[NMLUG] Why so many Linux distros?

[wjl at icecavern.net (Wesley J. Landaker)]

On Monday 09 October 2006 12:08, havoc wrote:
> I also don't understand the desire for pollution shifting and
> concentrating. Traditional cars distribute a small amount of pollution
> over a wide are so that nature can process that pollution in a
> distributed manner. Plug-in electric cars shift a larger amount of
> pollution (due to efficiency losses in generation and distribution) to a
> centralized location so that the plant and animal life in the immediate
> area of the electric generation facilities are subjected to a level of
> pollution many orders of magnitude higher.

It depends. What is the efficiency difference between traditional cars & 
centralized generation - distribution losses? I bet even old coal power 
plants might be much more efficient than the gas-to-energy conversion in most 
of today's cars.

Now, if all your car's energy was coming from electricity generated by a very 
modern, efficient, source of energy with very little pollution (say a good[1] 
nuclear plant), I think plug-in electric cars would be a big win.

(Of course, I think having to plug in your car and the time it would take to 
charge would be an inconvenience that would curb their popularity quite a 
bit. I think *natural*-gas-electric-hybrids sound like a great alternatives; 
we'll see if those ever emerge.)

[1] Of course, there are many, many types of nuclear plants, both built and 
proposed. I expect there will be many future advances here as well.

-- 
Wesley J. Landaker <wjl@icecavern.net>
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