Ban on small engines in California

[ajoeiam]

This is my dream car, and if I live long enough, I will make one of these, but perhaps powered with a Frisco Standard style engine.
There is something very visually appealing about this car.

I like the car - - -just - - - - when its real cold and the snow is blowing here - - - - I think the wife would want something different.

Dunno if I'd want to travel any serious distance either.
(Not that long ago we traveled some well over 3000 km (read 2000 miles) in 4 days - - - wouldn't even think of trying that on this girl!!)

 

[KellisRJ]

Let the market dictate what technologies we adopt and when we adopt them.
...VEd.

My experience is that many people in the market act like wolves and will do anything they can get away with. Don't trust them and and don't believe they can simply be wished into not cheating every chance they get. Too many believe "If I can think up a way to make money, it's ethical." Why do I believe this? Watch how most people drive. Stop signs don't matter, "Avoid crossing" white lines don't matter, turn signals are for others. Too many in business have zero morality. There's a down side to everything. But trust them? Nope.

 

[Ken I]

And that's why we have "wolves" selling wind and solar unscrupulously to customers, promising them "they'll never pay for electricity again".
A marketplace needs equitable rules that apply to everyone that's the role of politicians acting on behalf of the electorate.
It's not the role of politics to tell you what to buy and what not to buy or when and how. You have every right to be circumspect but you do want to have free choice.
“When buying and selling are controlled by legislation, the first things to be bought and sold are legislators.”
P. J. O’Rourke

Regards, Ken

 

[SmithDoor]

The odds are this will be in court
I have a generator and I rebuild the generator and engine.

Dave

And that's why we have "wolves" selling wind and solar unscrupulously to customers, promising them "they'll never pay for electricity again".
A marketplace needs equitable rules that apply to everyone that's the role of politicians acting on behalf of the electorate.
It's not the role of politics to tell you what to buy and what not to buy.
“When buying and selling are controlled by legislation, the first things to be bought and sold are legislators.”
P. J. O’Rourke

Regards, Ken

 

[JLaning427]

My experience is that many people in the market act like wolves and will do anything they can get away with. Don't trust them and and don't believe they can simply be wished into not cheating every chance they get. Too many believe "If I can think up a way to make money, it's ethical." Why do I believe this? Watch how most people drive. Stop signs don't matter, "Avoid crossing" white lines don't matter, turn signals are for others. Too many in business have zero morality. There's a down side to everything. But trust them? Nope.

Gee, that sounds an awful lot like my "favorite" German automaker's 2.0L diesel engines from 2011 to 2016. It was pretty clever cheating, but cheating none the less.

James

 

[SmithDoor]

Just think of bootlegging covert electric cars to the gasoline again.

Here we just build a engine and install in a car and or generator.
The last 15 year my leaf blower has cord before it was a airgun off hobby shop air compressor

Dave

Gee, that sounds an awful lot like my "favorite" German automaker's 2.0L diesel engines from 2011 to 2016. It was pretty clever cheating, but cheating none the less.

James

 

[Zeb]

That was a great year for the VW, and the best year in my opinion.
The Super Beetle was not an improvement on this year.
I had one of those, but had to let it go.
I could work on all of it, which is the reason I had it.
There were no electronics to go bad and stop the car from running.

I used to maintain a Grob 109 with a dual ignition VW engine. It was an odd little engine with rough castings, but very reliable and easy to work on. You ran it to altitude, then feathered the prop with a mechanical pull lever. We ran the thing on 100LL (shh, don't tell the commies we still happily burn leaded gas).

 

[Nerd1000]

I used to maintain a Grob 109 with a dual ignition VW engine. It was an odd little engine with rough castings, but very reliable and easy to work on. You ran it to altitude, then feathered the prop with a mechanical pull lever. We ran the thing on 100LL (shh, don't tell the commies we still happily burn leaded gas).

Light aviation isn't a big polluter because there's not many people who do it. Also the pollution is made far above the ground, rather than six feet from your breathing hole, so the health impacts are somewhat less.

