They use their "imagination"
Posted on 01/21/2008 9:09:36 AM PST by Nachum
JERUSALEM — Israel, tiny and bereft of oil, has decided to embrace the electric car.
On Monday, the Israeli government will announce its support for a broad effort to promote the use of electric cars, embracing a joint venture between an American-Israeli entrepreneur and Renault and its partner, Nissan Motor Company.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Okay, so for the umpteenth time, HOW are they going to generate the electricity they will use to charge the batteries that will run the electric cars?
now that’s a country that can’t afford to depend on arab oil
ask Gaza
“Mr. Peres sees this project as part of his “green vision” for Israel, arguing that what the nation may lose in tax revenue it will save in oil. He also supports a larger investment in solar power, saying that “the Saudis don’t control the sun.””
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Not surprised to see an economic illiterate embracing this concept. Israel may get plenty of sun, but it’s mite short on acreage.
“now that’s a country that can’t afford to depend on arab oil”
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Shows what you know about how things work there. They do indeed get arab oil... through hush-hush, backdoor arrangements.
re: a not-so-secret pipline through Jordan, among other things.
This sound pretty good, but I read the entire article to learn how they produce electricity in Israel. To my amazement, there is not a single mention of what is their source of electricity. Sloppy reporting. Makes it sound like there is absolutely no down side to the electric car.
Israel needs to do a little creative horizontal drilling.
In 2006 it was:
46.2% coal
31.7% fuel oil
16.4% natural gas
5.7% gas oil
Israel Electric Corp. is the sole integrated electric utility in the State of Israel.
Statistical report - 2006
http://www.iec.co.il/Static/WorkFolder/IRR/2006%20Stat%20ENG.pdf
They could build nuclear power plants, but that would result in highly undesireable unintended consequences...
They discovered natural gas in Israel and it is increasingly used for power generation.
As late as 2001, its use for electrical generation was about 0%.
Not really actually. Half the land in Israel is the Negev desert. It's sunny all year-round, and basically uninhabited. There's plenty of land for solar power.
Solar power is still dumb for other reasons, however (i.e. cost).
Considering the relative difficulty in getting assured supplies of oil from hostile nations, Israel might be taking the sensible course in terms of economics. The widespread acceptance of alternative motor vehicles echos the efforts of South Africa to find and fund alternative fuels during the worldwide embargo that was placed on that nation, until the reign of apartheid ended in 1994. A similar embargo is informally being laid upon Israel, but it is much less effective that that used against South Africa.
sound = sounds
(Sloppiness on my part, too.)
I read a fascinating article (I think “The Economist”) that Israel has a plentiful supply of oil shale.
And I thought oil shale was only found in the Rocky Mts.
(Then again I thought tornadoes only happened in Dorothy & Toto country).
Powered by “Dimonium”?
No, but Colorado, Utah and Wyoming have large amounts of it. Estonia, Brazil and China have all produced petroleum from oil shale.
Time for Israel to build nuclear power plants.
They use their "imagination"
High Volume. Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel. or WOT [War on Terror]
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In a interesting aside, Israel Electric adopted it's name in the late 50s. Founded early in the mandate period, it was named for the Jewish residents of the region, Palestine Electricity.
Thank you for the info about Israel’s energy supply.
I know that I could have looked for the data about the Isareli sources of electrical power, but my point was that the reporter should have given it.
You were talking about a downside to using electric cars because the fuel for electricity may be imported.
Keep in mind that Israel is importing 97.5% of their petroleum now. Switching from gasoline/diesel to anything else could hardly be worse. In reality it is better because of their new natural gas production.
You were talking about a downside to using electric cars because the fuel for electricity may be imported.
&&&
Actually, you must have my comment confused with someone else’s.
My main emphasis was on the sloppy reporting of the original article. I was surprised that the writer made no mention of the downside of using electric cars and no mention of what powers Israel’s electricity, but I did not mention the fuel importing angle. Writer makes it sound like there is no down side — environmental or other.
I certainly wish the the Israelis great success with this, and I hope that they reach a point of no dependence on foreign fuel. Perhaps solar and natrual gas will be their main sources in the future.
No, I was referring to your words. What possible/probable downside were you referring to? What did you have in mind that was different than using gasoline/diesel?
Possible downsides:
The actual cost of the electricity,
Problems with obtaining whatever fuel powers the electricity, and
Pollution from the power source. (And, if it’s coal, even higher probability)
Higher than gasoline/diesel?
Problems with obtaining whatever fuel powers the electricity
Worse than being Israel and needing to import petroleum?
Pollution from the power source
Worse than gasoline/diesel?
I certainly wish the the Israelis great success with this, and I hope that they reach a point of no dependence on foreign fuel. Perhaps solar and natural gas will be their main sources in the future.”
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Ditto here....wish them only the best.
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