• Cars

    Why Can't Our Cars Get Better Mileage?

    By Posted on 7.3.2008 27 Comments

    In April, the U.S. Secretary of Transportation proposed new CAFE (corporate average fuel economy) standards that would increase the average efficiency of passenger cars and light trucks by 4.5 percent per year from 2011 to 2015. A lot of people wondered why the federal government wasn't aiming higher.

    7.3.2008 at 10:17pm - Comment by rahulr0609

    You see there are key fundamental problems to alternative sources of energy for vehicles.. A) The infrastructure is lacking in terms of filling stations for Hydrogen and other kinds of bio fuels that are available. B) The cost of manufacturing the technology when there is a clear lack of infrastructure and thus a smaller audience to whom auto makers can appeal to make this a very hard transition. C)Everybody likes the idea of electric hybrid or plug-in electric vehicles, ,but the fact is 50% of our electricity in the U.S in produced from Coal and only 20% is produced by Nuclear. Even if nuclear were to take charge down the road, its Achilles heel continues to remain on how to dispose of the radioactive byproducts. Obviously there is a plan to put in Yucca mountain, but that is just short term and the environmental impact down the road(leaks etc) could be devastating..... Whoever invents a way to dispose of Nuclear waste will be the richest man in the world..... P.S: Nuclear power does have certan security risks attached, though most of them have been take care of ( partial melt down, terrorist attack etc...)

  • Science

    Xerox PARC Lab Tour

    By Posted on 4.29.2008 3 Comments

    5.4.2008 at 09:17pm - Comment by rahulr0609

    Thsts awesome1!!!! PARC started the GUI interface for computers and could have owned the industry.... This lab had some some really cool stuff in the past!!!



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