Firstly, congratulations on those people that have rigged up bikes / bike trailers / bike carry systems for SUP's which minimises car use.....

Secondly, most of us use cars to lug surfboards and SUP's around....

Electric Cars - it drives me nuts that people/reporters often talk about "Zero Emission Electric Cars". But last time I did the research, Australia uses coal for 85% of their electricity, and I recall gas being the next biggest user..... So your electric car is basically burning coal and gas.... how can that be Zero Emission ! Not to mention numerous inefficiencies with delivery electricity to the car.... Just because no carbon comes out of the exhaust (OK it doesn't have an exhaust).... but the the carbon is just emitted at the Power Station instead !

Mitsubishi's 100% Electric Car - it is rumoured it will cost AUD$70k, and get a range of up to 160km. Last time I checked, you would not even be able to drive from Melbourne to Torquay and back.... How useless.... !!

But take a look at the future. A True Micro Car !! 3 wheels, probably under 80kg. 3000W (3kW) of power, and 85km/hr. With suspension. You could possibly even rig it up with Gull Wing Doors, and some roof rack system for an SUP !!!

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/newinventors/txt/s2868444.htm

PS - The impressive thing is lightweight, and just 3kW motor to shunt it along to 85km/h. This is the future.... (200W is the legal size at the moment)....
Safety you ask ??? Well it's not going to get 5 stars....

Wow !! What a beast DJ !

Now imagine that reconfigured into a 3 wheeler with a lightweight shell, with a set roof racks for the SUP !!

Some figures I calculated a few years ago FYI:

(These are based on Melbourne transport patterns in 1990)

Electric rail - Av 114 passengers carried per km traveled = 2.5 MJ/passenger km

Electric trams - Av 26 passengers per km traveled = 1.5 MJ/passenger km

Diesel buses - Av 10.6 passengers per km traveled = 195 MJ/passenger km

Petrol cars - Av 1.55 passengers per km traveled = 286.8 MJ/passenger km

Note: 1 MJ (Megajoule) = energy in 2.1 grams of gasoline

As a very rough back of the envelope calculation, say an EV weighs 1/10 as much as a tram and carries the same number of passengers as a petrol car then we can estimate that energy use is about 1.1 MJ/passenger km

Using the Australian Greenhouse Office emissions calculator:

An EVs 1.1MJ = approx 3 kg CO2-equivalent/pass km

Petrol Cars 286 MJ = approx 3 kg CO2-equivalent/pass km

Conclusion: So as you can see, if you live in Melbourne and use the coal fired grid to charge your electric vehicle you are emitting about as much GHG as driving a petrol car does.

Why?

Coal fired grid efficiency is about 22%
Petroleum network efficiency is about 85%

I also understand that coal efficiency is down around 20%-25%-30%. I understand this is due to much heat loss at the power stations, and also pure physics/mathematics relating to electricity loss along the power lines, loss to atmosphere, and quite alot of loss each time you step it down.... It is usually transmitted at about 132kV, and at various substations it will step down to 66, 33, 11kV, 1000V, etc. So we only end up consuming 20% of the available power of coal.

I think solar is similar. Only 20-30% efficiency. Meaning, the current technology only allows us to transfer say 25% of the available sun energy to the batteries / grid.... But this is not a big issues, as the sun is there anyway, and it is almost "free" energy.

Wind Power;
I also can't understand why people would be against them.... I think they actually look good. I think every town in the country (southern half at least, where there is typically more wind) should have a wind farm bank.

swoosh said...

Interesting article: cleantechnica.com/2010/04/04/morocco-to-solar-power-nearly-half-its-kingdom/

Morocco is looking to satisfy 40% of the nations electricities needs (32million population) using solar power. They are investing $9billion to build 2 Gigawatts of solar power.

Obviously we have a much higher per capita energy usage, but it is still an interesting article. I reckon Australia would have a lot of the same desert which gets sun all year round to generate lots of energy.

I think more importantly thou we need to be looking to reduce our own energy consumption, as you can see plenty of people survive in the world using much less energy then us.

Lobes said...

Coal fired grid efficiency is about 22%
Petroleum network efficiency is about 85%

I would seriously call into doubt these figures.

www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/page/co2_report/co2report.html#electric

for example shows that coal is only emitts slightly more co2 per kwh then petroleum. however we need to take into account that a typical internal combustion engine would not be as efficient producer of power as a petroleum fired power plant.

*edit* actually looked at your maths... i'm not sure you are making correct or even passably reasonable assumptions.

Do point out the calculations that you believe are incorrect. Seriously, like I said this is a back of envelope calculation so if you can improve them I'm all for it.

Also the assumptions are not mine. They are from a paper by Moriarty and Honnery to the 30th Australasian Transport Forum. Australian Car Travel: An Uncertain Future

Seriously considering putting a small motor on my Sector 9 and attaching the Quiver Caddy.

Happy Days.

Hybrid Cars;

I've hired a Prius a few times, and they are great. They only have minor 're-generation braking' though. We need an invention that throws away the disc brakes, and puts 100% of braking energy into the batteries.....

BUT !! and it's a big "BUT" !!!

It seems that the new Ford Focus 100% diesel is as efficient as the Prius.... which must be a serious kick in the guts to Hybrids !!

I think Diesel has about 10-15% more carbon or GHG emission that petrol also.... but diesel is about 10-15% more efficient... so it balances out....

I still want a 3 wheeled full suspension mountain bike, with a 2kW motor, reclined seating position, and an enclosure, with roof racks !!!

Lobes said...
Do point out the calculations that you believe are incorrect. Seriously, like I said this is a back of envelope calculation so if you can improve them I'm all for it.

Also the assumptions are not mine. They are from a paper by Moriarty and Honnery to the 30th Australasian Transport Forum. Australian Car Travel: An Uncertain Future

Lobes said...
An EVs 1.1MJ = approx 3 kg CO2-equivalent/pass km

Petrol Cars 286 MJ = approx 3 kg CO2-equivalent/pass km

There you go. Maybe I don't understand you correctly, but what you are basically saying there is that it takes 260 times more energy to move a passenger 1km in a petrol powered vehicle then a EV?

Doesn't add up if you ask me.

Also you stated

Lobes said...

Coal fired grid efficiency is about 22%
Petroleum network efficiency is about 85%

Assuming by petrol network you mean getting the petrol out of the ground, refining, delivering to end-user and then use by the end user in their motor vehicle to produce usable energy. Your typical internal combustion engine, has maybe a peak thermal efficiency of 30% (slightly optimistic). If that is so then how can the petrol network efficiency be 85%?