Archive for March, 2009

Principle 3: Pride Leads to Captivity

Tuesday, March 31st, 2009
This is the third in a series of 5 posts in which I am trying to illustrate the basic principles of liberty.

Pride Kills Freedom

I’m not referring to the pride you have after a job well done or the pride of a *proud* parent, teacher, or coach. I’m talking about the sinful pride that keeps us from acknowledging others when things are going well. Ironically, it’s the same pride that causes us to blame others when things are going bad.

Liberty and Responsibility

Liberty is forever tied to responsibility. You can’t have one without the other. If a man is truly free then he will merit praise for his good actions but no more so than he will deserve blame for his bad actions.

Liberty is Lost in 2 Ways

  1. It is taken away.
    By whom? By prideful people (usually well connected politicians) who either seek power or think that people need to be governed and regulated into doing right, or by prideful people (usually very educated) who think they know best.
  2. It is given away.
    By whom? By people (usually average Joes like you and me) who pridefully blame others when things go wrong. We refuse to accept the responsibility that comes with freedom.

Education Example

A relatively small group of politicians, bureaucrats, and educators are busy *reforming* America’s education system while a relatively large group of American parents are saying, “I’m not responsible for my child’s education. The government is.”

The result? A piss-poor public school system that all but the most priveledged children are forced into (think opposite of freedom).

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Toyota & Mercedes are Proving that Hydrogen FC and Battery Electric are Perfect Compliments

Thursday, March 19th, 2009

I have written a couple of times about the debate between hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and battery electric (here and here). Proponents of each are busy slandering the other. Meanwhile, Toyota and Mercedes are quietly proving that the two technologies are perfect compliments.

Fuel Cell Hybrid Vehicles (FCHV)

Toyota is the world wide leader in hybrid vehicles (thanks to the Prius). They are applying what they know about gasoline-electric hybrids to make FCHVs. Take a look at this diagram:

source

Essentially, they have  replaced the gasoline engine from their hybrid drive-train with a hydrogen fuel cell. This allows for a zero emissions vehicle that has a range of over 500 miles and refuels in roughly the same amount of time it takes you and me to fill up with gasoline.

Mercedes is doing the same thing only with a bus.

But Battery Electric is 3x More Efficient Than Hydrogen!

I know, I know, but remember how Toyota is developing a plug-in version of the Prius? It’s a Prius that you charge at home, then drive 30-40 miles on 100% battery power. Doesn’t it seem reasonable that they will apply the same technology to the FCHV? Imagine! All of your quick drives use only efficient battery power charged from the grid. When you need longer range, however, the hydrogen fuel cell kicks in and provides it for you.

I think this is the most promising alternative fuel arrangement that I have seen. It has all the convenience of a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle (or gasoline for that matter) plus the efficiency of a battery electric vehicle.

Thoughts?

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Principle 2: Equality Sucks. . . . Literally

Tuesday, March 17th, 2009
This is the second in a series of 5 posts in which I am trying to illustrate the basic principles of liberty.

Making everyone more equal at the expense of the rich literally sucks the progress out of a society and ends up costing all classes, including the poor. Equality sucks!

It seems quite popular in the world of politics right now to fund political programs through taxes on the rich. The idea is that these rich people have more than they need. It won’t hurt them to be taxed a little heavier to help all the poor and struggling people. This type of policy is terribly shortsighted.

The Rich Fund Progress and Innovation

Think of a few things that were luxury items to our parents and grandparents, but now you and I enjoy them everyday:

  • Air Conditioning
  • Television (pick your version: color, digital, HD)
  • Telephones (once again take your pick: land-line, cell-phone, VOIP, satellite)
  • In-home movies (VCR, DVD, Blue-Ray, DVR, etc.)

All of these things started out as luxury items that only the rich could afford. The rich pay asinine prices for things while they are still rare, new, and novel. This isn’t a bad thing. Without even realizing it, they fund further development of these products so they become more affordable and available. Soon the products trickle their way down the classes until they become commodities enjoyed by almost everyone.

Everyone is Equal Means Society is Stagnate

Imagine the Utopia where we all earn an equal amount of money. Who would lead off in the charge for new innovations? Who would pay the outrageous amounts of money required to develop new things? No one. Income and wage equality kill a society’s progress and innovation.

The Good Kind of Equality

Not all types of equality have such negative effects. I dream of a society where everyone’s life, liberty, and property is equally protected.

It’s not bad to be rich. It is bad to take from the rich (or the poor). How can we be so disrespectful of other people’s property?

