American V-8 vs Asian Rice burners

Men and their cars.
Those "rumbling" V-8's are for bumbling idiots. Gas guzzling, polluting and primitive inventions. Electric cars are the future, or even better, ride a damn bike or walk! A sound is just a sound, go listen to the ocean or something. A rumbling engine is a silly thing to be drawn to.:icon_wink

 

Oh, I dunno, there really is something to be said for the rumble of 400 horsepower being wound up and let loose. But, I can also appreciate the sound of a well-tuned and turbo'd sport compact, too, especially a Subaru.

For the record, I used to ride my bike to work until I got hit by an SUV and, luckily, escaped alive and somewhat intact. I fully believe we need to be taking steps to make this planet more livable, but you know, there just is something magical about that V8 sound...

 

Jet power for me. LOL.

Seriously. I'd like to fit a turbofan engine on a car and drive it. Speed basically limited by car design and not by engine power, as turbofans become more efficient with speed.

 

I don't think I'm a bumbling idiot (I have the degree to prove it) and I love anything with a V-8 in it. We have a car over here in S.A. called the Chevrolet Lumina (known as the Holden Commodore in Australia and the Pontiac G8 in America), that has the same engine as the Corvette and I get a little mini orgasm every time I hear one of them rumbling past.

Oh BTW, In the words of a character from a show I used to watch: "Where do you think electricity comes from douche?!" Answer: Coal

 

2 question before I bitch about this...

1. Why are you comparing sound of engines on $80,000(or similar to that) car with $20,000 car's??

2. Do you really think if ever those typical "bigger is better" engines will disappear just because the price of gas going up??

 

I'm a little biased...

I prefer the somewhat more sophisticated handling and performance of my european roadster... but I've never driven a Corvette so perhaps I should hold my judgement. They simply don't turn my crank the same as some of the imports do.

 

Oh you boys, always playing with your cars....

 

My thoughts exactly!

 

Current renewable energy sources are not nearly efficient or powerful enough to provide enough energy for a modern society to function. Wind power is only viable in coastal or plain areas and wind turbines are rather unsightly and space intensive (and expensive as hell). Solar power is also very space inefficient (and expensive as hell) and is only viable in deserts and other very sunny places. Hydro power needs large dams that destroy local river ecosystems and is only viable in places with relatively large rivers (such as Newfoundland).

The only alternative to fossil fuel power that can provide enough energy, that can be built anywhere and is space and cost efficient is nuclear fission power, but I suspect that you (with your unrealistically green world view) wouldn't touch that with a ten foot pole.

Nuclear fission power is the only way we will be able to power our society, without cocking the world in greenhouse gases, that can hold us over until nuclear fusion power is perfected by the middle of the century. Look at France, where 79% of the country's power is provided by 59 nuclear fission plants and there has never been and accident or spent fuel leakage. Because of this, France has the cleanest air in the industrialized world.

Corn based biofuel is also not a viable option, because you need to use 1 unit of fossil fuel for every 1.2 units of biofuel you get out. The best option is cellulosic bioethanol, which can be produced from agricultural waste, wood waste, waste paper and garden cuttings (basically any plant material can be used), where depending on the production method used, you can get up to 36 units of biofuel for every 1 unit of fossil fuel used in production. Production however is prohibitively expensive at the moment, but costs are dropping fast.

BTW, my degree is a Bachelors in Genetics.

 

I always have... and likely always will. It's in my blood. My grandfather bought his 1992 Nissan 240SX when he was 85 years old! Prior to that he had driven a Pontiac Firebird, with a T-bar roof and all the ground skirts! So I come by it honestly!

 

"Current". See you misinterpret what i'm saying. What i meant, as clear as i can explain it, is that just driving our big gas-guzzling manly-man sports cars around all day saying to ourselves "it's the only way" is a lie. I don't advocate we all start riding horse and buggies to the local park so we can sing "kumbaya" around the fire, that's not my thing at all. I'm saying with all the scientists in this world, there has to be one of them that can find a way to use the 3000 Zettajoules the sun provides Earth with every single year, thats more than 800% the 0.5 ZJs that represents the entire planets' energy consumption (given that a little less than 300 ZJ is lost to oceans and 2 ZJ is absorbed by biomass).

I think spinning wind turbines are nowhere near as unsightly as huge smoking towers and erie looking factories with workers coming out covered in soot and oil. That is unsightly. I think that a half a kilometer worth of facilities and smoke stacks is just as much, if not more space intensive than wind energy, not to mention you cannot have houses within a mile or so due to air quality. That is space intensive. However you can live right next to wind turbines because i've seen it done, people literally have them in their own back yards in Nova Scotia.
So if you're going to come up with reason why wind energy is a no-no, then you're going to have to do better than that. Yes, ill give you that they are expensive, but that is because they are not commonly used. If there was more of a demand, there's no doubt prices would stoop down to more affordable prices.
Plus, if Newfoundland and Labrador can afford a Canada's largest wind farm anyone can as we are, undoubtedly the poorest province in Canada.

