Red58 (keep in mind I like fun debates, so this all in good spirits),
I can buy into the earth getting warmer, there just appears to be too many conflicting theories as to the actual cause for me to believe it's all man made. Which is my point - I'll grant you we may be contributing - but I'd also argue we're doing so in amounts similarly insignificant as the drop in wind speed or tidal impact from the related sources discussed earlier. Several decades ago the same global warming environmentalists were warning of a coming ice age. (mentioned in the referenced article as well). Add in the now well known fudging of the data and I think it's hard to conclude too much other than it is a highly complex system still not able to be well calculated or predicted.
As for dis-favored forms of energy, it's only the "greenies'" that don't favor petroleum based fuels. There's research afoot that increasingly supports the theory that there isn't a finite amount of them, they may well be regenerating. There's also an abundance of information well proven that even if they are finite we have well over a century's worth of them with today's extraction technology.
Although I am a strong believer in free markets and capitalism, I will fully admit tailpipe emissions would not have been dramatically reduced over the past 30-40 years without government mandates, and the net result of cleaner air is hard to dispute and generally enjoyed by all. I think there is a similar role to be played in encouraging the development of alternate forms of energy, whether or not the current administration's means of this are appropriate or not is likely too political to survive the censors here.
On our chosen topic of vehicles, there are few forms of energy that can match the advantages of petro fuels due to their energy density - with today's technology and infrastructure. An interesting area is how else can we produce a liquid fuel, possibly renewably, that will work with the considerable installed base? Natural gas is currently abundant, burns cleaner than gasoline but storage is the current challenge.
There seems to be a consensus here that electrical power has a lot of plusses, so then the argument is how best to produce and distribute it. Fuel cells have held a lot of promise for 20 years but still haven't gained the ground that hybrids have. The micro-turbines seem to be a good possibility - use clean burning natural gas from your house line to run them, very simple with few moving parts, get all the advantages (linear torque curve, regenerative braking) of an electric powered drivetrain.
Anybody converted a 'bolt to any of the methods discussed here?
