Very well put Mark, number 3 son back from the oil fight and number 4 taking his place, I want him back too.... and I want to be able to make my own power...... Dave K
--- On Wed, 6/17/09, Mark Stafford <mstafford@natca.
From: Mark Stafford <mstafford@natca.
Subject: [Electric Boats] Re: Regeneration Free Lunch
To: electricboats@
Date: Wednesday, June 17, 2009, 11:00 AM
Thanks all for hanging in there with the regen conversation. I like the marginality of regen; I like how that slim slice of speed energy we are required to sacrifice and trade for gathering more electrons encourages the recognition of how precious those stored electrons are. We really have to pay through the nose to gather/store electrons with current technology.
The 800 pounds of lead battery to 1 gallon fuel ratio could effect the same recognition, but it usually has the opposite psychological impact: since we horrendously under-value fuel, we end up devaluing batteries.
What do I mean, "under-value fuel"? When Americans think of a gallon of gasoline (we never think about petrol), we do not consider our amazing transportation infrastructure, our failed health-care system, our dead soldiers, other country's dead civilians, our expensive and inflammatory self-perpetuating arms-race, our opportunity cost of nearly 70 years of dying for oil, and the potential extinction of humanity. We are a blind petroleum economy, and the corporations making billions on our backs would sooner us disappear than transition to a non-petroleum economy.
If we really considered the long term effects and affects of using petroleum gasoline, we would be paying at least $100 USD per gallon. Corporations have so thoroughly externalized those costs (securing supply, building roads, and mitigating environmental impact), that to even suggest we pay a dime more, sends the world into a tizzy!
Cognitively, this is hard to actually consider. It is easier to emotionally react, to brand me kooky, laugh at my stupidity, and continue on your merry way. I invite you instead to consider the possibility that we really have been blind, that our extraordinarily delightful lives have costs that others have been paying, and to begin to recognize and appreciate those payments.
There is no free lunch. Someone else is paying the rest of that $97 per gallon. Sure the US Taxpayer gives another $10. Our children (debt) give another $20. Our health gives another $5. Ours and others' attendant fatalities give another $30. Our opportunity cost gives another $20. That leaves $12 gambling that we as a species survive. Give or take.
This is why I advocate for green(er) boats. Let's start walking towards a brighter future. Keep up the regen dream, the X-prize 10:1, the patience with newbies like me.
Mark Stafford
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