James Newtons Massmind wrote:
> Another interesting thing is that sustainability = cheap. If you think 
> about
> it, the bulk of the cost of just about anything is the energy used to make
> it. Think about a new car: You can buy a H2 or a Prius... Or an old Civic.
> The new cars are going to require that someone dig up ore, smelt it,
> transport it to the factory, cast, weld, form it, assemble and then
> transport the finished car to me. The old civic is already here.

Alternatively, you can melt a couple of old Civics to make an H2. This way, 
you don't need to worry about digging up the ore.

> Compare the
> cost of that new hybrid with the cost /difference/ between the gas my old
> civic will use compared to the new hybrid. [...]

I remember a while back one of the presenters at the local SAE chapter 
meeting mentioned that storing the braking energy as compressed air achieves 
up to 70% efficiency, compared to only 20% for batteries. I do not recall 
the reason why hybrids are still using batteries. Safety? Difficult to 
achieve smooth acceleration?

Best regards,

Vitaliy 

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