Russell, whatever happened to storage of energy by compressed air? Or by 
inertial energy
(a spinning weight) ? Since the issue for vehicles is really just THAT, 
storage of energy in
some form. I seem to recall an American city trying inertially-driven 
buses for public transportation.

I know that compressed air is the "starting fuel" of choice for the 
starting of ships' huge diesel
engines; nothing else is able to start such huge cylinders, yet a blast 
of compressed air turns
them over in a twinkling of an eye.

I think if platinum is a REQUIREMENT for fuel cell cars, only wealthy 
people could afford to
buy them. 'course, its almost at that point now for gasoline-fueled cars...

--Bob

Russell McMahon wrote:
> Earth's resources are running out   - is the thesis of this New 
> Scientist article snippet (for the full article you need to join or to 
> use Gargoyle)..
>
> The claims are worrying, or should be. "Peak oil" has nothing on this 
> :-).
> This relates to many materials, but the emphasis here is on Platinum 
> and especially the work of Dr Hazel Pritchard. This lady is interested 
> in Platinum - but Dr Pritchard's special interest is in finding new 
> sources and in its utilisation and conservation. She is also 
> interested in the prospect of reclaiming it from city streets where it 
> is deposited from catalytic converters, although the levsl involved 
> make that prospect an uneconomic one at present. [[Traffic tunnels and 
> their venticxllation systems may be a better target]].
>
>
>
>         Russell
>
> _______________________
>
> Platinum is a far more limited resource than many other materials, 
> with no known alternatives in many cases.
>
> They say
>         "It has been estimated that if all the 500 million vehicles in 
> use today
>         were re-equipped with fuel cells, operating losses would mean 
> that all
>         the world's sources of platinum would be exhausted within 15 
> years."
>
> A good case against fuel cells ? :-)
>
>
>         http://environment.newscientist.com/channel/earth/mg19426051.200?DCMP=NLC-nletter&nsref=mg19426051.200
>
> __________________
>
> Gargoyling -
>
> A Royal Society ref to Dr Pritchard's work.
>
>         http://www.royalsoc.ac.uk/page.asp?id=1550
>
> Cardiff University directory of expertise
>
>         http://www.expertise.cf.ac.uk/staff.asp?details=561
>
> Dr Hazel Prichard
> School/Division School of Earth, Ocean and Planetary Sciences
> Email sgchmp@cardiff.ac.uk
> Area of Expertise Platinum and gold, Oceanic crustal rocks, Mineralogy 
> and geochemistry, Economic geology, Geological exploration for metals
> Languages Spoken  Portuguese
> Work Telephone (029) 2087 4323
>
>
>
> Many other references.
>
>
>   

-- 
http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive
View/change your membership options at
http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist