If oil is the problem why don't we convert to electric and solar?

Question

...we seem 2 be spending all this money on Iraq...I don't get it.

Answer 1

That day is coming.  Some of the major auto companies, and quite a few unknown ones, are working on electric or hybrid electric cars. Even GM is working on it and expects to have one on the market by 2010-2012. The goal is to build a battery system that will provide about 40 miles per charge, which will get most people through the day, then charge it at night in your own garage.  There's a small gas burning engine to charge the battery for extended range.  Check out the Chevy Volt.

Solar is coming down in price and is expected to be equal in cost with utility power within the next 5 years or so.  In many parts of the country, electricity from wind generators is already cost competitive with the utility.  Even oil tycoons are getting into wind farms, which ought to tell us something.

Answer 2

around 10 patents are filed for engines that run on water every year

the oils companies keep an eye on them and then buy the patent from the designer for a riduculous amount of money

you wouldnt say no to 25million would you.

its a drop in the ocean for the oil companies ... then they just sit on them.

the problem isnt the oil its the world economy, for so long now the world has been reliant on oil that a very large percentage of the worlds economy is based on oil and the cost of it.

if a car manufacturer were to mass produce a GOOD electric or water powered car and we all bought it.

the economies around the world would beging to go into chaos, especially the middle east. all the oil rich arab countries would very suddenly become third world countries.

and lets face it, i dont think they would like that.

welcome to global WW III

(im not picking on them just using it as an example countries like america too would suffer and the UK.)

due to a still unstable world of dictators and poloticians who are out for themselves the transition to a none oil reliant planet is going to be a VERY slow one.

If (like in star trek for instance) the world decided to get together ...ALL OF US... and take one singular decision making government of the planet then and only then could we make history of polution, poverty, etc etc etc

but thats science fiction isnt it, and unfortunately it would take a world wide disaster, or event like aliens arriving, to make it all happen.

sad but true ... its the bigger picture in this case

Answer 3

we are trying, but it won't happen overnight. Think of it as rebuilding the great wall of china with mortar and bricks that are too small to work properly. and too expensive

Answer 4

They (@!#$$) spent your money in Iraq and elsewhere because they want to get richer (for themselves) from the oil there. That's why they really don't bother about electric or solar conversion.

Answer 5

Because it costs more.

That's it in a nut shell.  You'd convert to solar and electric if you wanted but it costs too much.  So unless you have solar cells and an electric car, spare me.

Answer 6

the problem is one of being stuck up a creek they cannot turn round in.   there are relatively easy ways to  produce electric vehicles. the Swiss have had them for years ,  the problem is electric cars do not need oil  or petrol .   so the problem is those who have held sway over the minds of millions since henry ford showed how to make cars for every one, have never considered that there was any environmental damage, many inventions are taken up by society that turn out to be detrimental , guns for instance,   if we went to electric cars now , and it is easy to build a battery platform on which different configuartions of vehicles could be built on, but the problem is all those mechanics, pump attendents,  small busieness, that have been created around he internal combustion, engine would be in jepordy, and there would be economic chaos in America, and the middle east,  so although America does not want to rely upon arab oil, and arabs are antoganistic towards america, they are mutually dependent upon each other given the symbiotic relationship the respective economies have, built up around oil.

oil is also used for hundreds of bye products such as medicines and paints dyes and drugs  so if we stopped taking oil out for gasoline etc, we would make so many other products very expensive to produce,  because internal combustion engines and their upkeep subsidise the other derivitives of oil.

