Death to the coal train?

slekjr

Member
without a doubt a great inovation. but the consequenses to the world economy will be devastating. Would you venture to guess how many people will become unemployed. On the upside, if energy is cheap and clean we can devote our efforts to more constructive things. It will just be the changeover that hurts. Sooner or later it has to happen anyway. My goodness what will happen to the global warming people?sign1
Charlie
 

Renovo PPR

Just a Farmer
Oh they wouldn’t go anywhere. There would be large protest by the environmental group because of the large salt deposits wrecking havoc on the environment. Then they would say that the lowering of the oceans would result in advancing the warming of the plants. Let us not forge the fish people either because I’m sure some would be sucked up in the intake pipes.

[FONT=&quot]Now the railroads could make out because some one would need to haul salt water and then haul away the salt.[/FONT]
 

slekjr

Member
They'll be okay: burning all that salt water will take care of the problem of rising ocean levels. :rolleyes: :p :lol:

Wayne
Ok now if I have this straight ....Global warming will turn to global cooling. We will siphon off the ocean water to burn for fuel and the oceans will drop, the ice caps will reform lowering the oceans even more so we will then have more land to farm, no need to make ethanol out of all our corn. the cost of fuel for farming will drop but so will prices. We will heat our homes for free so real estate taxes can be doubled or trippled. We can solve all these kind of problems...except the taxes..what? cut government spending, why what a unique idea.:wave: and oh yeah a clean burning steam locomotive.
Charlie
 

KCS

Member
Will this be the death to the coal train as we know it for power plants? Perhaps future trains will be pulling something else.... :cool:

Check out the possible future here!

YouTube - Water as fuel.


Here's a guy I'd like to meet and throw a couple of idea's at on renewable energy that I have. In my head the theory will work but the bug's need to be worked out. He killed two bird's with one stone without even knowing it. I'm impressed!
 

KCS

Member
Oh, one bad thing to this though. A few year's ago a pickup truck was made to run off of tap water. and some time back a carburetor was invented that got between 75-100 MPG on a V-8. A V-8! These products could be the answer to bettering then planet rather than tearing it apart like we are now. But, products like so would cut a nice sized chunk out of what the government makes off of us. So they buy the idea and then put it under lock and key to never be heard of again. They don't care about what's happening and how serious the situation is. All they care about is money and how much they can waste on a war. If this guy was smart, don't sell out the invention to the government. Sell it to someone who has enough brains to actually put it to use. We're on our way to self destuction and it's only a matter of time before it happens. This is a really good way to start the process of coming back.
 

scottcn

New Member
No, not the laws of thermodynamics!

Cool stuff! As a marine scientist, I have never thought about burning sea water. Obviously, sea water doesn't burn by itself, which leads to the thing that's never talked about on the TV clip: what is powering that big radio wave generator in this guy's lab? The answer: electricity, which is probably produced by a big coal-fired power plant down the street! Given the pesky laws of thermodynamics, we know that more energy is being consumed to generate the radio waves than is being produced from the sea water. Perhaps this is a more efficient way of generating hydrogen from water than existing approaches ... or maybe not.

Until our nation switches from fossil fuels to renewable energy, this discovery isn't going to do much, if anything, to change the climate or lower ocean levels or otherwise solve our current climate problems. To generate enough hydrogen to power all of our transportation needs (planes, trains (!!), and automobiles), it has been estimated that we would need to double our number of electricity-generating power plants (Link: Hydrogen economy - where does the hydrogen come from? - not an "authoritive" source, but it generally agrees with what I've read elsewhere). Note that this wouldn't necessarily reduce our fossil fuel combustion, unless all of those new power plants were powered by renewables.

So, getting back to the title of this thread, I suspect that this is not the death of the coal train (unfortunately). Sorry to sound like one of those "global warming people" but, well, that's who I am.
 

bigsteel

Call me Mr.Tinkertrain
the only "death of the coal train" is when i dropped it off the table :mrgreen: :rolleyes:.but i doubt there will be a drastic energy chang in our life time.we are to hooked on oil.but it has to come some time.hell,i wouldnt mind having the hydrogen powered van with 70MPG and 400 HP!!!im not even kidding!--josh
 
N

nachoman

Those pesky laws of thermodynamics...

I would like to know more about this discovery, but my guess is it is not new. The real question is, do you get more energy out than you put in, and what is the source of the energy that is put in.

If it is a viable and safe means of energy, it will find its way onto the market. I would sure hate to think the government or some very wealthy people would squash a good idea. They may try, but in the internet age, it is becoming increasingly difficult.

Kevin
 

bigsteel

Call me Mr.Tinkertrain
Those pesky laws of thermodynamics...

I would like to know more about this discovery, but my guess is it is not new. The real question is, do you get more energy out than you put in, and what is the source of the energy that is put in.

If it is a viable and safe means of energy, it will find its way onto the market. I would sure hate to think the government or some very wealthy people would squash a good idea. They may try, but in the Internet age, it is becoming increasingly difficult.

Kevin

i doubt that idea is even self sufficient.because its using radio waves generated by a power plant.he'd be lucky if that could generate enough electricity to power itself.

and the gov't AKA rich people would do anything to keep that from destroying there businesses.remember,they have to put gas in there yacht.--josh
 

Ralph

Remember...it's for fun!
Guys, I would like to thank you at this early juncture for being so amiable about the global warming debate. Some of you may remember a thread months ago that got pretty heated (no pun intended...OK, it so it WAS intended!) over global warming. :) Sometimes I think it might be good for The Gauge to have a big red-lettered flashing advisory for new members when they join that reads, "Warning! You may encounter people who think differently than you!" You fellas, however, have set a great model for being able to talk about something potentially controversial while remembering that we gather here to share our interest in trains.

Well done!
Ralph
 

Renovo PPR

Just a Farmer
What you mean people think differently than me? Couldn't be! It is just two different sides of the mirror and we come together with the trains. Now those non O Gauge people are a different story. :p
 

Renovo PPR

Just a Farmer
BTW they better not ever stop hauling coal because I live no where close to salt water.wall1 How would I heat my home?
 

Ralph

Remember...it's for fun!
Hmmmmm, What is this O guage you speak of and what would a salt water unit train look like? :)
Ralph
 

scottcn

New Member
Hmmmmm, What is this O guage you speak of and what would a salt water unit train look like? :)
Ralph

I'm not sure, but I imagine there would be plenty of corrosion. Or maybe we would see the real thing take a page from us modellers - plastic tank cars!
 

slekjr

Member
Brilliant! Scott, I like it! Prototype follows model! :)
Ralph
Well Ralph we are actually one up on this. In 2000 Armstrong county had an O scale box car made to celebrate its bi-centenial. We have an old X29 that we painted up to match. It wasn't quite prototype but was real close. would you call this 48/1 scale?
 
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