[chuck8088]

Sorry for the horribly off-topic post, but as a car enthusiast, nitrous used to be one of the cheapest ways to make your car faster. However, recent price fluctuations (and making sure nitrous is reserved for medical uses first), along with the advent of a market flooded with cheap turbos from China, have made nitrous not worth the investment.

One promising technology that may gain some traction is compressed air [https://casupercharging.com/]. It's still a forced induction method and relatively simple to install compared to procharging or supercharging. That said, forced air has some major drawbacks — a very large tank, for one.

[nradov]

There's no real need to reserve nitrous oxide for medical (including dental) use. It's not a scarce natural resource or anything and can be manufactured cheaply from commodity inputs. Medical use has been steadily declining due to concerns over side effects and availability of superior alternatives for anesthesia.

[gcanyon]

> superior alternatives for anesthesia

Two of my kids were born using nitrous as anesthesia. This was years ago in San Diego, CA. I very clearly remember leaning in to my struggling wife and trying to motivate her: "Honey, remember, you need to breathe for the nitrous to work. Don't just hold your breath and bear down. You've got to breathe."