[NMLUG] Why so many Linux distros?

[sbrowne at ix.netcom.com (Steve Browne)]

On Mon, 09 Oct 2006 12:08:05 -0600, you wrote:

>Ed Heron wrote:
>> From: "Steve Browne" <sbrowne@ix.netcom.com>
>> Sent: Monday, October 09, 2006 11:14 AM
>> 
>>> ...
>>> Being a conservationist I can't let that last example pass. I wish I
>>> could find a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle with an average 60 mpg.
>>> ...
>> 
>>  I've heard of a project to convert a Toyota Prius to plug-in hybrid.
>> 
>>  I don't understand why the auto manufacturers don't understand this is 
>> a good thing.
>
>I don't understand the never ending fascination with the plug-in car. 

[snip]

I keep up with this issue because I'm ready to buy such a car when it
is out of the guinea pig stage.

If electricity is generated by a clean source (a major goal, with or
without electric cars), a hybrid-electric vehicle makes less
contribution to environmental pollution (being primarily defined as,
unhealthy to human life).

A plug-in hybrid electric vehicle is meant for local driving, which is
what we mostly do. In the future I see the well-provisioned household
having two cars: a plug-in hybrid electric, and a non-plug-in hybrid
electric for those vacations to Mexico.

Most current all-electric designs have a range of less than 100 miles
per charge, which might be fine for your daily chores. If you accept
that proviso, you can find an all-electric plug-in from custom
converters in California. The weak point of present technology for
plug-in cars is the battery. Lithium batteries can overheat and
explode; so can gasoline tanks, for that matter.

A more immediate solution may be vehicles with turbodiesel engines,
which is the direction they've gone in Europe. Recent turbodiesel cars
get fuel economy comparable to hybrid electrics. However, the EPA's
exhaust pollution requirements have disqualified most models from US
distribution; I only know of two, both by VW. On the positive side,
diesel fuel in the US is now mandated to be low-sulfer, and European
manufacturers are coming out with cleaner-burning engines. I recently
encountered in Santa Fe a ZAP Smart Car, sold for years in Europe by
Mercedes-Benz (http://www.zapworld.com/cars/smartcar.asp). There is
supposed to be a diesel version available (but where?).

Lots of choices, actually.

While we deliberate, the Four Corners Power Plant continues to, at
times, send a plume of toxic blechhh across one third of the United
States. Nuclear energy has its place.

Steve
Stephen B. Browne
sbrowne@ix.netcom.com
"It's kind of fun to do the impossible."
                          - Walt Disney