FlyJSH

Just where are we going to get all the electricity required to recharge all these "zero emission" vehicles? Currently (no pun intended) the US gets electricity from: (percentages are approximate)


Clean burning natural gas - 34%
A 500 year supply of coal - 30%
Evil, environment destroying nuclear - 20%
Snail Darter killing hydroelectric - 6%
Migratory bird killing wind -5%
And everything else - 4%

There are not many more places to put hydro dams, wind farm locations are becoming harder to find, and 'everything else' is tapped out too. So the question is, do we add more CO2 to the air or churn out more radioactive waste?

If one does the math for gasoline, the US would need to increase electricity production about 120% to replace auto fuel. And since every time energy is converted from one form to another efficiency is lost, that 120% is probably more like 150%.

Ahhhh, zero emissions!

Aeirum

Wow! A categoric no and no way ever. Those final word were rarely proven to be true. Remember what Dunning Kruger said...

AirBear

I wonder how the time will be logged and how it'll be seen by an airline you're applying to. Turbine/Turboprop maybe? Might have to make an all new category.

Excargodog

If you know of a way to change oxidation reduction equation values or repeal the second law of thermodynamics, well...don’t hold back.

Mesabah

Powerplant nuclear waste are dry pellets that can be reprocessed, however, there is way too much political red tape to even attempt affording it. The government would have to do it for free. But that's really the only solution there is for zero emissions; Going balls to the wall with nuclear. Eventually we will build those reactors when we have no choices left. The question is how much additional climate damage are we willing to do before we build them.
Renewables aren't real, they are a theory on paper that require humans to invent science fiction technology.

Aeirum

I don’t. However, I could imagine an aircraft with battery power in conjunction with an efficient range extender (possibly nuclear) just powerful enough for cruise, regenerative speed brakes etc. The possibilities are many. To say that there will never be electric wide-body aircraft with certainty is simple overconfidence in ones own ability to predict the future. Another consideration is that aircraft of the future may all be “wide bodies” regardless of size.

Name User

There is a Q100 flying around with a hybrid power plant. It uses smaller turbines for cruise and an electric assist motor when taking off and climbing.

https://cleantechnica.com/2019/04/05...l-planes-soon/

As electric motors get more robust, powerful, and reliable, there may come a time where aircraft are powered by small nuclear reactors. Of course, this is many many years away but presents interesting ideas about aircraft design and capability.

Interesting concepts at play for the future.

https://www.defenseone.com/technolog...troops/154406/

galaxy flyer

If it flies one day after your funeral it doesn’t matter.

GF

Aeirum

It doesn’t matter anyway. It’s the same cat skinned more efficiently.

pangolin

There's other ways to store power and to generate power. A large capacitor is one way but I don't know about the weight and controlled release or stored energy.

Fuel cell for generating electric power is a possibility as well.