chickenstrip

I too have trouble, to say the least, with the nuclear waste problem. And I think that space needs to be dealt with from a global standpoint (too late, I know).

I'm more inclined to go with the diversity in renewables being developed, and, conservation, yep that ugly word. I was very impressed by the amt. people can cut down on energy use during the Cali energy sham, something like %15, and I didn't notice it in the day-to-day.

lazn

That is energy density, not energy return.

How many gallons of diesel fuel, and pounds of oil based fertilizer do they have to use to make a gallon of it?

To make "X" amount of ethanol energy it takes 2/3 of "X" from oil. (and that is using the newest, most expensive, methods.. Older methods that are still in use actually use MORE energy to make the ethanol than what you get out)

I want to know the energy return of this new fuel, not the density. (that also matters, but in a different context)

nfbzike

the wave of the future is right here. STEAM!

sidewards

Nuclear might make a big reappearance. The waste is mainly a problem in the US because we have legislation in place that keeps the nuclear plants from recycling spent fuel. Burnable uranium is about 5% of the fuel rod, the waste is still about 95% uranium that can be reprocessed into usable uranium. France gets about 80% of their power from nuclear and have been recycling their fuel for many years. Also new Fusion/fission hybrid reactors are in the works that can burn up to 99% of the spent nuclear material. Yucca mountain has been shut down for a reason, they're cooking something up, probably the apocalypse.

JamieDaugherty

Dude that's so funny because I've thought the same thing. I've also thought it might be a worthwhile use of Mars.

Stevebis1

Really funny... Didn't you ever watch Space 1999?

Realistically, did you ever throw a ball up that didn't come down? Check out the payload capability of a saturn V and the cost of a launch. Einstein may have given us nukes but Newton will keep them on earth.

The problem is politics. Go with breeders. Reprocess it all. Nuke anyone who cheats

divingindaytona

One of the problems is what happens when a shuttle doesn't make it out in one piece. Nuclear fallout for everyone!

I think a combo of solar, and nuclear is the answer. However this is going to take a while.

Hawkrider

Radioactive waste is really not that big of a concern. The majority of waste is extremely low level and most of that can be burned and consolidated. It's the big stuff that is hard to get rid of, like the spent fuel, used cores, and whatnot. Yeah, it takes some space to bury all of that but it's not like we don't have the extra room in this country or any other. Maybe we can ship it off to some of the countries that we have lent billions of dollars to and they can pay us back with a service.

Circuit_Burner

howard hughes has this **** all figured out.... then he was taken out by big oil.
My grandad saw his prototypes running in the desert in 1959, nuclear reactors the size of a beer can.
you dont refuel them, you swap cores.
Its been done and they hid it.
I have tons of information on this and another engine thats not nuclear, and is 5 times as mind blowing.
If I say too much I will be an oil target.
lol

Howard Hughes really had the answer and our ******* corrupt illuminati fed government shut it all down.
I know where to find the evidence of a huge contract with vought/LTV to build 20 busses for the city of dallas in 1972.
They tooled up for production they were so close, and they came in and closed it down.
and ... Hughes dies 3 years later, a drugged and altered freak.
Its not hard to see the truth.

REDVTR1000

if we built 150 more we could be electrically energy independent. as for the bio fuels, any grown fuel is a pipe dream. this one claims to use waste products that come from the production of food. How much can that really produce? a fraction of a precentage? we need a real clear UNIVERSAL system because if you are running biofuel and i am running hydrogen and someone is all electric this thing is going to turn into a mess.

JamieDaugherty

Yeah, but you would have to sift through all of that 100mpg carburetor information to find it. That would be too much of a pain.

Circuit_Burner

No no no,
Not that fabulous quadrajet mod, Im talking power production unlike anything you have ever imagined. A whole new system in a closed loop with zero emissions. No combustion, and free airconditioning.
Cold is its by-product not heat.

JamieDaugherty

Oh right, I see now. It's next to the plans for the perpetual motion machine.

JamieDaugherty

In all seriousness, I get really suspicious of claims like that. Nothing is perfect, nothing is zero emission, nothing ever will be. Some are much better than others, but everything comes at a cost. Even solar and wind power. How much carbon emissions get pumped into the atmosphere to make the polymers in a single photovoltaic cell?

Circuit_Burner

Nothing is zero emissions of course if you include manufacturing gasses . LOL
When I eat beans I warm the earth also.