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$98 per barrel oil



 
 
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  #1  
Old November 9th 07, 03:05 PM posted to rec.aviation.piloting
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Default $98 per barrel oil

Wolfgang Schwanke wrote:
wrote in :


There are no alternatives to oil.

The electric grid uses a vanishingly small amount of oil.

The transportation system uses a vanishingly small amount of
electricity.


Concerning ground transport, there's rail which nowadays is mostly
electric. The combustion engine is really only indispensable in air and
ship transport, as you say, and a fraction of ground transport which
for various reasons can't be transferred to rail.


Most rail is diesel electric; there is a diesel engine driving a
generator.

There are no electrified rails or overhead wires between LA and
Chicago.

Unless you run tracks from every distribution center to every local
retail outlet, rail can never be more than a small fraction of the
transportation system.

Rail is good for hauling bulk items, such as coal, over long distances
between major hubs.

It doesn't get lettuce from Fresno to grocery stores in San Diego.


Technically the problem is trivial; manufacture synthetic fuels. We've
known how to do that for half a century.

Practically the problem is enourmous; the estimated costs I've seen
for synthetic fuels would be many times the current cost of gasoline
and diesel.


There are methods for making oil from coal. Somewhere I read that the
process has been revived in China. If it's so uneconomical, why are
they doing it?


As I said before, such processes have been doable for about a half
century now.

No one is doing it commercially because it is too expensive.

Lots of people are tinkering to see if the cost can be reduced.

When the price of crude oil exceeds the cost of making artificial oil,
then it will happen commercially.

--
Jim Pennino

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  #2  
Old November 9th 07, 04:58 PM posted to rec.aviation.piloting
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Default $98 per barrel oil

Wolfgang Schwanke wrote: About the wonders of electic trains.

Yes it is the American persepctive but you need to realize a little more
American perspective.

The distances here are just plain longer than what you are dealing with in
Europe. The straight line distance between Paris and Berlin ~450 miles. In
the US that would get you from New York to Detroit. To get to Los Angles
you'd have to go another 1900 miles. Which is further than the distance from
either the Northern tip of Denmark to the Southern end of Italy or from
Gibralter to the Polish border.

Would it be nice to have electric rail serving the majority of the US, hell
yes, but after WWII we decided a huge highway system would be the way to go
and it served us well and help make the US the worlds largest economy. But
trying to install an electric rail system now would be next to impossible.
It has become alost impossible to add to the interstate system we already
have.

And there is one big plus to highways over rail. We don't grind to a halt
every time a single union goes out on strike.


  #3  
Old November 9th 07, 05:25 PM posted to rec.aviation.piloting
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Default $98 per barrel oil

Gig 601XL Builder wrDOTgiaconaATsuddenlink.net wrote:
Wolfgang Schwanke wrote: About the wonders of electic trains.


Yes it is the American persepctive but you need to realize a little more
American perspective.


The distances here are just plain longer than what you are dealing with in
Europe. The straight line distance between Paris and Berlin ~450 miles. In
the US that would get you from New York to Detroit. To get to Los Angles
you'd have to go another 1900 miles. Which is further than the distance from
either the Northern tip of Denmark to the Southern end of Italy or from
Gibralter to the Polish border.


Would it be nice to have electric rail serving the majority of the US, hell
yes, but after WWII we decided a huge highway system would be the way to go
and it served us well and help make the US the worlds largest economy. But
trying to install an electric rail system now would be next to impossible.
It has become alost impossible to add to the interstate system we already
have.


And there is one big plus to highways over rail. We don't grind to a halt
every time a single union goes out on strike.


And trucks can go over mountains that trains can't, which the US has
a lot of.


--
Jim Pennino

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  #9  
Old November 9th 07, 08:20 PM posted to rec.aviation.piloting
F. Baum
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Default $98 per barrel oil


And trucks can go over mountains that trains can't, which the US has
a lot of.

Trains cross the Rockies every day. What other mountains did you have in
mind?


Hot flash for you; there are only a few places through the Rockies
where you can get a shallow enough grade for trains to make it.

There are lots of places through the Rockies where trucks can go
through.

--
Jim Pennino

I have seen where they put truck trailers on top of rail cars. Does
this increase the number of accesible passes for trains

  #10  
Old November 9th 07, 09:05 PM posted to rec.aviation.piloting
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Posts: 2,892
Default $98 per barrel oil

F. Baum wrote:

And trucks can go over mountains that trains can't, which the US has
a lot of.
Trains cross the Rockies every day. What other mountains did you have in
mind?


Hot flash for you; there are only a few places through the Rockies
where you can get a shallow enough grade for trains to make it.

There are lots of places through the Rockies where trucks can go
through.

--
Jim Pennino

I have seen where they put truck trailers on top of rail cars. Does
this increase the number of accesible passes for trains


No, you have to put the train on top of the truck.

It's the wheels, even with sand.

--
Jim Pennino

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