hydrogen power

[Roger M. Woodbury]

Very nice, Robert.  I was pleased and interested to read your comments about
hydrogen powered cars.  Eventually, I believe, we simply will have to
redevelop mass transit as a way of life in the US.  The social problems that
will have to be fixed or at least controlled then, are already lying there
festering, but eventually the diminishing supply of fossil fuels will
mandate many changes.

I am planning on developing a series of apartment buildings here in eastern
Maine, where housing is in very short or critical supply.  These buildings
will represent a rather radical departure from "traditional" apartment
construction.  Expanded polystyrene building forms holding concrete will be
used, and my preference will be to use galvanized steel shingles on the
roof, as well as other recycled or "man-made" products, instead of
traditional materials the use of which impacts the environment.  These units
will be marketed including heat and airconditioning, with energy supplied
for heating and a/c by one of the new generation of ground source heat
pumps.  Electrical costs are very high per kilowatt hour here in Maine, and
the heat pump and overall building efficiency will roughly equal paying
around 20cents per gallon of fuel oil, in a conventional oil burner, and the
heat pump, while electric in operation, will achieve around three to one
efficiency.

The resulting buildings will provide silent, and very warm habitation at
reasonable cost, when compared to traditional domicile with such services.
The added cost of construction will be recovered in less than two years,
depending upon interest rates, of course, but the impact on the environment,
and natural resource consumption will be markedly less than for most
"traditional" construction projects.

Roger