[Vwdiesel] EPA things

[Tad]

As long as we're on the subject(s), I may as well throw in a few cents.

The advantage of diesel over electric trains is the diesels are able
to handle heavier loads, and the electric plant over long distances is
a huge maintenance expense (which is why it makes more sense in Europe
where distances are shorter).

The advantage of running trains/cars/whatever from electric grid
fossil fuel power vs directly from fossil fuel power is that the large
baseload generation plants have a much higher overall efficiency than
the diesel/gas engines in the cars - also electrical grid demand is
*extremely* peaky, meaning that the majority of generation capacity is
unused/surplus most of the time.  Thus, charging your car/running your
train/drying your clothes/heating your water during offpeak hours is
using surplus power and very cheap.  And from an emissions
perspective, it's easier/cheaper to clean up one big powerplant vs
thousands of cars/trucks/trains.

Last, even here in the NW the majority of our power is from fossil
fuels.  IIRC only about 40% is hydropower.

On Wed, Feb 8, 2012 at 9:16 AM,  <LBaird119 at aol.com> wrote:
> Tsk, government mandates/regulation...
>  Our cable bill went up about 25% immediately after the government  passed
> the bill that was going to reduce cable cost.  Credit card interest  was
> set to an agreeable level above prime, by a new law.  Prime is near  zero, CC
> interest is higher than when inflation was near 20%...
>  Mandate all railroads are electric.  Rural runs would ALL be  dead, what
> few aren't already.  Complaints about overhead wires?  Look  at a switchyard
> then!  Not that it couldn't be made to work but to reinvent  the wheel?
> It'd be almost like mandating a different gauge for the  tracks.  Won't fix
> anything but it'll sure cost a lot.  There are  indeed isolated locals where
> electricity could be generated to power another  train.  They're relatively
> short runs since trains run relatively  level.
>  GN had a switchyard near here.  It was what put Leavenworth on  the map.
> They switched from diesel (steam?) to electric, while they went  over the
> Cascades, mostly due to the long tunnel.  Two trains going down  would run
> one going up, is what I'd always hear.  Not too often that's  going to
> happen...  The system was in place, it worked, they changed it  all, why?  Odds are
> it was more cost effective.  So, why would we want  the government to
> mandate a business do something they've already determined  isn't the "best" way
> to do it?  Except for here in the NW, the electricity  is made from fossil
> fuel.  So mandate they burn fossil fuel so that they  won't burn fossil
> fuel...????  That's the problem with the electric car  scheme as well.  You're
> still burning fossil fuel, just not onboard.
>  I remember an article in EC that said most of the newer, cleaner  cars
> (at THAT time, early 90's) produced less emissions than the power plant
> would, in order to drive the two cars the same miles.  I believe it was a  Saab
> they were testing and the exhaust actually tested cleaner than the ambient
> air at the time!  The point was to prove that mandating electric cars had  NO
> true, green motivation if you looked at real numbers.
>    Loren
>
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