HFC technology because that seems to have an edge on battery electric in convenience and other factors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HandsomeGorilla Posted August 14, 2016 #54 Share Posted August 14, 2016 Here in the Southeast US, we had a very mild winter, a very hot Spring and what would turn out to be a fairly mild summer if it weren't for so much rain! I swear this by far one of the most rainy summers I've ever seen. The "base" temps aren't bad at all for this time of year, but the resulting humidity is unbearable. Normally August is our worst month in terms of heat index, but in July, we were seeing heat indexes from 105-120 every single day. A bit better now; but rain, rain, rain! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug1029 Posted August 15, 2016 #55 Share Posted August 15, 2016 On 8/13/2016 at 3:37 PM, Leonardo said: I know this is a little off-topic, but I don't think electric (battery) cars are the best alternative to fossil fuel-powered cars. Even on a fast charge at a service station, it will take 30 - 40 minutes to recharge the batteries, so consider how many more recharge stations will be required to handle any significant volume of traffic. Plus, the batteries in electric vehicles need to be replaced every 5-7 years at significant (many thousands) cost - and this is if you use the slow charge option. Using the fast charge regularly will reduce the battery lifetime by a couple of years. So, you also have a problem with a huge numbers of discarded batteries to cope with and (hopefully) recycle. It seems that Toyota, however, are pinning their stickers on the future of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. Sure, they still produce and sell a lot of hybrid electric/combustion vehicles, but they've been investing heavily in HFC technology because that seems to have an edge on battery electric in convenience and other factors. Electric cars in their current incarnation are not the answer. But research continues... Hydrogen power would be electric power. There are two ways to produce hydrogen; both use electricity. It has been proposed that hydrogen be used as a back-up to wind. When the wind is blowing hard, the unused power is diverted to produce hydrogen which can be stored until needed to generate electricity. Doug Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug1029 Posted August 15, 2016 #56 Share Posted August 15, 2016 The temps for July are out: +0.84 degrees above baseline, the hottest July ever. Turns out that June saw a one-month dip in global temps. Doug Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leonardo Posted August 15, 2016 #57 Share Posted August 15, 2016 3 minutes ago, Doug1o29 said: Electric cars in their current incarnation are not the answer. But research continues... Hydrogen power would be electric power. There are two ways to produce hydrogen; both use electricity. It has been proposed that hydrogen be used as a back-up to wind. When the wind is blowing hard, the unused power is diverted to produce hydrogen which can be stored until needed to generate electricity. Doug Yes, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are "electric vehicles", but they do not use conventional batteries as the source for the charge. That is what I was getting at - that battery-powered vehicles aren't "the future" and neither are they particularly "green". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug1029 Posted August 15, 2016 #58 Share Posted August 15, 2016 (edited) 42 minutes ago, Leonardo said: Yes, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are "electric vehicles", but they do not use conventional batteries as the source for the charge. That is what I was getting at - that battery-powered vehicles aren't "the future" and neither are they particularly "green". They're certainly not very efficient right now. Since I posted my previous answer I saw several NSF grant announcements for people with projects involving fuel cells, electric vehicles and various types of green energy. The effort is continuing. Now to see if it produces any results. All I'm saying is don't write off battery power just yet. About producing hydrogen: you can do it using electricity to decompose water - hydrolysis. Or you can shoot an electric current through a submerged carbon electrode and make it that way. You can burn that hydrogen in a fuel cell, or a conventional piston-driven engine, or use it to boil water into steam and run a generator on it... But in any case, you have to generate the electricity first. Doug Edited August 15, 2016 by Doug1029 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leonardo Posted August 15, 2016 #59 Share Posted August 15, 2016 (edited) 6 minutes ago, Doug1o29 said: They're certainly not very efficient right now. Since I posted my previously answer I saw several NSF grant announcements for people with projects involving fuel cells, electric vehicles and various types of green energy. The effort is continuing. Now to see if it produces any results. All I'm saying is don't write off battery power just yet. About producing hydrogen: you can do it using electricity to decompose water - hydrolysis. Or you can shoot an electric current through a submerged carbon electrode and make it that way. You can burn that hydrogen in a fuel cell, or a conventional piston-driven engine, or use it to boil water into steam and run a generator on it... But in any case, you have to generate the electricity first. Doug That's true, and to the best of my knowledge, HFC vehicles don't generate their own hydrogen, but use high-pressure tanks to store it. So the hydrogen still has to be produced, transported and stored for refilling the vehicles. How it's produced obviously has a bearing on how "green" the technology is. Edited August 15, 2016 by Leonardo 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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