Expensive? Again i won't comment because expense shouldn't be a factor, black and white issue. Coal and oil are plain-jane harmful to the planet. Agreed? It is quite basic a concept. We can argue til the cows come home that greenhouse gases are not the problem and that this whole climate change thing is a hoax blah blah blah, but anyone with half a brain can figure out that they are definitely are not helping the matter to say the very least. So if these inexpensive methods are harming the planet in any form, why put up with them. Even if you not an environmentalist, can you honestly feel good about harming our home ?(it is after all the only place in the solar system we can realistically inhabit)

You see plenty of fundraisers for cancer but very few for improving solar energy. It is bad prioritizing if you ask me, and i even have a nan that i love dearly living with breast cancer but Earth comes before any human. I'm sorry if that offends anyone.

Now that, i won't challenge because it is true. Hydroelectricity can hardly be considered "green" power because it is still very damaging to the environment. However it is still better than coal or oil because little things like this can be done to make improvements, whereas coal is coal and the coal itself is extremely polluting.

Correct, air quality, but look at the soil surrounding those generating plants.
All the nuclear waste produced simply from day to day function of these plants has to be put somewhere. Most common practice is to dump it deep underground or into cooling pits with absolutely no way to get rid of it. Absolutely 0 emissions into the air but it does a very different (but just as powerful) kind of damage.

And i'm going to be mature enough not to insult your way of viewing things. As i too find your way very unrealistic. I agree it is impossible for every single thing to be truely "green" because even cows (a very natural thing) produces methane gas, what i am advocating is trying to get rid of the obvious contributers that you don't need, and i mean need. Like V-8 engines!

And doing such little, easy and virtually free things like recycling or composting for goodness sakes, it's not much to ask!

 

Before we jump on the "stuff you don't need" train, let's take a moment to really consider where this will lead. There are a lot of things that we don't NEED. We don't NEED the internet, or for that matter, we don't really NEED cars or even electricity. We don't NEED fast food, and we sure as hell don't NEED cell phones. But, I highly doubt you would be willing or able to give up some of the wonderful things to which this marvelous modern age has given birth. So, before you jump on a soap box advocating the abolition of V8 engines, take a moment to realize that a great many people, including myself, don't always give a flying shit that something we greatly enjoy is not necessary. I don't NEED my iPhone, but I'm not about to give it up, and my uncle doesn't NEED his Corvette, but I know damn well the only way you'd get the keys from him is to pry them from his cold, dead hand.

Negasta, I don't mean this to sound rude or anything, but honestly, I have a degree too, and I know a number of people that have degrees much more impressive than my lowly Bachelor of Science degree in Television and Digital Media Production. I also know people that barely made it through high school and will most likely never have any degree at all. You know what? It doesn't matter. A guy I know that has a PhD in Chemistry lives a poorer lifestyle than I do, and my friend that barely graduated high school is one of the classiest and best people a guy could ask for as a friend. The bottom line is that, although you have a degree, and it's a big accomplishment that highlights a great amount of work, honestly, in most situations in life, no one gives a shit. People are people, and having a degree of some flavor doesn't make you or me better than any of them.

 

I'm not saying that is the only way, in fact, the vast majority of people who own such cars don't drive them every day, because of the fuel consumption and maintainence costs.

That is probably why coal power plants are either built far outside cities or in industrial areas where air quality is not an issue.

I say again, wind power will never provide any more than a fraction of our energy needs and how much pollution do you think is generated by the manufacturing of the turbines and towers?

The question is, how much of the province's power is actually provided.

That is why I advocate the use of nuclear fission power.

I say again - nuclear power.

Have you ever seen how they prepare the waste for storage? The gigantic lead lined storage casks used to store the waste can take a direct hit from a speeding locomotive and not be damaged or be heated to 1500 degrees F and survive intact. The only reason that the waste is improperly disposed of, is because people such as yourself always stop the development of proper storage facilities for the spent nuclear fuel.

A case of this is Yuca Mountain near Las Vegas, where they are building a storage facility that could store all the nuclear waste that the U.S. will generate for centuries and keep it there safely for many thousands of years after. However, the Green Brigade has been trying to stop the construction for years and they have almost succeeded on several occasions.

I never insulted you, I just pointed out the obvious. If you want me to give up my V-8, you must give up all the the thing that use energy and are not needed, like your water heater, TV, PC, cellphone, electric heating, electric lighting, etc.

Even when it has been conclusively proven that the recycling of paper and plastic generate far more pollution and waste than making new paper and plastic?

And I do not deny global warming, I am a fervent believer in it. Everybody who opposes your view of energy generation is not a planet raping capitalist pig.

 

I agree, I adore anything with a big engine over 8 cylinders, but I had to set Proud1p4 right over his silly "Wind power will save the world" idea.

 

Quoted for truth!