Quote :

That will never happen. Matter cannot be created nor destroyed.

This is true. Everything is made from particles of matter, and depending on the outside influences on it's current state of being (gas being burnt), what happens is the heat changes the molecular structure into another form. This includes carbon buildup, exhaust fumes etc. Furthermore, energy can never 'cease to exist' either. It only changes forms. Humans are a great example. What we're made of didn't just come from nowhere. We are the leftovers of cosmic dust and other various elements.

(Not intentionally trying to run this post off topic, I just had a geek moment.)

EDIT: woops seen the purpose

If I had to choose in the future it would be a bio-diesel fuel I like the sound of a Zetec engine but I have to say the sound of a high revving 3.6l V6 diesel from a Land Rover sounds nice

Hydrogen cars were seen as the way to go, along with Biodiesel. But Tristan's right about biodiesel- and hydrogen cars seem as far off as ever (estimates before the year 2000 put hydrogen fuel cell tech in mass production by 2004). I just go the super radical happy notion that I don't even need a car, it's hell driving in Istanbul, and in Melbourne public transport catches you! Besides, whatever happened to bikes?

A nice little scooter is another option, if you don't have to carry the contents of your home around with you every day. They're really fuel efficient as well, incredibly attractive alternative.

Don't worry about electric/hybrid/hydrogen cars being not "sporty" enough. By the time fossil fuel gets too expensive you will have LFS S7, which will feel more real than reality itself, and where you can waste all the virtual fuel you want.

If global warming really breaks loose, the question will be: which energy source will power our boats?

Quote from wsinda :

If global warming really breaks loose, the question will be: which energy source will power our boats?

LOVE! It's really old technology!





Seriously though, how about ion propulsion?

Quote from Electrik Kar :

A nice little scooter is another option, if you don't have to carry the contents of your home around with you every day. They're really fuel efficient as well, incredibly attractive alternative.

Just like a real bike, only goes 29 MPH! :P

What is it? What does it do?

Heard of this one?
http://www.intelligent-energy. ... dlevel=869&artid=3754

a 50cc Scooter, uses very little fuel, looks just like a proper bike (from the non-exhaust side) and the only drawback is that it's limited to 29 MPH and has a top speed of 50 MPH

Quote from Dajmin :

I want to vote Hydrogen. Created from air, turns to water when it's burned. Lovely.

Actually... NO!

Nitrogen(N) is in the air. Hydrogen(H) is in water(H2O).
So you first have to use ridiculous amounts of energy to get the hydrogen out of the water and then oxidice(burn) it to get energy to run your car.

Yay, while you use it in your car there is only water vapour (a greenhouse gas BTW) coming out the exhaust. But what do you use in the big refinery/factory where you produce the hydrogen?

Same problem with "clean" electric cars. Where do you get the electricity to run them? How many NEW powerplants do you have to build to meet the greater demand for electricity?

Biodiesel is the only feasible solution. Though how much energy does making biodiesel take?

There is no free lunch, somebody has to pay for it.

The problem with biodiesel is the huge tracts of land you need to clear to grow the fuel crops.

Quote from XCNuse :

...And it was damn freezing this winter, when is global warming when you need it.

How cold could it possibly get in Norcross Georgia?

What fuel type will I use? Damned if I know. I'll let ya know in 20 years when I might have to actually make that decision.

Quote from March Hare :

There is no free lunch, somebody has to pay for it.

Bingo.

elektric ftw!! i dont see any biodiesel on my pc for lfs

Quote from XCNuse :

I have decided that there is absolutely NO way I'm going to go to electric vehicles. "Why?" you may ask, well I'll tell you, first let me tell you what they sound like..

actually a high powered electric motor makes a hell of a lot of noise ... a noise i personally love to bits

Quote :

BATTERIES DIE. Everyone knows that batteries are not the way to go, we all know they die in a year or two, and they have many problems that we already know about

wrong lipos are pretty good in every aspect already and have a rather long lifetime

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and we aren't even in sight of the next generation battery which will ave an unlimited life time, and is 100% trustworthy for a lifetime.

wrong again
theres a company that claims to have a battery that can be dischagred at up to 100c without any ill effects ... while i dont believe that the number is really that high there has to be some jouce to their claims and even if its only 30c those things will still be very impressive and completely outshine everything currently on the market

actually if their claims hold im absolutely considering building an electric car based on these things

Quote from XCNuse :

Then again they also said there is global warming. And it was damn freezing this winter, when is global warming when you need it.

nonsense ... first of all it was an incredibly mild winter in europe and seoncdly a short local dive in temperatures does not make a trend

Quote from March Hare :

So you first have to use ridiculous amounts of energy to get the hydrogen out of the water and then oxidice(burn) it to get energy to run your car.

the amount of energy needed to do this is realtively low compared to what you get out of it

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Yay, while you use it in your car there is only water vapour (a greenhouse gas BTW) coming out the exhaust.

water as a greenhouse gas is way more complicated than that ... at the same time forming clouds it cools the planet

Quote :

But what do you use in the big refinery/factory where you produce the hydrogen?

Same problem with "clean" electric cars. Where do you get the electricity to run them? How many NEW powerplants do you have to build to meet the greater demand for electricity?

a huge power plant has a WAY higher efficiency than a small car engine which has a pretty pathetic efficiency to be honest ... so in other words youll have to burn a lot less fossile fuels to poer an electric car than to power a petrol one

Quote from Shotglass :

a short local dive in temperatures does not make a trend

Then can't one also say that a short local rise in temperatures does not make a trend?

