I read my father in law your comments on his energy suggestions. He agreed generally and chimed in with Leila Abu-Saba on conservation–says that when his dryer broke down he did fine drying his clothes on the shower curtain– and agreed with Richard Witty's analysis of the big usage issues here.
He's been walking around scribbling down his 30 measures. Here are 3 of them:
1. Home heating conservation: curtains, clotheslines, shutters–great. If you turn off the dryer in your dishwasher, you are shutting down a very powerful element that sucks a lot of energy just to get your dishes dried in 10 minutes.
2, Enforce the 55 mile per hour speed limit. The savings would be tremendous. I said That would be a hard one, because cars are so well made and everyone's in such a hurry, they've gotten used to going 70 and 80 on I-95. My father-in-law countered that the key is to have the federal government monitor states' compliance here. Like the feds would go in and test speeds on a state's highways and if they were too high, it would penalize the state financially. The state would start enforcing the speed limits.
3, "But the most obvious measure, the slam-dunk," my father-in-law says, is to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling. I objected, and he got exasperated with me. "The caribou like the pipeline," he said, "it's warm." I said, we don't know the consequences to wildlife of everything we do, look what's happened to polar bears with global warming."
My father in law said, "I can't talk to you about this. You will have objections to drilling in Alaska and John will have objections to the 55 MPH speed limit. So nothing will be done. I can only talk to people who are intelligent and logical. Everyone has an objection to one measure or another. And we don't do any of them because they got knocked out by interest groups. We have to do all of them if we are going to avoid a catastrophe that is comparable to losing World War II."
Related posts:
- My Father-in-Law Has a List of 30 Immediate Measures to Avert the Energy Catastrophe
- In Indiana, Obama Dreams Not of His Father
- Rahm Emanuel’s Father Was in Jewish Terrorist Organization
- Between Father and Son: The Shaving Covenant
- Netanyahu’s father says Bibi doesn’t want a Palestinian state, and acted to assure that outcome
{ 7 comments }
There is no supply solution to the question. Drilling in the Arctic would supply a relatively small amount of the world's oil demand as would offshore drilling.
It definitely should NOT be done until conversation is thoroughly pursued.
We're addicts you know. We don't need additional drug mules to solve our problem.
Phil,
Your father is also very knowledgable about energy issues.
Until my cousin's wedding, maybe 10 years ago, I really hadn't talked with your father much. At the time I was business manager of a not-for-profit that put on conferences on sustainable building and transportation and renewable energy.
We talked about the prospects of wind, hydrogen based economy from solar and wind hydrolysis, even about some of the prominent people involved, whom he knew.
I'm thrilled FIL likes my comments. I thought we were on the same page…
Re: Dr. Nocera at MIT and the new solar technology, referenced on the previous thread. My friend and reader Alison Chaiken, a PH.D. in physics from MIT, says that while the solar cell innovation is very promising, it will require a lot of cobalt, which is expensive and in short supply. Save your old hard disk drives, she says.
Tell your FIL to watch this series. And take what he says about oil in the arctic very very seriously…that would be the first 20 minutes or so; I cannot vouch for the rest. I can for the beginning. My family was involved in that discovery that was capped. (There were four.) Mr. Williams was ordered to STFU in June 2008, specifically about the info in the last parts, so this is the only place where you can hear this now. Williams has returned to his ministry.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbakN7SLdbk
with any luck we'll get another 4-8 years of Republicans and we'll all be able to warm ourselves over the bonfires of books related to global warming, history, philosophy, scientific endeavor et cetera et cetera
This is all bullshit.
Drilling in Alaska – driving 55mph – bullshit.
The key is to have people in government who are not tied to the oil cartels, who don't make millions off the USA's (and global) dependence on oil.
Step one would be that – after that it will be easier.
I am somewhat of an optimist on this – give government grants to our universities; reward R&D for oil/energy substitutes.
That's the way.
Ere you go, fellas.
Now drive 80mph in your new low usage car, 200miles per gallon.
Re Dr. Nocera, cont'd:
Cobalt prices have been skyrocketing for three years, owing to many high tech uses such as in rechargeable batteries. Even at the current futures’ price, US $50 per pound, however, there would not be a significant adverse effect on Dr. Nocera’s projected economies for his new system. Also, there is a question of whether his system, as currently developed, actually employs any platinum in fuel cell anodes or in any other components or water catalysts. But, his whole pitch is contested from top to bottom by this oil-industry source (warning: this source could be using disinformation to help bring about political delays):
http://www.theoildrum.com/node/4378
As for the price of cobalt, this source seems incontestable:
http://www.mineweb.com/mineweb/view/mineweb/en/page36?oid=43655&sn=Detail
There so much pie-in-the-sky hype concerning energy – Boone Pickens has a huge ballyhoo going for natural gas (in which, naturally, he has huge investments). It’s probably worth looking at a few excerpts from a millennial book about Geoffrey Ballard as a case in point; consider this book review from January 2000:
Powering the Future: The Ballard Fuel Cell and the Race to Change the World
By Tom Koppel
Reviewed by Teresa McUsic
FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM
…If the skeptic in you is wondering where these cars with Ballard fuel cells are and where this compressed hydrogen will come from, consider this: DaimlerChrysler has a prototype car on the road in Germany and plans to put fuel cell cars on the market by 2004, along with Toyota and General Motors…
Now 35 percent owned by DaimlerChrysler and Ford, Ballard Power Systems stock is up tenfold in the last three years. Daimler and Ballard also agreed to create a separate company called Ballard Automotive that would be owned jointly and would market the fuel cells and fuel cell engines. Although Ballard is a millionaire several times over, money may be the least of his interests. As he told students graduating from the University of Victoria, British Columbia: "Do not be patient. All things do not come to those who wait. Challenge the normal. Question conventional wisdom …. Dare to be in a hurry to change things for the better." [end excerpts]
The timeline for fuel cell cars is still way ahead, although there is a gas station in Irvine, CA, where 200 fuel cell cars sold by Toyota can refuel with hydrogen, such cars running over six figures in price. What happened to the much-trumpeted Vancouver fuel cell by Ballard? I have to think money and politics wedged in there, beginning with the sale of 35% of the company stock.
–
Aloha ~~~ Ozzie Maland ~~~ San Diego
Comments on this entry are closed.