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Automotive News & Views Are automobiles a major cause of global warming?
6771 messages, Last post on Nov 22, 2009 at 8:40 AM
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Replying to: mediapusher (Oct 28, 2008 8:59 pm) I have been waiting for solutions that are practical for decades. The Tax payers have tossed Billions at the problems with little to show for it. Much of what is developed does not see the light of day. Fossil fuel is still the least expensive way to do all the things we like to do. When the supply gets nearly depleted in the next 200-400 years we may or may not have an alternative. We have learned to burn fossil fuel with a lot less damage to the air. That is progress. I'm on the side that says Climate Change is inevitable and man probably has little to do with it. And even if we do the larger populations in China and India are not going to squelch progress to avoid additional GHG. Taxing carbon as is proposed is just another government scam to screw the working man. Corporations just pass any higher cost of doing business to you and I. The wealthy could care less if their utility bills double. For those of US lower on the food chain it can be financial disaster.
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Replying to: gagrice (Oct 29, 2008 6:34 am) State rejects PG&E contract for wave energy..... link title So does anybody REALLY want to get off fossilized fuels?  But I do have to admit droning on about it is far cheaper than doing anything about it.
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Replying to: mediapusher (Oct 28, 2008 8:59 pm) Be careful now; the computer you're typing on is probably THE WORST product for creating toxic waste during the manufacture of its parts, and its recycling. I believe our junk electronics get sent to 3rd world areas, where villagers strip these parts and melt down the metals over open coal fires.
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Replying to: kernick (Oct 29, 2008 10:23 am) 
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Replying to: gagrice (Oct 28, 2008 5:48 am) Companies will do research, however, they have a tendency to focus on issues that effect them. Government research would be broader in scope.
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Replying to: kernick (Oct 28, 2008 12:50 pm) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geothermal_(geology) and "Radioactive potassium, uranium and thorium are thought to be the three main sources of heat in the Earth's interior, aside from that generated by the formation of the planet. Together, the heat keeps the mantle actively churning and the core generating a protective magnetic field." ..."Gradually, however, the Earth would have cooled off and become a dead rocky globe with a cold iron ball at the core if not for the continued release of heat by the decay of radioactive elements like potassium-40, uranium-238 and thorium-232, which have half-lives of 1.25 billion, 4 billion and 14 billion years, respectively. "http://www.physlink.com/News/121103PotassiumCore.cfm " The Sun is the original source of all energy that has, is and will be used on Earth." Nope. Geothermal energy is energy from the earth not the sun. The sun is responsible for the surface heat on the earth. http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/1998-10/905866177.Es.r.html
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Replying to: oldfarmer50 (Oct 28, 2008 5:27 am) Climate refers to the temperature, humidity, rainfall, atmospheric particle count and numerous other meteorological factors in a region over long periods of time, as opposed to the term weather, which refers to current activity. Focus people, focus..... 
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Replying to: avalon02wh (Oct 29, 2008 5:18 pm) The article does not particularly state it - but the "given" is the physical environment now - which is thwe Sun keeps the outer surface 500F hotter then it otherwise would be. This is the differenc ebetween storing something in the oven at 500F or your freezer. Now if you're saying this makes no difference, then I'll ask you where you took your thermodynamics. Without the Sun the Earth freezes solid. Very little of the Earth's elements are radioactive. Iron will freeze solid. Energy is not created from nothingness. The Sun is responsible for all gravitational energy, motion, and surface warming, which allows the core to stay molten. It is the formation of the Sun that created the gravity that then allowed further dust to accumulate and form the planets. Thus the Sun is the source of the Earth and any geothermal energy. The Sun will also end all life on Earth in about 1 billion when it expands (Red Giant Stage) and it gets hot enough to boil away the oceans. That's about the time our Milky Way (galaxy, not candy) will be meeting up with the Andromeda Galaxy - could be a fun time - maybe we'll get caught in a second star's gravity and be a binary system? That was and is, how much a factor the Sun is.  A great sun song - "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" - Pink Floyd
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Replying to: avalon02wh (Oct 29, 2008 5:32 pm) When you are freezing your fanny off, you don't care. Get in your SUV and start reving.
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Replying to: avalon02wh (Oct 29, 2008 4:56 pm) I would imagine some of the research was paid for as a result of government arm twisting. You can apply to companies like BP for research grants. It most likely is in their best interest. No other good reason for them to spend the money. I would not expect any company to pay for research without potential gain. The government is the only entity that throws money away on worthless research. The last spending bill is loaded with those kind of wasted earmarks. You being a scientist would not consider spending on most things as frivolous. As a tax payer I find the following pork unacceptable. Representative Mike Thompson (D-Calif.) for $211,509 in olive fruit fly research in Paris, France. Hope he and his family had a wonderful vacation 
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