Here's an off the wall idea.
Domesticate the Whale.
or even more far fetched. Use stem cell technology to basically grow blubber.
They say they can use stem cells to make and repair human organs and body parts, then why not use them to grow whale blubber?

Quote from Jakg :

Just like a real bike, only goes 29 MPH! :P

That's a Gilera DNA, which comes in 50cc, 125cc and 180cc. I've actually had a go on the 125cc and got it up to 72mph before I nearly put it in a hedge on a cold country road. The fuel tank is a luggage compartment for a crash helmet. It's a bit strange without gears mind you, you feel like an idiot who only rides around in one gear. Also, not stylish when you're 6ft 3, bad look indeed...

yup, i'm heading out to see a 50cc one tommorow, seems like a cracking bike, only it lacks a speedo cable, and i lack any sort of mechanical skill to fix it. Yay, more money to spend

Quote from MAGGOT :

How cold could it possibly get in Norcross Georgia?

Miserable cold where you can't go outside and play in the snow, instead its just... cold. See, it's enjoyable when it's cold and snows, but when it doesn't snow.. it just pisses me off lol because then it's just plain cold and that's isn't any fun.

Where I'm going off to college however has never seen snow since the ice age, so.. I think I'll be okay.

Quote from wheel4hummer :

Then can't one also say that a short local rise in temperatures does not make a trend?

sure ... but the warming we see right now is neither local nor short

Quote from Shotglass :

wrong lipos are pretty good in every aspect already and have a rather long lifetime

Every aspect until you have a problem in the charging system and you over charge. Or what happens in an accident with a car running enough lipo power to move it?

I'm not sure, I'm guessing over charging a 3S lipo here (probably around 1000 mah 11.4 v, that's milliamp hour, enough to power a very tiny electric motor in an RC airplane for 15-30 minutes) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gboge17PNBk

Lipo's are just fine for flying RC airplanes. I don't think I want to be sitting in a car with lipo batteries with a large enough capacity for electric automotive transportation.

Lipo's are definitely not the future for electric cars.

Quote from mrodgers :

Every aspect until you have a problem in the charging system and you over charge. Or what happens in an accident with a car running enough lipo power to move it?

ah the great lipo scare

Quote :

I'm not sure, I'm guessing over charging a 3S lipo here (probably around 1000 mah 11.4 v, that's milliamp hour, enough to power a very tiny electric motor in an RC airplane for 15-30 minutes) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gboge17PNBk

all of these videos look extremely dramatic but at the end of the day you really have to deliberately destroy them to make them dangerous
additionally if you would have taken a look at the related videos you would have seen that containing these lipo explosions appears to be rather simple to do
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v ... ;mode=related&search=


also i was refering to lithium titanate batteries which claim to be safe from explosion ... now tbh i dont know enough in chemistry or material engineering to confirm this but it at least sounds good
http://www.altairnano.com/docu ... rnanoEDTAPresentation.pdf

Quote from XCNuse :

Miserable cold where you can't go outside and play in the snow, instead its just... cold. See, it's enjoyable when it's cold and snows, but when it doesn't snow.. it just pisses me off lol because then it's just plain cold and that's isn't any fun.

Where I'm going off to college however has never seen snow since the ice age, so.. I think I'll be okay.

Ah, you get snow in Georgia? I had always thought georgia was sort of a slightly cooler Florida.. in a sense. (Obviously, visually very different from what I've seen, but I mean in terms of temperature and humidity).

Of course, the only parts of Georgia I've seen are the immediate surroundings of I-75 (I think it's 75... been a few years since I drove to Florida...). It basically felt like Florida to me, minus the hot scantily clad women (gotta love beaches!).

Of course, if Norcross is further west than Atlanta I spose it'd be cooler anyways. But, just goes to show that I know jack all about the U.S.

[EDIT] Oh yes, and I hate cold for the sake of cold, too. Up here, it's a very shrill cold. The same temperature out west would feel much warmer by comparison, but for some reason here it just burrows itself deep into your bones. Plus the wind, cuts right through you. Ah I can't wait till I can afford to move to BC.... (and someone builds a race-car engineering type place there for me to hopefully work at..)

Quote from Jakg :

yup, i'm heading out to see a 50cc one tommorow, seems like a cracking bike, only it lacks a speedo cable, and i lack any sort of mechanical skill to fix it. Yay, more money to spend

Why are you going for the 50cc one? Also, it's restricted, I had a Gilera ICE 50cc scooter which uses the same engine as the Gilera runner and DNA, got that de-restricted and managed 55mph down a hill on a cold easter morning.

Lovely little thing it was, I called it Gibbly! :insane:

...because i'm approaching being 16 and that's all i'm allowed to ride.

Convieniently the one i'm looking at is already de-ristricted *que evil laugh* 50cc powa!!!111

Quote from Jakg :

...because i'm approaching being 16 and that's all i'm allowed to ride.

Convieniently the one i'm looking at is already de-ristricted *que evil laugh* 50cc powa!!!111

A good fart produces more power than that thing!!!
Get yourself fit and get a push bike, you'll go faster as well.

EDIT does de-restricted mean taking the baffle/washer out of the exhaust?
or is there some other way of making it sound faster than it actually is?