Understanding is the Essence of Intelligence

The Zephyr flew 3.5 days non-stop.

I'm not saying that this is the future of air-transportation but it shows that flying a plane does not require kerosene.

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Ouch!

This is the future for Formula-1 racing.

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This car is not really available for everyone, yet it shows where we're heading. By 2020, this type of car will represent a significant share of the market as internal combustion engines will move to history.

Until then, the automobile industry will be transitioning from hybrids that we can purchase now, to plug-in hybrids soon to be available, to battery-only electric vehicles, to hydrogen fuel cells like this one.

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I am reacting today to research showing that Miscanthus Shows Great Potential as Ethanol Feedstock.

We have to stop this non-sense of using arable land at 1% solar efficiency when we can use desert land at 20% efficiency or more with existing solar technologies.

Biofuels cannot be part of the solution to global pollutions and energy independence until we can grow plants in deserts at efficiencies of 10% and more. Because this is obviously impossible, then biofuels will always remain part of the problem, and never will be part of the solution.

Biofuels have an amazing list of cons, they:

• Use arable land and push farmers to destroy forests worsening the problem.
• Put upward pressure on food prices worldwide threatening to starve billions.
• Pollute when used (burned), not just by emitting CO2, which is a non-toxic gas, but with CO, NOx and other deadly cancer-causing pollutants.
• Require oil and phosphate-based fertilizers, which are not renewable. Fertilizers eventually pollute water sources.

Food production is already becoming a worldwide problem today with decreasing fossil-water resources, depleted soils, pollutions, decreasing arable land in general due to over-exploitation and irrigation, expanding cities and growing populations worldwide.

Brazil is gaining energy independence at the cost of the destruction of the Amazon rain-forest, 40% of which will be destroyed in the next two decades according to National Geographic, January 2007.

The target energy source must be:

• Non-polluting when used
• Truly Renewable
• Not interfering with food production, forests, and biodiversity in general

The alternative energies that meet these goals exist today and are plentiful:

• Solar thermal
• Concentrating Solar Power for electricity production
• Geothermal
• Wind
• Photovoltaic cells for small scale electricity production
• Green buildings using direct solar energy, conserving it, and not requiring air-conditioning

The non-hybrid electric engine is the solution to ground transportation. Less expensive to produce, less parts, lower maintenance cost, and fast contrary to what many people think. Range issues are solved with new infrastructure such as battery replacement stations and electric plugs in parking lots. Batteries are 100% recyclable and can be financed to reduce upfront capital costs as Better Place has shown.

I am not affiliated, nor have any financial interest, own any stock, with any company or organization mentioned in this article.

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About 30 years ago, my brother Pierre, who was then a teenager, came-up with this simple idea for charging electric car batteries as quickly as filling-up a gas tank: just replace the battery pack!

I don't know if he was the first in the world to think about this but this vision is becoming a reality thanks to Project Better Place.



There is also this amazing innovation that promises to never ever stop your electric car: Inductive Charging. After this becomes a reality there will definitely be no return to the internal combustion engine.

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