Sub's Alternative Energy Thread

[Atxshoxfan]

Pretty sure this has been mentioned before, but just some numbers on what they do.

Baltimore's Mr. Trash Wheel: a Decade of Garbage Gobbling Equates to 5.2 Million Pounds



Fairly simple ways to help clean waterways

Many cities don't allow burning of trash because environmentalists complained about the affects on air quality and the ozone layer. So while this is a great idea, it won't come without a rebellion by some environmentalists.

[SubGod22]

Pretty sure this has been mentioned before, but just some numbers on what they do.

Baltimore's Mr. Trash Wheel: a Decade of Garbage Gobbling Equates to 5.2 Million Pounds

The Baltimore Harbor’s most beloved resident is celebrating his decennial, and what better way to look back on his years of service than listing a few of his achievements?

Mr. Trash Wheel is a national icon. Since his installment in the Inner Harbor in 2014, his popularity led to the installment of other trash-collecting wheels, like Gwynnda the Good Wheel of the West, which have formed his ‘family’ of four.

5.2 million pounds have floated onto their conveyor belt tongues, been carried up into their water wheel gullets, and dropped into the floating dumpsters behind them.

Mr. Trash Wheel boasts an extensive fan club: the Order of the Wheel, which welcomes in anyone willing to pledge a reduced reliance on single-use plastics and an intent to occasionally clean up their community. 3,000 members have joined the Order’s ranks.

Approximately 45,000 homes have been powered with electricity generated from the incineration of biological waste captured by Mr. Trash Wheel and his family.

The Trash Wheels clean a total of 123 square miles of water catchment. Gwynnda and Mr. Trash Wheel each clean 60, while Professor Trash Wheel covers 2 square miles and Captain Trash Wheel has 1.

Fairly simple ways to help clean waterways

[WstateU]

All it needs is a sail added to boost its speed in Kansas and Oklahoma.

My puddy-tat early this morning...

[ShockerPrez]

Federal subsidies are just more gears in the money laundering operation.

[Shockm]

I agree on that point. Subsidies to the rich and to the friends of politicians should never happen. They are often paybacks to the organization who supported the politicians election. And often put money in that politicians pocket through kickbacks. All on the tax payer.

Stop the subsidies, and take the energy gloves off that hinder the easy production of oil in Alaska, and other places in America where we have "tons" of it. The price would come down instantly. They would build their own refineries if they could plan long term.

[Kung Wu]

All it needs is a sail added to boost its speed in Kansas and Oklahoma.

Would be as effective.

[Atxshoxfan]

Solar power ain't gonna do squat. This is just an EV with maybe a 5% boost at best.

Maybe, MAYBE, if the friction coeffs can be reduced to something interesting then solar power can give a useful boost when at cruise speed and relying on inertia.

All it needs is a sail added to boost its speed in Kansas and Oklahoma.

[Kung Wu]

Will be interested to see how it actually performs once it's fully functional and ready to go. They claim the car will have a range of 1,000 miles.

The Car Fueled Entirely by the Sun Takes Huge Step Towards Production



It can also be plugged in and charged like an EV.

Solar power ain't gonna do squat. This is just an EV with maybe a 5% boost at best.

Maybe, MAYBE, if the friction coeffs can be reduced to something interesting then solar power can give a useful boost when at cruise speed and relying on inertia.

[WuDrWu]

Playing favorites and giving advantages for money is definitely the same. I don't care about the semantics behind one or the other. Both energy sources get government help, and one gets about 18x more than the other.

Yeah, again, NOT taking money from someone is different than GIVING money to someone else.

[Atxshoxfan]

According to the US Senate Committee on the Budget, the oil industry in the US alone is subsidized at a rate of $646 billion a year. Worldwide is over $5 trillion according to them as well.

I pretty much hate all subsidies, but let's at least be consistent and honest about them. If you hate green energy getting $35B, you must really hate fossil fuels getting $646B.

I agree on that point. Subsidies to the rich and to the friends of politicians should never happen. They are often paybacks to the organization who supported the politicians election. And often put money in that politicians pocket through kickbacks. All on the tax payer.

[SubGod22]

Playing favorites and giving advantages for money is definitely the same. I don't care about the semantics behind one or the other. Both energy sources get government help, and one gets about 18x more than the other.

[pinstripers]

tax deductions not the same at all

[pinstripers]

not the same at all

[SubGod22]

I read somewhere that green energy companies have been subsidized over $35,000,000,000 ( that's billions) over the past few years. Inflation sucks more tax dollars from us by way of state and local sales taxes and the feds get more of our tax dollars at the pump. So government makes more, green energy is getting richer by the hour all at the expense of tax payers, who will be required to spend even more to accommodate the attacks on all appliances and vehicles.
In contrast the oil industry subsidies over the same time frame was at $1,000,000,000 (billion) . Way too high but at least 35 times less than the green energy sector.
Feds don't spend money like it's the citizens money. They spend it like it's grains of sand from the Sahara dessert. Keeps their buddies in the big bucks who generally feed some back to their favorite politicians.

According to the US Senate Committee on the Budget, the oil industry in the US alone is subsidized at a rate of $646 billion a year. Worldwide is over $5 trillion according to them as well.

I pretty much hate all subsidies, but let's at least be consistent and honest about them. If you hate green energy getting $35B, you must really hate fossil fuels getting $646B.

[SubGod22]

Will be interested to see how it actually performs once it's fully functional and ready to go. They claim the car will have a range of 1,000 miles.

The Car Fueled Entirely by the Sun Takes Huge Step Towards Production

One of the most hotly anticipated concept cars in recent history, the Aptera solar-powered car took a large step towards reality recently as the first-ever production-grade body arrived at the company’s headquarters in San Diego.

This three-wheeler is advertised as containing 34 square feet of solar paneling that actually powers the car as it drives or while it’s parked, but so many aspects are completely new in a commercial automobile designed for mass production that extra precautions and preparations are needed before it can hit the road.

“We had so much fun last week celebrating a company milestone—the arrival of Aptera’s first production body in San Diego,” the company wrote in a post on X. “Now Team Aptera is back to work finalizing the cable routing, connectors, and placement of components in preparation for our first [production-intent] builds.”

According to Elektrek, the company has ordered all the parts for its production-intent battery packs, and other non-structural components are currently being “validated” in Italy by the company’s supply partner.

The suspension, safety equipment, and drivetrain are yet to be finalized for production models. Still, the company has gone further than many before them, because the design they are currently finalizing is not meant to be an eye-raiser or science project, like some GNN has reported on.

When the PI-2 Aptera solar trike is finally ready, it will be because the company is producing 10,000 a year.

Despite looking as dramatic as any Pagani or Lamborghini, the Aptera’s tapered backside, aerodynamic body, and arched, dolphin-like undercarriage are all designed to reduce drag.

In fact, the detail paid to the reduction of drag and energy use borders on obsessive. But it’s through this ultra-efficiency that solar power, a relatively limited form of electricity generation, can actually become a useful feature for powering a car.

It can also be plugged in and charged like an EV.