Moore's Law has led us astray.

[phantom power]

There is a reason that Moore's Law works for computation and not for other technologies. Computation (and data storage) is all about patterns. Patterns of logic gates. To make a computation device faster and cheaper, all you need to do is reduce the size of the pattern. I don't want to belittle the talent and hard work of all the engineers who have made Moore's Law happen for electronics over the last 30 years, but in a sense, the problem stacked in their favor. As long as you can come up with ways to make the logic gate patterns smaller, you get all of the famous benefits of increasing speed, reduced cost and reduced power usage.

Energy production is only peripherally affected by patterns. There is no Moore's Law for energy technologies. One of the biggest blunders of the 1990s was the erroneous assumption that Moore's Law was somehow going to apply to energy, commerce, the stock market, etc. The "Wired Fallacy."

[AnotherDreamWeaver]

1. What do you think of the "Air Engine"?

Check out this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmqpGZv0YT4&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Erense%2Ecom%2F

You could pull into gas stations and "refuel" by using their compressor most folks use to inflate tires.
ADW

[phantom power]

2. Interesting. Shows up in E/E every so often. I think...

the energy density of compressed air is limiting. Clearly, that depends on how much you compress the air. I've never seen figures on how much energy they store in their tanks. How many "horsepower-hours," or kilowatt-hours, etc. If they are limited by the pressure you can get at a gas-station pump, I think they'd need rather large tanks.