tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8695598.post112171575181666642..comments2023-12-17T19:35:07.459-08:00Comments on Bouphonia: A Sustainable EmpirePhilahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15849261651028725772noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8695598.post-56788608462626387032007-08-14T06:47:00.000-07:002007-08-14T06:47:00.000-07:00I believe that Solar energy is the source of all e...I believe that Solar energy is the source of all energy on the earth (excepting volcanic geothermal). Wind, wave and fossil fuels all get their energy from the sun. Fossil fuels are only a battery which will eventually run out. The sooner we can exploit all forms of Solar energy (cost effectively or not against dubiously cheap FFs) the better off we will all be. If the battery runs out first, the survivors will all be living like in the 18th century again.And I think that this is a good start for the idea of a technology that can be improved with an excellent promising future. Because if we can use the sun as a source of energy for a cleaner and healthier environment why not use it. And by the way the entire earth will thank to those innovative people.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8695598.post-1122064932611176072005-07-22T13:42:00.000-07:002005-07-22T13:42:00.000-07:00I'm glad you liked the postBut praise won't get yo...I'm glad you liked the post<BR/>But praise won't get you any more<BR/>My head swelled LONG ago. ;-)Engineer-Poethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06420685176098522332noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8695598.post-1122063512253582372005-07-22T13:18:00.000-07:002005-07-22T13:18:00.000-07:00E-P,I don't disagree. Again, I'm not by any means ...E-P,<BR/><BR/>I don't disagree. Again, I'm not by any means arguing against alternative energy. On the contrary, arguing <I>for</I> it is one of the main reasons I'm here!<BR/><BR/>You make a good, plausible case. I'm not <I>quite</I> as optimistic, because I see too many other potential conflicts for people whose entire <I>raison d'etre</I> is conflict. And I do still think that any source of alternative energy must be as decentralized as possible. But we seem to agree on the main points here. <BR/><BR/>I'm just wary of the assumption that if the petroleum-based economy has led to global exploitation, an alternative energy economy will turn things around simply by <I>not</I> being petroleum-based. That may be the end result - I hope it will! - but I'm not sure it'll just happen naturally, without considerable grassroots pressure.<BR/><BR/>Anyway, thanks for your comments! I don't know of any discussion that couldn't benefit from the views of an engineer-poet!Philahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15849261651028725772noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8695598.post-1122061199905684752005-07-22T12:39:00.000-07:002005-07-22T12:39:00.000-07:00Ah, I misread that.On the other hand, new sources ...Ah, I misread that.<BR/><BR/>On the other hand, new sources of energy would get rid of many of the reasons we support things we'd rather not. This is true for many resources; if carbon nanotubes get cheap enough, we won't need much copper for wires nor aluminum for light structures. Had copper been marginally relevant, we wouldn't have cared about Allende.<BR/><BR/>We wouldn't have to support any inimical ME governments or protect shipping if we didn't need oil. I'm sure that Bush & Co. see their role as protecting American society from the damage an energy cutoff would do to it, but we are <I>so close</I> to being able to replace those sources and making those regimes irrelevant that it's a sin not to do so.<BR/><BR/>The aftermath is something else again. When oil becomes a low-value commodity in shrinking supply, will Saudi Arabia come to resemble Singapore, or Zimbabwe? If it falls apart in tribal violence, I doubt that we will put ourselves in the middle no matter how many people are dying. In a way, our self-interest is their salvation.Engineer-Poethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06420685176098522332noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8695598.post-1122058167853408072005-07-22T11:49:00.000-07:002005-07-22T11:49:00.000-07:00Engineer-Poet,I think you are indeed missing somet...Engineer-Poet,<BR/><BR/>I think you are indeed missing something. No one here said anything about squandering sunlight. I'm not sure where you got that idea.<BR/><BR/>For the record, I agree with you. We ought to convert everything we can to solar power and other forms of renewable energy. That's a given.<BR/><BR/>The topic of this post is whether doing so is likely to change America's global and domestic misuse of political and military power, or simply make it more energy-efficient.Philahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15849261651028725772noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8695598.post-1122053959920008402005-07-22T10:39:00.000-07:002005-07-22T10:39:00.000-07:00I'm sorry, I must be missing something here. ...I'm sorry, I must be missing something here. How exactly do you squander an energy resource like the sunlight falling on your roof?<BR/><BR/>The latest is that plastic PV cells with a lifespan of 30 months can now be made for $15/m^2. The report stated efficiency from 0.2% to 5%, with no specifics stated. However, at the 5% efficiency and that price those cells would generate electricity at much less than peak electric rates in most of the USA, and less than the average in California.<BR/><BR/>It looks to me like <I>not</I> using this is squandering it.Engineer-Poethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06420685176098522332noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8695598.post-1122007169179300772005-07-21T21:39:00.000-07:002005-07-21T21:39:00.000-07:00Terrific post, RMJ, which I wish I'd read before w...Terrific post, RMJ, which I wish I'd read before writing this one!<BR/><BR/>You're correct that I don't see solar power as a solution, per se. I do suspect that if we'd devoted real money and time to it over the last century, it'd quite possibly be very far along now. And if we'd built according to passive solar principles, and used active solar power for certain things, we'd have a lot more oil in the ground than we do now. In 1897, 30% of the homes in Pasadena, CA had solar water heating. By the early 1940s, more than half the population of Florida used solar water heaters. If we'd kept on that path, and refined the technology over the intervening decades, I think it could've made a real difference. Of course, not fighting in Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq could've made a huge difference, too. <BR/><BR/>But at this point, I suspect that it wouldn't buy us much more time even if we switched everything we could over to renewable energy. That said, I think a sane culture would be obliged to make the attempt regardless of its likely outcome.<BR/><BR/>In this post, though, I'm much more concerned about what it means to change technology without changing attitudes. I'm afraid that a lot of people see green power as something that is itself inimical to tyranny or bad governance. I don't think there's a whole lot of evidence for that position. More likely, any new energy source we come up with will be turned to the same reprehensible ends for which we squandered thousands of millions of barrels of oil.Philahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15849261651028725772noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8695598.post-1122000012000635482005-07-21T19:40:00.000-07:002005-07-21T19:40:00.000-07:00I had something at Adventus about this (too lazy t...I had something at Adventus about this (too lazy to dredge up the link. Wait; no, I'm not! <A HREF="http://rmadisonj.blogspot.com/2005/07/hard-rains-gonna-fall.html" REL="nofollow"> Here it is!</A><BR/><BR/>Which I will let stand for most of what I have to say on the topic. Bottom line: "cheap energy" has been a fluke, not a birthright. We burned (no pun intended, but....!) through oil even faster than wood or coal, but the (not saying you had this notion) idea that "another energy source" will be found to continue us on our way of transmuting energy into technology (what is most of what we call "technology" now except ways to convert energy to our convenience?) is, well, it's Pollyannaish.<BR/><BR/>At best. At worst, it's willful ignorance.<BR/><BR/>More and more, I'm convinced that we're simply whistling past the graveyard on this one. Solar power may do some things, but it's not gonna power bulldozers.<BR/><BR/>Just sayin'.....<BR/><BR/><BR/>Okay, I'll go back and finish reading your excellent post now. This topic has just been much on my mind of late, as the light at the end of the energy tunnel is the tracks running out of the side of the mountain....<BR/><BR/><BR/>....into the valley, far, far below.Rmjhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06811456254443706479noreply@blogger.com