People have been trying to kill 100LL for decades, but so far nobody has come up with a viable alternative. It would be better for all concerned if we could get rid of the lead, not just because of the pollution but also because it's hazardous to the ground crew. Unfortunately for various reasons that hasn't happened.

 

[GreenTwin]

I used to maintain a Grob 109 with a dual ignition VW engine. It was an odd little engine with rough castings, but very reliable and easy to work on. You ran it to altitude, then feathered the prop with a mechanical pull lever. We ran the thing on 100LL (shh, don't tell the commies we still happily burn leaded gas).

I had to look that one up.
What a great little plane (touring motor glider they call it in one place).
Seems like a good safety backup, since it will glide without the motor running, with a very respectable glide slope.

I need one of those.
Adding it to my list, if I can find the end of the list.
.

 

[Ken I]

People have been trying to kill 100LL for decades, but so far nobody has come up with a viable alternative. It would be better for all concerned if we could get rid of the lead, not just because of the pollution but also because it's hazardous to the ground crew. Unfortunately for various reasons that hasn't happened.

Wholeheartedly agree - if someone suddenly discovered that adding lead boosted octane ratings we would almost all say "have you completely lost your mind!" but we still use it.
However, I grew up in a house with lead plumbing (perhap that might explain a lot!).
It is possible for refineries to pack their crackers to produce higher octane distilates and some very expensive high octane fuels without organo-metal additives are available but market forces and legislation have typically driven octane ratings down.
As an aside I have attached a compilation of articles on octane ratings, performance, pre-ignition, autoigniton, detonation and engine design tips on avoiding these issues - although it is mostly about racing engines, it might be of interest to model engine builders.
Regards, Ken

 

[Richard Hed]

And that's why we have "wolves" selling wind and solar unscrupulously to customers, promising them "they'll never pay for electricity again".
A marketplace needs equitable rules that apply to everyone that's the role of politicians acting on behalf of the electorate.
It's not the role of politics to tell you what to buy and what not to buy or when and how. You have every right to be circumspect but you do want to have free choice.
“When buying and selling are controlled by legislation, the first things to be bought and sold are legislators.”
P. J. O’Rourke

Regards, Ken

I have some "wind" I just made that I can sell you.

 

[Thommo]

This is my dream car, and if I live long enough, I will make one of these, but perhaps powered with a Frisco Standard style engine.
There is something very visually appealing about this car.

A very nice car mate, as long as you aren’t planning any interstate trips

 

[mnay]

concerning the solar panels, I have thought it interesting that you pay for the panels for 20 yrs and their warranty is for 20 years. Do I pay them or the power company that supplies us from hydro electric power.
Mike

 

[Richard Hed]

concerning the solar panels, I have thought it interesting that you pay for the panels for 20 yrs and their warranty is for 20 years. Do I pay them or the power company that supplies us from hydro electric power.
Mike

The price should have dropt by now

 

[CFLBob]

The price should have dropt by now

There was an interesting article in MIT Technology Review a few months ago. The point was that solar panel adoption is likely to slow down because the more solar that gets added to the grid, the less valuable it becomes. They say some academics have been warning this is coming for years. They call it solar value deflation.

"The problem is that solar panels generate lots of electricity in the middle of sunny days, frequently more than what’s required, driving down prices—sometimes even into negative territory.

Unlike a natural gas plant, solar plant operators can’t easily throttle electricity up and down as needed, or space generation out through the day, night and dark winter. It’s available when it’s available, which is when the sun is shining. And that’s when all the other solar plants are cranking out electricity at maximum levels as well."

The price of solar electricity to sell to the grid has actually gone negative in California already, which means that (theoretically) they'd have to pay other power companies to take their solar output. I would guess they could open the switch connecting the solar panel farm to the grid. If there are such switches.