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Hydrogen Fuel Cell vs Battery Electric (the debate simplified)

Thursday, March 12th, 2009

In the world of alternative fuel vehicles there is a vicious debate over hydrogen fuel cell vs battery electric vehicles. At times it seems no less heated than John McCain vs Barack Obama (here is a small example).

Who Cares?

I strongly believe that one or both of these technologies is nearing a tipping point—a point where the technology will spread like a virus through the entire automotive industry. It will be a boom that reshapes the automotive industry similarly to the way cell-phones reshaped telecommunication. I certainly think it is worth understanding the pros, cons, and potential of each technology.

The Debate Simplified

Hydrogen and battery electric vehicles each produce great driving, zero emissions, electric vehicles. There are many arguments for and against each, but it is necessary to filter out all of the brainless rhetoric to get to the bottom of the debate.  I say brainless because there are a lot of stupid arguments about how one technology or the other is not affordable. Go figure! How many people could afford a cell-phone in 1989? Another argument that is far less stupid, but equally insignificant is that of infrastructure. Infrastructure ALWAYS follows successful products (notice how 3G technology is only available in select cities right now—if the technology proves successful, the infrastructure for it will quickly spread).

Once you get past all that, the debate is quite simple:

  • Proponents of Hydrogen: Fuel cell vehicles have longer driving range, shorter refuel time, and require no major lifestyle changes when compared to today’s gasoline vehicles. Battery electrics, on the other hand, are more limited in range, not as quick to refuel, and are a bit different to own than today’s vehicles—mostly because you have to plan time to charge them.
  • Proponents of Battery Electric: It is 3 times more efficient to produce electricity and store it in a battery than it is to convert the energy to hydrogen then back to electricity again to power the car.

h2-vs-batt

Searching for the Holy Grail

Both technologies are desperately searching for ways to overcome their shortcomings: hydrogen needs to improve its efficiency (here) while batteries need to be faster charging and have longer ranges (here and here).

Can They Compliment Each Other?

Toyota and Mercedes both seem to be proving that hydrogen fuel cells are perfect compliments to batteries. In fact, they even seem to solve each other’s weaknesses. Maybe the whole debate is a mute point? More on that soon.

Update: Click here to read Toyota and Merceds are Proving that that Hydrogen FC and Battery Electric are Perfect Compliments

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Principle 1: Stealing is Bad—Even for Barack Obama & Terrell Owens

Thursday, March 5th, 2009
This is the first in a series of 5 posts in which I am trying to illustrate the basic principles of liberty.

I want a Ferrari like Terrell Owens

I’m poor. Terrell Owens is rich (despite being unemployed). Even so, it would be wrong of me to steal from him. And, of course, it would be REALLY wrong for him to steal from me. ;-) Neither of us would ever think of taking from the other (I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt here).

What if, however, a policeman came along and said, “It really isn’t fair that T.O. gets to cruise in a Ferrari while Benton rolls in a beat up Camry.” Terrell would, of course, have a fit if the policeman took his Ferrari, so instead the officer takes Terrell’s Audi and gives it to me. Sounds great right? T.O. is still rich, and now I’m better off too. That policeman just made the world a better place.

Okay, I’ve never seen a policeman do such a thing, but what about a mayor? A governor? President of The United States?

Government

How often does the government take money from one group and give it to another? The reasons are countless: help the poor, bailout big companies, stimulate the economy, support “green” technology, etc. etc. The good intentions of these programs do not change the fact that they all rely on force. What is the difference between being forced to give and being stolen from?

Liberty is tossed out the door whenever force enters the room.

No one illustrates this principle better than Frederic Bastiat. I highly recommend his short book (it was orginally a pamphlet) The Law. Read it on pdf , or buy it for $2.49 from Amazon.

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Regenerative Shock Absorbers

Monday, March 2nd, 2009

Shock absorbers collect the energy caused by bumps in the road so your spine doesn’t have to. Conventional shock absorbers turn all that energy into heat and send it escaping into the atmosphere. Regenerative shock absorbers, by contrast, convert the energy into electricity. It can be used to charge the battery, or help power various electrical devices on the car.

A group of MIT students invented just such a shock absorber. They claim it can increase overall fuel efficiency by 10%.

Zack Anderson , senior in electrical engineering and computer sciences, holds a GenShock prototype up to a Humvee coil spring where it is installed. (Photo / Donna Coveney via mit.edu)

It will be exciting when we start to see cars that combine regenerative shocks, regenerative brakes, and solar panels—all sources of energy that conventional vehicles completely waste.

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