dagblog - Comments for "GOP in the HOR - Renewable Energy is Anti-Energy! Whaaaat????"

We are being outspent by

tmccarthy0 — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 21:38:58 +0000

In reply to They ain't after your sanity,

We are being outspent by China by the EEU and so many other nations in the area of renewable energies. But we the people are allowing it to happen, people would rather center on Weiner's weiner rather than the real issues that impact the entire nation and the world. How many blogs and columns talk about Weiner, how many people know that the HOR Republicans want to kill NREL? Everywhere I go, now on Gawker I expect the main topic to be Weiner's weiner, but unfortunately it it everywhere. Certainly news organizations by and large are not covering this topic, I sure don't see it at FDL, KOS, or msnbc, cnn, nbc news, abc news or cbs news. But you know what they are covering today, Sarah Palin's emails. Okay, now I am officially being driven crazy....

Open Secrets tracks some of

tmccarthy0 — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 21:26:00 +0000

In reply to Why sell your soul for such a

Open Secrets tracks some of these things Dick, that is where I obtained the information. We know why they do it though, don't we, that money helps them get reelected for the rest of their lives. And I would not have an argument against that if they voted in the best interest of the population, as opposed to voting and crafting legislation that benefits those particular industries. Strike that, those industries are allowed to craft legislation now, soooooooo... given that fact, maybe there should a movement to outlaw lobbyists from crafting and contributing to crafting legislation.

They ain't after your sanity,

jollyroger — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 21:17:13 +0000

In reply to @Jollyroger, I might agree

They ain't after your sanity, nor mine. We are collateral damage...#the price of madness

I am now going to apparently

cmaukonen — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 21:11:19 +0000

In reply to I am a big believer in

I am now going to apparently contradict the above. We need to pursue these alternative forms of energy for this reason.

The only reason that oil and gas are still viable is because they can still be retrieved in massive quantities. Once this is no longer the case, their economic viability decreases markedly. It is not practical from a financial point of view to retrieve either in small quantities since the initial costs and over head of doing so keeps going up. And this will happen far sooner than the oil and gas itself will be used up.

And atomic energy has already reached this point. Believe me the power companies have been paying very close attention to what has been going on with the TEPCO plants in Japan. Which is why they have been shying away themselves from atomic power. It's simply far too expensive to build them in a manner that is safe enough to prevent an accident and the financial consequence of an accident make them very unattractive.

@Jollyroger, I might agree

tmccarthy0 — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 21:05:51 +0000

In reply to Those whom the gods would

@Jollyroger, I might agree with you, but I don't let them drive me mad. By writing and informing people about some of the other issues out there that matter I not only feel better, but I think maybe at least one or two people might take that information and pass it on and take some action themselves and that is how we make change, by being active. At least that is what I think.

Why sell your soul for such a

Richard Day — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 20:57:39 +0000

In reply to GOP in the HOR - Renewable Energy is Anti-Energy! Whaaaat????

Why sell your soul for such a small amount of money?

And you supposedly would not even pocket the money since it goes into a campaign chest.

Unless your wife or son is receiving some executive job worth a million?

Or two years later you quit and join the 'firm'?

Does anybody track these things?

I am a big believer in

cmaukonen — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 20:50:26 +0000

In reply to GOP in the HOR - Renewable Energy is Anti-Energy! Whaaaat????

I am a big believer in alternative energy. Especially since I HATE POWER UTILITIES nearly as much as I hate banks.

The biggest problem with alternative energy though, is efficiency. Photovoltaics as you can see in this chart have a maximum efficiency of around 48% not bad. But look at the spectrum utilization. We still do not have potovoltaic cells that work well in the ultraviolet region. Necessary for cloudy and overcast days.

The other problem is with transmission, which with our current system of high voltage 60Hz is very inefficient for most forms of alternative power.You have to convert the DC power that you get with photovoltaics to this AC power and that waists energy in the form a heat and magnetic losses - heat again.

Of course you can have individual alternative power sources but you still have the same problems since all our electronic, heating, cooling, cooking etc. is designed for 120/240 volt 60Hz power.

You either have to convert the DC or redesign the devices themselves. Then you also need batteries. The most economical of which are still lead acid types which require maintenance. And periodic replacement which means what to to with the acid and the lead.

Their are other batteries being developed that are more efficient and smaller but they too use materials that need to be disposed of or recycled carefully.

It will eventually happen but the big factor is the time needed to make it affordable to the masses, not just those that are well fixed.

Consider the automobile. It was available for a long time but did not take off until Henry Ford and others made it affordable to the masses.

Wind power is great but it has it's problems as well. Like turning our feathered friends into to puree of feathered friends. You also need wind and it does not always blow. They are also noisy. All stuff that makes them less attractive.

There was great interest in fuel cells a while back but that has faded as the reality of acquiring the hydrogen necessary is energy intensive. Plus storage and the hazards there of.

In short there ain't no free lunch. All these need to be explored further but will take time to mature.

Just a heads up.

Those whom the gods would

jollyroger — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 20:22:47 +0000

In reply to GOP in the HOR - Renewable Energy is Anti-Energy! Whaaaat????

Those whom the gods would destroy, they first drive mad...