[XCSSA] Solar and Green events in SA

[xcssa@xcssa.org]

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On Mon, May 14, 2007 at 06:29:56PM -0500, xcssa-admin@xcssa.org wrote:

> Ahh.. kind of like the "Prius Effect" eh Charles.. ;)

=3D=3D=3D DIGRESSION ON ELECTRIC VEHICLES =3D=3D=3D

1) Electric automobiles are older than gasoline; the first electric
automobile was produced in 1881.

2) In 1900, 28% of the 4,192 automobiles produced in America were
electric.

3) The Pope Manufacturing Company built a working prototype of a
hybrid-electric vehicle in 1898, and a Belgian and French company had
commercial models the next year, beating the Prius and Insight to the
market by over a century.

4) Even if fully electric vehicles were powered by electricity
generated by coal-fired plants, they'd accelerate faster and produce
less pollution due to the higher efficiency of their motor:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_drive_mechanism

Plus, no motor oil, no fuel filters, no catalytic converters, no
mufflers.  We wouldn't need to ship it around in trucks, because we
already have a grid to distribute electricity.

BTW, if you've ever wondered why DJs always seem to use Technics 1200
turntables or knockoffs, now you know why:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct-drive_turntable

=3D=3D=3D END =3D=3D=3D

> > Alternatively, you can pay a little bit extra (currently 3 cents per
> > kWh) for Windtricity, and know that your electricity is coming from
> > wind power.
>=20
> Yeah.. I have a REAL problem with that.  Seems like a big marketing sham=
=20
> that's playing on the conscience of people who give a damn.. to pay for t=
he=20
> creation of wind systems that one never gets any financial benefit from=
=20
> (well.. except for the people SELLING that power).

Ooooh, been meaning to write on this for a while.

The late Carl Sagan estimated that if we factored in all the "foreign
aid" (bribes) and war costs, then every barrel of oil we bought would
cost twice the current price.  I'd be interested in more information
on this estimate, but please don't set me up as a defender of Sagan's
estimate - I have no idea what it is based on.  Also, according
to warresisters.org, most of the deficit is due to wartime expenditure.
Heck, the income tax was originally implemented as a way to pay for
WWI (the 16th Amendment was ratified in 1913).

Gore's plan, which I consider sensible, is simply to have the people
who use it pay for it.

Now, your first reaction may be "well that will raise energy costs for
everyone".  Not true!  In fact, quite the opposite.  Right now, half
of the cost of oil is being paid for by tax dollar.  Alternative fuels
are not cost competitive - why?  Because they're competing with
subsidized oil.  Subsidies, effectively, to the biggest, richest
multinational corporations in the world!  Now, it is true that energy
costs go into everything, but right now those who use the least energy
are paying the way for those who use the most.

Put simply, if the people who use it pay for it, then those who use
the most will have a financial incentive to use less, and the reason
why capitalism has done better than other economic systems is simply
that profit (self-interest) is the most reliable motivator of human
behavior.  Economists, investors, and financiers think almost
exclusively in dollars and cents.

The basic economic principle of capitalism is pay-for-use, and
anything else leads to less efficient markets.

=3D=3D=3D DIGRESSION ON NUCLEAR POWER =3D=3D=3D

I worked in the nuclear industry and as a military contractor, and I
can tell you that every modern submarine and aircraft carrier is
nuclear powered, and they have had, to my knowledge, no meltdowns.
The difference is that they aren't competing on cost against oil, and
so they don't end up pushing the margins of safety.

James Lovelock, known for his GAIA hypothesis, expounded in GAIA: A
New Look at Life on Earth, was a big proponent of nuclear energy.  He
wrote "I want to put it to you that the dangers of continuing to burn
fossil fuels as our main energy source are far greater and they
threaten not just individuals but civilization itself".

"Natural ecosystems can stand radiation levels of continuous radiation
that would be intolerable in a city.  The land around the failed
Chernobyl power station was evacuated because its high radiation
intensity made it unsafe for people, but this radioactive land is now
rich in wildlife, much more so that neighboring populated areas. We
call the ash from nuclear power waste and worry about its safe
disposal.  I wonder if instead we should use it as an incorruptible
guardian of the beautiful places of Earth.  Who would dare cut down a
forest which was the storage place of nuclear ash?"

There are roughly three problems with nuclear waste:

1) Some of it can't be stored compactly without risking high radiation
levels.  For example, enriched uranium and plutonium stored in "unsafe
geometries" at high density can lead to chain reactions.  They don't
generate atomic explosions unless imploded very carefully.

If stored properly (at low density), they aren't particularly
radioactive due to their long half-life.  Honestly; brazil nuts are
way more radioactive (they spend much longer in the sun).  Roughly two
thirds of the ionizing (i.e., bad) radiation we're exposed to comes
=66rom outer space, one third from medical X-rays, and a negligible
amount from other sources, unless you live near a EPA superfund site,
or were a neighbor of the Atomic Boy Scout.

2) The fissile material and byproducts are often heavy metals.  These
are generally toxic, but absorption is dependent primarily on water
solubility.  I'm going to speculate that those which are water soluble
could, in theory, be dissolved in water and allowed to slowly leak
=66rom the bottom of an unmanned tanker in deep water, trying to
reproduce the low levels of presence in nature.  Being denser than
seawater, would naturally sink, returning to the sea floor and
eventually the earth's core (especially if we pick a subduction zone
to patrol).

3) Limited fuel availability can be solved by using breeder reactors:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breeder_reactor

=3D=3D=3D END =3D=3D=3D

So whether you're green or free-market libertarian, conscience-driven
or pragmatic, pacifist or survivalist, chances are good that you'd
benefit from eliminating oil subsidies.

> When I first heard about it.. it sounded like a type of bond system... a =
kind=20
> of "buy into Windtricity, and buy into our future".. where if I bought in=
to=20
> building out the infrastructure, that I would get a lower price (in the=
=20
> future) once we're all wind powered.. But in reality.. I'm just lining so=
me=20
> banker and marketer's pockets with the $$ of my good conscience.  Not coo=
l..

I'm certain any sort of deal with energy is going to be vulnerable to
corruption and greed, simply because it's such a large amount of money.

> with nothing but a "clean=20
> conscience" to show for it..

Is your conscience for sale?  How about your soul? ;-)

> >  Then you are
> > subsidizing wind power somewhere in the country, even if not in your
> > own hometown.=20
>=20
> "Somewhere"... That doesn't exactly sound "accountable" to me Charles.

Perhaps you can get GPS coordinates of the exact windmill used.  Then
you can visit it and mark some of the electrons to make sure those are
the ones you're getting. ;-)

> FYI.. Those new compact fluorescents contain gaseous mercury... Highly to=
xic. =20

Did not know that.
--=20
"That is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange aeons even
 death may die." - H.P. Lovecraft, The Call of the Cthulhu
<URL:https://www.subspacefield.org/~travis/> -><- dharma <>< advaita
For a good time on my UBE blacklist, email john@subspacefield.org.

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