"The state’s average solar wholesale prices have fallen 37% relative to the average electricity prices for other sources since 2014, according to the Breakthrough Institute analysis, which will be published on July 14. In other words, utilities are increasingly paying solar plants less than other sources overall, due to their fluctuating generation patterns. "

 

[KellisRJ]

And that's why we have "wolves" selling wind and solar unscrupulously to customers, promising them "they'll never pay for electricity again".
A marketplace needs equitable rules that apply to everyone that's the role of politicians acting on behalf of the electorate.
It's not the role of politics to tell you what to buy and what not to buy or when and how. You have every right to be circumspect but you do want to have free choice.
“When buying and selling are controlled by legislation, the first things to be bought and sold are legislators.”
P. J. O’Rourke

Regards, Ken

And that's why we have "wolves" selling wind and solar unscrupulously to customers, promising them "they'll never pay for electricity again".

We agree on that.
[QUOTE="Ken I, post: 368149, member: 5072"“When buying and selling are controlled by legislation, the first things to be bought and sold are legislators.”
P. J. O’Rourke[/QUOTE]
Sound bite. Great for TV IMHO, not for complex issue. Just my $.02.

In 2008 I honestly couldn't see the difference between a shell game on the corner we outlaw, and mortgage brokers being allowed to rip off anyone they could in the name of a "free market." What did that get us? I put that right up there with NAFTA. Briefs will. Reality is different.

To me the two real questions, and yes despite what I said about sound bites this part is pretty simple.
Do you believe the stuff we put in the air, ground, water, etc. kills people?
If not, then we don't have common ground.
If you do, is it acceptable for any legislature in a representative democracy to pass Public Law you disagree with?

 

[vederstein]

Do you believe the stuff we put in the air, ground, water, etc. kills people?

Everything we do has in environmental impact. If you don't want to have any environmental impact, then cease to exist.

This whole "Save the Earth" slogan is crap. The earth is going to be here with or without us. The earth doesn't care. It's a rock. The earth has been a boiling cauldron of lava. It's twice been a global snowball. It once had so much oxygen that insects were measured in feet, not inches.

I don't want to save the earth. I want to make the tiny bit of it that I control livable for me.

Am I callous? Absolutely. I don't want to be told what I can and cannot do. The only caveat is that if we'd all just follow The Golden Rule, we'll be ok.

Here's another way to look at. Environmental types always want government controls to stop whatever topic they're pushing at that time. Their solution is ALWAYS MORE GOVERNMENT AND LESS INDIVIDUAL FREEDOM. If they would push an agenda that requires less government, less control, and still meets their goals, then I'd be more open to their solutions.

...Ved.

 

[GreenTwin]

The cost/benefit analysis should always be done prior to issuing far reaching environmental regulations.
If the regulations shut down most of a country's industry, then peple will starve to death from lack of money/food/jobs (but at least they will starve to death breathing clean air, thank goodness......I am being sarcastic).

There is no arguement about needing clean air, it is just a matter of how clean, and at what cost.
Do you bankrupt a country in order to achieve a slight amount of air quality?

The guy below did a good job of tracing the path of how all the environmental pimp stuff started.
There was a symposium I think in California, and I think Al Gore attended it, where they said there may be some global warming.
Al Gore created an industry around phony global warming data, and got super rich in the process, while having one of the highest carbon footprints of any person in the world.

Even the guy who held the original global warming seminar eventually admitted that there may not be any global warming at all, or if there was, it may not have an effect on anything.
It was too late though, the global warming scam industry was unstopable, since it turned into a political thing.

So unfortunately the Al Gore's of the world just jet around the world in their luxury jets, living a life of luxury that few on this earth will ever seen, and they accomplish little or nothing from their chicken-little approach, other than getting filthy rich, and dumping massive amounts of pollution into the atmosphere.

So this is what chaps me about the global warming and other "environmental change" crusades; they become money generators for a few savy political types, and poor schmucks like you and I pay for it all.
Nothing practical ever gets done to solve any real problems; it just allows the rich to get richer.

 

[Richard Hed]

The cost/benefit analysis should always be done prior to issuing far reaching environmental regulations.
If the regulations shut down most of a country's industry, then peple will starve to death from lack of money/food/jobs (but at least they will starve to death breathing clean air, thank goodness......I am being sarcastic).

There is no arguement about needing clean air, it is just a matter of how clean, and at what cost.
Do you bankrupt a country in order to achieve a slight amount of air quality?

