NY Times "Escape" Section on Seaside

How about using renewable fuel sources instead of big oil? That is a viable option. On top of that, we could reduce the unnecessisary wasteful plastic packaging that comes wrapped around every single item for sale these days. Ditch the plastic bags that are so freely distributed at every store. The little things make much difference. 😀

I say we all hold Dick Cheney in an undisclosed location until Detroit gives us some hydrogen powered SUVs. I hear the Secret Service calling now.

Are you saying that it is an inconvience to you to be distracted from your cellphone or grooming in the rear view mirror when driving? Incidently,the only reason you should be driving in the residential section of Seaside is to go to your dwelling.

Actually street parking is an urban planning strategy to calm traffic.
I agree that the huge SUVs are a gross intrusion on the ambiance but that is the decadent vehicle of choice for many of the wealthy elite that live or rent there.

Actually I don't use my cell on vacation, and try to keep grooming to a minimum. I am talking about just driving THROUGH Seaside on 30-A. It can be a bit nervewracking on a busy summer day.

I say we all hold Dick Cheney in an undisclosed location until Detroit gives us some hydrogen powered SUVs. I hear the Secret Service calling now.

Yes, the Secret Service is calling. They called me and I sent them to you. :funn:If it weren't for poiticians, we would be filling our cars with water instead of gasoline.

Seems like such a waste to me.

This is how I remember it 24 years ago. Very quiet. We stayed in one of the 1st rentals on the Rose Walk and Robert's Way. It was called Spain Cottage (now renamed Spinnaker). I almost don't even want to see how it all looks now. I'd rather just keep the beautiful memories as they are.

If it weren't for poiticians, we would be filling our cars with water instead of gasoline.

I did an article for a industrial magazine on the water car - here's a very brief synopsis:

There's a small problem with the water-powered car. Water only has 2 hydrogens, where as gasoline (octane) has 18 hydrogens in each molecule - so a gallon of gasoline has 9 times more 'energy' in it than the same gallon of water. You get nine times less mileage on water than gas, or about 3 miles-per-gallon for water as opposed to 27 mpg for gas. If you replaced you car's engine, and filled your gastank with 30 gallons of water, you could go (assuming you got perfect 'water' mileage without engine friction, etc) a short 120 miles before you had to fill up again. To get the same range you get with your gasoline powered vehicle you would have to carry a small swimming pool of water behind the car. Range will be diminished greatly, fill-up requirements increased, and moving all the cars to water would leave us all very thirsty - millions and millions of gallons per day of our most precious resource - drinking water. Exit the suv. Another problem is semi trucks whose hauling capacity would be reduced, and we still depend on hauling for everything. Using hydrogen gas instead eliminates all the weight and one tankful can take you across the nation, and produces the same watery exhaust. Once the tank for hydrogen gas is perfected (so far it still explodes) it's nothing but hydrogen so all the weight is gone (except for the pressurised tank), and the next task is to find a renewable source for millions and millions of tank bottles of hydrogen per day. Seawater has been suggested, but removing millions and million and millions and millions of gallons of seawater per day to produce pure hydrogen gas to fill the millions of tanks needed per day could have a detrimental effect on the water cycle.

In short, to replace gasoline with water, be prepared to dramatically reduce vehicle weight, increase efficiency by an order of magnitude, and drastically cut down travel. To replace gasoline with hydrogen gas is better, but producing enough of it may prove to be a bigger nightmare.

Good summary. Perhaps we need an Electric Water Solar Hybrid engine.:idontno:

Good summary. Perhaps we need an Electric Water Solar Hybrid engine.:idontno:

solar rules - my dream car would have a plastic body with solar under the clear coat, lithium (or even better, acetylene) batteries, electric motors made into the wheels (no engine or drivetrain) which also function as generators for brakes, be built on a carbon fiber chassis, and weigh about 400 pounds, but we're a long way away from being able to buy one

in the mean time, there has to be a source of hydrogen gas that is being thrown away - perhaps in the sugar or wood pulp industry - still looking

AB...that sounds great, but I'll wait until EVERYONE is driving a 400 lb. car before I get in one!!!

AB...that sounds great, but I'll wait until EVERYONE is driving a 400 lb. car before I get in one!!!

and there, my dear kitty, is the rub - nobody wants to build it beacuse they fear it would not sell - but I would love to have one because it would have the stability of four-wheel drive, the look of a old tr-7 (for optimum solar area), and the accelleration of a motorcycle on two hits of speed!

Might wiggle a bit when passing a semi (like my motorcycle which weighs approx 400-500 lbs and goes 100+ mph), but you wouldn't have to fill it up (just let it sit a while in the sun, or plug it in for a quick charge), wouldn't have to get wet if it was raining, and wouldn't have to get bugs in your teeth!

most cars sit all day anyway - they could be charging up for free

and there, my dear kitty, is the rub - nobody wants to build it beacuse they fear it would not sell - but I would love to have one because it would have the stability of four-wheel drive, the look of a old tr-7 (for optimum solar area), and the accelleration of a motorcycle on two hits of speed!

Might wiggle a bit when passing a semi (like my motorcycle which weighs approx 400-500 lbs and goes 100+ mph), but you wouldn't have to fill it up (just let it sit a while in the sun, or plug it in for a quick charge), wouldn't have to get wet if it was raining, and wouldn't have to get bugs in your teeth!

most cars sit all day anyway - they could be charging up for free

What about electromagnetic cars? Install magnets in the streets and have an electromagnet in the car which propells the car along.

What about electromagnetic cars? Install magnets in the streets and have an electromagnet in the car which propells the car along.

I'd rather have them in the wheels, thank you, then I can go anywhere, anytime.

edit - actually there are no magnets per se, they are coil windings so that you can vary the magnetic field and even 'turn them around' so as to go in reverse, do regenerative braking, etc.

I, for one, am not about to hand my mobility over to any government agency (Department of Public Works or Streets and Sanitation responsible for street magnets and upkeep, or, God help us, the Public Service Commission as generator of the huge cost overruns of the street magnet project).

Same problem as with the busses in California, if they don't want people to go to a particular place (as in 'beaches are closed!"), they just don't run that line that day (and you don't go the beach unless you walk, and at some distance that just becomes impractical - you end up 'meeting yourself coming back' before dark).

Now look what you did! I want my solar car! Great project for the cold winter if I only had a garage and a handful o money to put into it. The technology is all there to do it, with lithium batteries at least. I love to tinker, and on the way up here I was attempting to work out the chassis flex and steering angles vs turning radius in my head.

Is there a place to get carbon fiber I-beams, round and square tubes, C-channels, plates, etc? - if not, its a great idea for someone to start a business manufacturing them. I'd be your first customer, or perhaps that's the answer to my dreams of being 'financially independent'.