This is why governments are saying they need a long time to sort what may be something already out of our hands.  I was taught at school in the days when people were educated at school ,   that we were going to have another ice age, and that cosmic rays because they are guess what Carbon, and these rays crash into the atmosphere at the speed of light these are atomic particles they collide with the atoms, in the atomsphere and heat is given off,  it was summised in the sixties that cosmic rays were very much part of the periodic causes of climate fluctuations on earth, as we go on our journey around our galaxy it is suggested that we go through areas, that are more active with cosmic rays because of the increased dynamics of that part of the galaxy,   now just think there are other rays rays are carriers of energies, if these interact in our vicinity they may increase solar activity  and the pull upon the molten core of our earth causes more hot vents to open on the ocean floor.   I think there are around four hundred of these, they switch on and off  depending upon the interactive forces at the time, in other words please do not let any one convince you that we the little people here on our pretty little planet can do much immediatly about climate change.   what we can do is reduce poverty by education review capitalism and democracy so we bring our selfs into the 21st century with our thinking, then we will be on the road to becoming climate masters, until we are masters of our own behaviour we are being diverted by politicians who need climate change to take people minds off the problems monopolies are creating  god bless

Answer 7

Well, about 30% of our electricity is generated by using oil-based fuel.

100% of our major jet planes run on oil-based fuel.  No real alternatives exist yet.

100% of the tankers hauling things through the ocean run on oil-based fuel.  There is presently no substitute other than perhaps nuclear fuel.

Virtually 100% of the big rig semi-tractor trailer fleet uses oil-based fuel.

100% of our trains use diesel or similar oil-based fuel. Not much in the way of alternatives to this either.

A huge percentage of pharmaceutical products use oil-based chemicals.

All of our LCD and plasma screen TV's use oil-based plastics in their cabinets, not to mention I-pods.

Even if we stopped using oil for transportation, we would want it for a zillion other purposes.  I suppose we could then toss the unused gasoline, diesel, fuel oil and other transportation leftovers in a landfill, unused and polluting our soil and water.  And pay double for the non-transportation portion of the oil products.

Answer 8

Because it's much more expensive to do so at the moment. It's not yet economically feasible to switch completely over. It's going to have to be a gradual process. And it's not Big Oil that's making all the money, the government takes a massive chunk out of it. Oil companies only make like, $0.10 per gallon. The Government (thanks to Congress), many times more than that.

I can't afford to go out and buy a new electric car to replace my gas-powered one. Unless you're willing to buy the new car for me? And for that matter, are you willing to buy every person in America a new car so that they can keep their jobs and pay the rent?

Answer 9

Because we are still developing ways to make cars use electricity efficient. We need better Lithium-ion batteries so they will not take up to much space. We also need to generate enough electricity for homes and cars. Fuel cells will generate electricity by combining hydrogen with oxygen.

Answer 10

The truth is simply that it's expensive and the companies that can make the change never have sufficient monetary reasons to make the change.

Auto companies make money on selling the car, but make easier money on maintenance and repair. Electric's have fewer repairs.

Why would they push for the change? Not many businesses fight to make less money.

The technology isn't quite there for the average consumer. People want the convenience they have now for the cost they have now. If you go into the general auto section here on these boards, where most people at least have internet knowledge you'll still find replies  scarce on electrics.

The government of our country is based on change through the private sector. To make a government level change would take agreement from a majority, and every one of those with auto industry in their state would jeopardize their job and they won't do that.

So the gov't can't help, the people in general don't want it and there's nobody with the proper motivation and resources to develop it.

I'm an electric car nut, have installed solar panels and want the Chevy Volt to be the most popular car around. Most people don't even know what that is. I just saw a poll that asked if people would even consider an electric car, and over 20% wouldn't even consider it.

Until we have shortages in fuel I think we're going to be looking at a fringe for true change. I don't count the Prius as change. They still use too much fuel. A Prius gets 50 mpg, a Prius converted to plug in gets over a 100. That's a true step in the right direction.

Answer 11

Big Oil wants a piece of the action, and they are very powerful.

Answer 12

We are edging that way. A tidal change like that does not happen over night.

The problem with electric cars is the batteries and the amount of energy that they can hold. The good part is Hybrid cars. The more of Hybrids sold the greater the fiscal incentive to develop better batteries.

