Quote:
Originally Posted by WT Sharpe
Yes. I was thinking of the old steam locomotives and the immense amounts of thick black smoke they produced from all the coal they burned to produce the steam. Is there a more environmentally-friendly way to produce steam that's economically viable as well? And what about safety? Could auto collisions release life-and-limb endangering amounts of steam?
|
There are all kinds of less-environmentally-damaging energy sources to use to heat water to steam... including electricity, natural gas, wax and gel fuels of various consistencies. However, the threat of steam escaping from an accident is real--superheated steam is sometimes invisible, and it can potentially kill--and one of the chief reasons steam-powered cars were never popular (though I'm not aware of specific accidents that earned them a bad rep).
Then again, gas-powered cars can catch fire, and even explode (not like on TV, but still), and that didn't keep them off the road. And modern tech can surely devise a buffer of sorts to diffuse the escaping steam to a good extent. Bottom line, I don't think steam safety concerns are enough of a reason to keep steam-powered cars off the road.