Obama's New Bill

President Obama has put a new bill in act that will put money into the generation of wind and tidal power. Wind power is an alternative energy that has recently gotten more attention and has a huge amount of potential. Wave and tidal power is an area that has not recieved as much attention but is another form of energy that could make a large impact on the energy crisis. The tides are something that is constant and reliable and is provide power to costal cities. This is very important since most of our populations are located along the coast. This is an important step for the administration because of the current economy private firms are not as willing to invest there money into new technology. Until the economy turns for the better a majority of the funding is going to need to come from teh government if we really want to move from traditional power sources to renewable ones.

Going Green

The town of Greensburg in Kansas has begun to lead the way in the new green revolution that is in its infant stages of sweeping the nation. This town was destroyed by a tornado and instead of going back to the traditional life that they have always had they have made the decision to make a change. The town of 1400 has gone green make building green houses, using wind, solar and geothermal energy. The town has even built its own community wind farm that will provide power to general buildings throughout the town. The John Deer manufactor in the town has even joined in on the effort. They have built wind turbines to provide electricity and have installed lights that do not use electricity. There is a long tube that collects the light and mirrors deistribute the light. This project is relativly on the small side compared to trying to transofrm cities but it is a start. If more and more small towns start doing this hopefully more people will catch on and start to really push this new green revolution.

The New Crisis

The old saying of water water everywhere and not a drop to drink is becoming more of a reality everyday. Water is rapidly becoming the crisis of the 21st century. Here in the United States we consume about 600 liters of water per day where 50 is really only needed to sustain life. People in Africa would be lucky to consume 50 liters in Africa. It is true that water is a renewable resource and we can reverse pretty much all damage that we may cause to water. Aquifers all over the world are quickly running low and they are not able to recharge themselves. Much of the water that we are using from the aquifer is from the last ice age. For example in the plains of America we are pulling water from the Ogalla aquifer to water our crops. Because we are using so much water land subsidence is becoming prevalent. Adding more fuel to the fire is the fact that we are having droughts all over the world. We can see what can happen to farm land when there is a drought and no water for plant, the Dust Bowl of the thirties is a perfect example. This was before we were able to pull large quantise of water out of the ground then in addition to this was the drought that hit. Now that oil has been exploited companies are looking for new ways to make a profit. The new business is investing in water. Companies all over the world are buying the rights to water. They are "helping" nations with there issues of delivering water to its citizens. They over charge, have poor service and do not have the good of the environment in mind. This is a incredibly profitable business one company cleared $60 billion in one year. Fortunately we can help with the water crisis by fixing leaks, using better technology and making some sacrifices. 14 percent of water that flows through a municipal system is because of leaks, so we are paying for water that we are not even using. So if we can take care of these things and be more conscious about the water we use it can avoid a major problem.

$1000 car

A car company in Indian has developed a car that people are able to buy for $1000. Indian has over a billion poeople and most people are not able to afford a car. The problems that this issue presents is huge. the amount of emissions that would be released into the air is only going to accelerate global warming. On top of the amount of pollution that would be released is the fact that we are running out of oil. If we were to double or even triple the number of cars that are on the road we would really be in the fast lane to run out of oil. We are already behind the eight ball in terms of creating green technology and renewable resources. As nice as it would be to have everyone live as well as we do in the developed world, we can not be adding cars to our already huge problem. One part of this problem is that the company is not looking at the bigger issue of the amount of pollution being released or the fact that we are running out of oil. They need to see the damage they are causing to the enviornment and in turn all of us.

Drilling for oil today is not the answer we need to solve our energy crisis. If we are able to invest money into the development of new technology we could have a clean environment. Not only would we be green but we would be able to stop our reliance on foreign oil. This could improve our national security and allow us to spend money in other areas that need help. During the depression the government invested in the national park service to provide jobs to the public, if the government were to invest in green technology we could provide jobs to people and help jump start the economy. If we were to drill for off shore oil if would take time to retrieve the oil then transport it and refine it. In the time it would take and money spent to do all this we could be that much closer to a cleaner renewable resource. We all know that eventually we are going to run out of oil and in the past we have develop technology out of necessity, so now is definitely the time to invest in the future and improve our well being all around.

In reading Energy Myths and a Brief History of Energy I was not really sure what to think about the statements that he has made. He says that one of the myths is that there is not enough fuel in the ground to last hundreds of years. Now maybe it will not last us hundreds of years but there are still significant pockets of fuel under the surface. The reason people do not talk about them is because they are more expensive to extract then the fuel that we are pulling out of the ground right now. Canada has a huge deposit of oil under it and the Middle East still has much more fuel to extract. The reason we do not pull the oil out of the ground in Canada is because the price of oil has not reached a high enough cost for it to be cost effective. Once oil reaches a certain price then it will be cost effective to extract that oil. He also says that greenhouse gas and global warming are not bad things. Maybe not in a traditional scientific sense because it will mean the rearranging of weather patterns and things will just change and the earth will balance it self out again. But the effect it would have on society and the global economy would be huge. Countries that once had a secure food supply may no longer have that and we have seen the issues that have developed from lack of food or food security. Entire civilizations could be destroyed. The last thing that kind of bothered me was that he said that we do not need to conserve energy because energy can not be destroyed it is just altered. This is true but in a way it is kind of splitting hairs. He says that we need to conserve fuel not energy. Most people are not going to know, realize, or really care about the deference all they need to know is that they need to use less energy to help prevent a major crisis. "Conserve energy" has just been a phrase that the media has coined and it has worked for the most part. Do we really need to make that distinction is it really that important to bring that up and try and teach people a different idea? People understand that energy is what makes the world go around and that fossil fuels are the main force behind that, so they know that its fuel they have to conserve not energy. It just seems a little pointless to really have to make that distinction.