The guy below did a good job of tracing the path of how all the environmental pimp stuff started.
There was a symposium I think in California, and I think Al Gore attended it, where they said there may be some global warming.
Al Gore created an industry around phony global warming data, and got supper rich in the process, while having one of the highest carbon footprints of any person in the world.

Even the guy who held the original global warming seminar eventually admitted that there may not be any global warming at all, or if there was, it may not have an effect on anything.
It was too late though, the global warming scam industry was unstopable, since it turned into a political thing.

So unfortunately the Al Gore's of the world just jet around the world in their luxury jets, living a life of luxury that few on this earth will ever seen, and they accomplish little or nothing from their chicken-little approach, other than getting filthy rich, and dumping massive amounts of pollution into the atmosphere.

So this is what chaps me about the global warming and other "environmental change" crusades; they become money generators for a few savy political types, and poor schmucks like you and I pay for it all.
Nothing practical ever gets done to solve any real problems; it just allows the rich to get richer.

Bastards are always manipulating the market. hyou must remember that half the people in the world have IQ's less than 100. People with IQ's above 111 immediately get a concept with out having to have it explained in detail. That is about 2/3's of all people have to have everythign explained in detail. These people are the ones whom are so easily trikt and manipulated.

If you will remember the 1980's (before I was born), news articles hit the propaganda sheets about butter being bad for you because of cholesterol. Thing is, human kind has been using milk products including butter for more than 10,000 years. It is thot that 750 years (or thereabouts) for a human culture to acclimate to new situation. What that means is those who cannot tolerate butter, die out and don't reproduce. Quite simple. Well, point is, that a mere twenty years later, the tables have turned ande now margarine is bad for you.

Didded I ever tell you how margarine was created? during the war (WWII), industry was looking for plastics made from plant material. They found a lot of interesting things and one was this greasy material called ole or oleo. They couldn't find a use for it so they said "let's try feeding it to chickens". the Chickens wouldn't eat it. So they said, "Let's feed it to pigs, they'll eat anything". The pigs wouldn't eat it. So, they said, "Let's feed it to cattle, it's just down their line." Cattle wouldn't touch it. So Who do you thimpfk they ended up feeding it to? The dumbest animal on earth. they said, "Let's feed it to people who can't afford butter. We can convince these idiots of anything!" Guess what kind of manipulations continue day to day in the modern way?

BTW, just so you know, the average IQ of machinists is 125--that is, our IQ's are generally higher than that idiot king george bush II

 

[Ken I]

There is no planetary emergency!

At least not as far as CO2 goes – there are plenty of environmental problems that need our attention – conflating the two is just part of the smoke and mirrors. Worse its distracting our attention and funding away from much more pressing environmental issues.

How about this comment by Fritz Vahrenholt – the co-founder of the German Green party (don’t come much greener than that!).

He says that the current behaviour of climate activists is “hysterical” and there is no “climate crisis”. He also states that many of the current proposals will be severely damaging to prosperity, longevity and general wellbeing.

Or “There is no scientific proof that human emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) are the dominant cause of the minor warming of the Earth’s atmosphere over the past 100 years,”

2014 Testimony to the US Congress by co-founder & past President of Greenpeace, Dr. Patrick Moore a man whose environmental credentials are beyond reproach.

In June 2020 Michael Shellenberger – a lifelong activist and deeply green environmentalist (and still is) has spoken out by publishing a book “Apocalyse – Never” subtitled “why climate alarmism hurts us all”.

Or James Lovelock – the father of the Gaia Hypothesis and among the founding alarmists at the very first Earth Day

“The problem is we don’t know what the climate is doing. We thought we knew 20 years ago. That led to some alarmist books – mine included – because it looked clear-cut, but it hasn’t happened,” Lovelock said.

“The climate is doing its usual tricks. There’s nothing much really happening yet. We were supposed to be halfway toward a frying world now,”.

Sorry to burst your bubble but in spite of the barrage of nonsense by the scientifically ignorant mainstream media - the science certainly isn't settled.

Regards, Ken