Solar-voltaic panels that generate electricity are getting cheaper now that there is competition, rebates and tax incentives that can cover as much as 70% of the cost. Combine that with an electric car and you can pay off the panels in five years with the savings from not buying gasoline for your car.

What it takes is the early adopters to invest in solar electricity, Electric cars for commuting and errands, and some thing we didn't talk about. Geo-Thermal heat pumps to heat and cool your homes and businesses. If you combine those three things you can be 95% free of oil dependancy this year.

Answer 13

You are free right now to convert to electricity. You don't have to wait for permission. Electric cars are available by the thousands since nobody wants to spend the money for such terrible performance. Market economics will always rule when it comes to the products we buy. When the price of a gallon of gas gets to about twelve bucks a gallon an electric car will begin to sell.

In the early nineties the legislature in California passed a law that required that ten percent of the vehicles sold in the state must be electric powered. After the pieces of junk sat in showroom floors without moving for a few years the state repealed the law. Seems the police couldn't decide which ten percent of the buyers they should arrest for not buying an electric car.

Answer 14

Don't forget to vote!

Answer 15

Well we should and most european countries have, but instead of making our earth  healthy to live in, George W. Bush spends money on the war, which is wrong

Answer 16

Solar international airplanes.

Answer 17

It is called big OIL like in big oil companies buying up all the competition and pattens of different forms of energy.

Think about this: It has been estimated by converting coal to gas we have enough coal to last over a 100 years! And at 50 dollars a barrel.

And it can be done. n**i Germany proved that in WW II when they lost the oil fields in Romina. All their fuel was made from coal.

Another fact the diesel engine: Dr. Diesel did not design it to run on petrolum.  He designed the diesel engine to run on peanut oil specifically because German did not and does not have any oil.

It is kind of comical in a way at how some stars are bragging about how they have converted diesel cars to run on cooking oil and how it is the lastest technology: When actually that is what the diesel engine was designed to run on to start with and it is early 1900's technology.

Also ladies' cars (electric cars so called because in the early 1900's they were built and sold to mainly lady drivers.

Then we bring up the hybred cars; another early 1900's technology.  

Now comes using natura gas for fuel! Another old technology. In the 1950's and 1960's in region I'm from almost every pick up on the road ran on butane.  You could switch them back and forth between butane and gasoline.

What happened to all them. One answer big oil! And the major car companies bought the companies making them and discontinued them.

As for butane: It was the hassles over highway taxes and always being stopped and hassled about highway taxes i.e. fines and paying gas tax based on mileage driven.

Used to be what was good for Standard Oil was good for America!

JOHN D. ROCKFELLER & ALL THE HARD WORKING MEN AND WOMEN WHO SWEATED AND DIED BUILDING STANDARD OIL  WOULD ROLL OVER IN THEIR GRAVES IF THEY SAW HOW THE ROBBER BARONS HAVE TAKEN OVER THEIR COMPANY!

Answer 18

a) oil companiesare powerful

b) oilis easier and less expensive than solar

Answer 19

there is estimated to be 1 trillion barrels of oil left in the earth's crust.  At $100 a barrel that is $100,000,000,000,000 (trillion) buisness to do.  The oil companies aren't going to pass that up.

Answer 20

First, where do you think electricity comes from?  It comes from burning coal or petroleum.  If we had nuclear power plants, it would make sense to build more electric cars.

Solar isn't very efficient.  First, there would be no driving at night, when it's cloudy, or when it's raining.  Second, they aren't very efficient even in bright sunlight.  We're better off using solar as a supplement to home heating.

Answer 21

because by using oil we are helping other countries and destroying ourselves. if it was up to me everything would run on electric and solar power but we have leaders who dont want to take the trouble to help the citizens in the country, just run them all in the ground.

-just my opinion.

Answer 22

the oil companys wont let us.

Answer 23

people identify more with the economy than their landbase. they are insane.