Hi Galen and Alan B.

On Thorium powered vehicles, be they scooters, wheelchairs, cars and trucks.

See http://youtu.be/oBhEBpECwv0?t=3m34s about the Ford Nucleon. Thorium is mentioned for the Cadillac from 4 minuts 5 seconds. Note, weight of shielding, weight, insurance costs and radiation spills and exposure in case of crashes.

Nothing like adding ruptured fission engines, with consequent radiation spills, to the hundreds of daily crashes here in Oz.

Pete

Thorium is less radioactive than a banana.

Thorium is fertile, not fissile and therefore not able to produce as is, compression caused nuclear reaction or thermonuclear explosion.

As I understand the Chinese experiment, it uses laser beams to excite the thorium molecule, releasing energy that is transformed within the radiation-proof football sized container, to electricity? It is not a nuclear reactor! Works very differently

I don't understand how. Or any catalytic reaction!

Given if I did, I'd build one and install it in your Tesla wheelchair. For a suitable fee.

Pete, if you don't understand the science, suggest you keep your mouth closed and have the world merely suspect you are a fool or loveable clown than open your mouth and remove all doubt?

On another note, ceramic fuel cells do not burn methane, but rather process it in a chemical reaction that is most easily explained as the reverse of electrolysis, where electricity decomposes water to produce its constituent gases.

The cell works to combine the hydrogen atoms in methane with O2 to produce pristine water vapour and on demand, flick of a switch electricity, plus endless free hot water. As shown in a trial in Victoria some years ago. And a chemical reaction, not CO2 producing combustion.

Yes, there is a small amount of CO2 released by the process. And able to be scrubbed out in vacuumed water. Say treated effluent? And then geosequestered by the broad scale farm production of oil-rich algae. which as a farmed crop uses only 2% of traditional irrigation.

Would massively improve the health of the Murray and all those who rely on farming enterprises in the basin for their economic well being. If we replaced cotton and rice production with algae sourced biodiesel and jet fuel.

Algae can be up to 69% oil and under optimised growing conditions double their bodyweight every 24 hours.

Even so and very possible using only treated effluent. to completely replace all irrigation incomes and all who depend on same, except seed merchants, to massively improve their own personal economic outcomes and prospects.
Alan B.

Holland is flat, lots of bikes; solution, flatten the hills in your area and the rest will follow.

Yes Is Mise, most of Oz is far from Amsterdam flat.

I am an area coordinator for our local Rural watch. One of my duties is to deliver our news letter monthly in my area, with almost 8 kilometres of roads.

On one occasion for some reason I had no car at home, so jumped on the bike my youngest daughter had bought to use for exercise. As a car driver I had not really noticed how undulating my district is. I realised it with in a kilometre, & at the top of a long down hill run to the main road, decided there was no way I could ride the thing back up it, & went home.

I had to push the infernal contrivance about a third of the way home, as said undulations were too much for these old legs. While pushing it up one hill I realised that the daughter had only taken the thing for a ride about 4 times, before abandoning it in a shed. You have to have rocks in your head to want to commute on one of the things.

Hasbeen, I couldn't agree more.
I weigh in at around 135kg's, can you imagine the extent of visual pollution I would be creating if I even tried to get on one of these things.
And all the grunting and groaning and cursing whoever invented the damn things.
The whole idea is so foreign to me, I can't begin to imagine ANYONE riding a damn bike, powered or not.
I actually have an electric bike, purchased on a whim and a prayer.
Never used it, too uncomfortable.
With all the cars I have it seems ridiculous to even consider a bicycle.
As others have pointed out, they are a morons folly.
There are so many reasons why one should NOT ride a bicycle, powered or not, I don't think I need elaborate.
We have enough trouble avoiding these idiots now, can you imagine what it would be like if we allowed any more of them to slow down traffic, even further.
Powered or not, they belong to the children and that's where they should be left, not on the road mixing it with much bigger and faster vehicles.
I will accept three and four wheelers, powered with either electricity of fossil fuel, but ALL forms of two wheelers have to go, or at least off the main arteries/highways and be relegated to the backstreets, if not for their own safety, but for EVERYONE'S good or benefit.

Hasbeen,

You need a bike with lots of gears, then when the going gets tough you can go down to a gear that lets you proceed uphill at a pace slower than you can walk!!