Geothermal

Geothermal technology looks appears that it could really be the power of the future. It is easy to install and requires little to no maintenance. It is more efficient then the conventional way of cooling and heating your house. My question is why has it taken so long to use this technology if it is really as great as it sounds why have I not really heard of this before a few years ago when Washington College put in the technology. Could it be a large conspiracy from the power and oil companies to try and hide this technology away. Or is it that we were just to lazy to get away from our conventional technology. Looking at the price break down its a wonder that very few people have used this technology. Very little maintenance is needed for geothermal but if there is a problem how large of an issue is it to fix it. I would imagine that it would not be a large operation to fix something on the box that is in the house, but something happened to the pipe going into the ground that could be a large problem. What would happen if the pipe had a leak you would have to drill all the way down and replace that pipe. It would be interesting to see the down side of geothermal. What kind of environmental impact would there would there be? Obviously there would be an impact from the drilling and the machines having to drill but most of that could be fixed or replaced very quickly. But would there be any impact with having a pipe in the ground, for small borrowing animals, plants roots systems, insects and other bugs? To me it looks like a great way to conserve energy and lower your power bill and should be used in all houses as much as possible.

Evaluatng consumption

Today more then ever we as a nation and a world need to evaluate the amount of things we consume whether it be food, power or material objects. Everything that we consume some how goes back to the amount of power that is needed to produce whatever it is you want or need. The amount of things that we consume here in the Untied States is unprecidented we are use to having a type of lifestyle and expect to live that way and if we dont we get upset. Now there are things that we need everyday so that we are able to survive that require energy but do we really need eight tvs in our houses each with 300 cable channels most of which you dont even use. Because we have not been able to find a resource that is renewable and does not have an impact on the environment we need to be more aware of the amount of evergy we are consuming. Currently our country is in a bit of a crisis and it is really a good time to analyze our current situation. If we are able to cut back on the amount of things that we want or need we can begin to cut back on the amount of energy that we use and thuse improve the environment.

Balance of power and conservation

I am currently writing a thesis on water conservation and how water is becoming one of the most valuable resources in the world. The use of dams for power are used all over the world and because it is a renewable resource it has done great job in cutting the use of coal. The World Bank and the IMF have proposed hundreds of dams all over the world many of which would be placed in the Amazon Basin. These dams do have there benefits but do they out weigh the negatives. As world population continues to grow the need for power increases and we cannot continue to use fossil fuels because they are finite so we find alternatives like dams. The amount of damage that these dams cause to the surrounding environment is huge and it destroys habitat and kills wild life. As we dam up these rivers we are cutting water off to people that live further down the river. This water sits behind these huge walls allowing it to evaporate and not allowing us to use it in a fashion that would benefit us in more ways. Power is something that has become a necessity and in many ways we need it to survive. But is it worth the destruction of the environment and the limiting of water to people. Many of the worlds rivers to do not even make it to the ocean any more because people diverting it, damming it or using it for various other reasons. If we were to recharge many of these rivers we would have to destroy the dams and allow the water to flow free again. Unfortunately I do not think that we can have our cake and eat it too, there are sacrifices that are going to have to be made if we are to get away from fossil fuels. I think that we will have to have some dams that destroy habitat but I do not think we need to have the amount of dams that are proposed to be built. I think that if we need wind farms and they destroy the landscape then we are just going to have to deal with it because we only have so many options to choose from. However this does not mean that we should not continue to look and explore other ways because we then may be able to have our cake and eat it too. 

Boat Travel and Wind Farms

When I had first looked at this issue I was only thinking about the proximity of the turbines to the channels that the boats would be traveling and if it would interfere with recreational boating. But when I did some more research another side of the issue emerged the problem with radar and whether or not the turbines would cause interference with the the radar. The Coat Guard funded a study that would look at the effects of the wind farms on the radar of boats. They put together three different scenarios to look at with different boats going in different directions. The main issue they were looking for was whether larger boats would be able to see smaller boats coming out of the wind farm or if the radar would be affect by the turbines not allowing the larger boats to see them. What the Coast Guard would be worried about the blades of the turbines doing would be side lobes, beam widths and ghost turbines. After the study they determined that there would not be any major problems. They also did address the proximity of the turbines saying that some of the turbines were within 400 yards of shipping channels and suggested moving the turbines to a 3 nautical mile safety zone.

Blue water wind

The use of wind power is something that will be an important part renewable energy. Putting these wind turbines off the coast of Delaware is something that could eventually make a large impact for renewable energy and on the health of the environment. It could be an industry that could really take off and provide jobs for people through out the country. In a way i can understand about the complaint about how they are an eye sore for people walking the beach, but if we want to continue to have power and help improve the environment it is a sacrifice that we will have to make. Some could argue that cities or other developments were not estatically pleasing. What use to be untouched land now has housing developments or strip malls and cities, but we continued to build these things with little to no regard about how it will look after they are built. At lest these turbines will be providing us with a very important resource. People argue that it will not provide that much power and that the wind blows its hardest during off peak hours like at night. But this is something that is still in its infence and it is continueally be dveloped even further and eventually we will be able to get the most out of every watt that we are pulling out of the wind.