As regards to trucks, thank you AAA and yesplease. I also visited the Peterbuilt website and was surprised to see hybrid big rigs being sold or advertised and theoretically available soon. Thanks to your all’s help, I now know what to google and I have websites to watch.
lper100km wrote:
Google is your friend. Read this, or something like it, before you post again on this topic, please.
Thanks for the book link, I may or may not get there if no one else can help. Other then that, I will stand on my 1st Amendment rights.
As to CSP, to be clear I am talking about Concentrated Solar Power, not concentrated photovoltaic power. This is the type of solar power where you heat sodium to the point that it melts.
yesplease wrote:
Says the great biofool!
Once pstarr gets over his math phobia, he will be able to participate in adult discussions. It’s his lack of math that sets him up for some of what he thinks and says.
Ludi Wrote:
Look into the California Aqueduct to see the kinds of engineering challenges involved in moving large volumes of water long distances.
I did, and if I go by that, I am sunk before I start. It depends on a lot of pumping, and my initial canal sizes show that pumping may be something to avoid like the plague.
To be honest, I don't know why you're wasting your time puzzling about such a huge project. What is your goal? Just curious.
Wasting time?? What else do I have to waste? As to what I am doing, I am evaluating CSP proponents statements that they can solve the US electrical generation problem with just a 92 mile by 92 mile section of desert. One way around the Peak Oil problem is to make it go away by switching to NG. Hard to do if we are using it for primary electrical generation. I am trying to develop numbers and a pathway to funding to see what alternative electrical generation strategies might work. Due to the waste problem, I tend to be allergic to nuclear. Though, there has been an interesting development that changes the equation - a fusion/fission plant that ends up with no waste to take care of.
Meanwhile.... If we were to go seriously CSP, we would need 424,490,229 m[sup]3 [/sup]of water an hour, 24/7, 365 days a year. This is based on the fact that you need 670 gallons of water per MWH, and you can only recover 95% of that by recondensing the steam back to water. That's a lot of water. The only source I can see for that is sea water. The problem with CSP is that the best locations for it are in deserts. Lots of sun. Water thin on the ground......
So, if we use CSP, we have to feed it water. But we want to locate it where there isn't much water. So it has to be brought in. To avoid issues of weather, I had pictured this centered around 6 nodes; East Oregon, south of Las Vegas, Death Valley, south of Phoenix, south of Santa Fe, and southeast of El Paso, Texas. Each node will need 7,074,7371m[sup]3[/sup] of water an hour, 24/7.... This would call for a pipe with a diameter 158.15 meters. The largest pipe I can find is 252" or 6.37 meters. At 6.37 meter diameter, to achieve the needed water flow would require 618 pipes. If stacked 4 pipes high, it would require a minimum swath of 983 meters wide. This assumes a minimum flow rate of 1m/sec, or 3.6 km/hour.
So, back to my 10 m[sup]2[/sup] cross section canal. A canal connected to the ocean, at sea level will have a water flow. It is commonly referred to as tidal flow. So yes, Virginia, there is a flow rate. It is rather complicated, and ultimately not helpful. The CSP plant will need to be able to get water during low tide.
So back to my theoretical 10m[sup]2[/sup] cross section canal. The CSP plant at 6000 MW generation, will need to suck up alot of water. Keeping to a mathematically simple canal with a 10m[sup]2 [/sup]cross section...
The plant sucks up 100m[sup]3[/sup] of water. According to petercarl, my canal ends of with a 10m[sup]3[/sup] section, that never gets water again. I don't believe that will happen - nature abhors a vacuum. That 10m[sup]3 [/sup]section WILL refill with water. My question is how fast. For example, if it refills at 3.6 kmph, then we will need a 158 meter diameter pipe. If it can refill at 36 kmph, then we will need a 50 meter diameter pipe. If it could refill at 360 kmph, then we would need a 16 meter diameter pipe. This would be feasible and economical. A 158 meter diameter pipe isn’t. A 50 meter diameter pipe MIGHT be. But before I can figure a pipe or canal size, I need to know big. A 16 meter diameter pipe is definately feasible, but I don't think we will get a 360 kmph flow.
Sloping of the canal may or may not be possible. I have not done the topographical mapping yet, as first I need to know how big a pipe or canal I need to have. There is an interplay between sidewall friction and depth of canal that enters into this. The problem with any CSP plant is that it has to be far inland enough that it doesn’t get whacked by hurricanes, is not in tornado alley, and is not next to a large fault zone. As I recall, Brownsville has been whacked by hurricanes. I have been on the highway from Dallas heading back to San Francisco, and heard a tornado alert on FM radio while still in Texas. Hence the need for a canal.
Every problem has its solution, and every solution has its problems....