From Disneyland on the Potomac another ill conceived environmental bill, the "American Clean Energy and Security Act" which will virtually guarantee that global carbon dioxide (CO2) levels increase at faster rate. In the process we will also eliminate over 3 million American jobs.
President Obama has chosen to placate his left wing base by promoting the "Waxman-Markey global warming bill" over his stated goal of creating new jobs. A
study by Charles River Associates concluded that if Obama signs off on this Congressional proposal to reduce CO2 emissions, it would have a serious impact on the availability and cost of energy. "By 2025, just 16 years from now, the cost of natural gas would rise 56%, electricity 44% and motor fuel 19%. Annual household purchasing power would annually decline by…
Continue reading | 12 Comments
How much confidence do we have in the science?
Researchers use the scientific method to search for cause and effect relationships. This method requires that a
hypothesis be constructed. Scientists then design an appropriate well-controlled experiment to test that hypothesis. The results must be statistically significant and reproducible in order to be considered valid. There are a number of techniques that can be used to enhance the objectivity of a study as well as increase its statistical reliability.
In prospective medical research for example, we often use double blind, placebo controlled studies so that neither the researcher nor the patient knows if they are receiving the active drug or a placebo. This eliminates observer bias. Some times we cross the patient's over, so that the same patient takes both the active…
Continue reading | 13 Comments
What a waste, spewing valuable carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere.
The wonders we could create with this fundamental building block of life. Worse still, government bureaucrats with their limited intellectual toolbox want to treat this incredibly useful natural material as a harmful pollutant and tax it. Imagination, have we American's lost our capacity to think and innovate? Have we become mindless automatons who only see gloom and doom and ignore the opportunities right in front of our eyes? Carbon dioxide (CO2) doesn't have to be a tax on society; there are countless ways it could be turned into useful products for the betterment of mankind. Let's examine a few:
Back to basics -it's sophomore year in high school and it's the biology class that environmental scientists seem to have slept through…
Continue reading | 9 Comments
Only one industrial country in the world has significantly reduced its carbon footprint, and that country is France. France, the sixth largest economy in the world, ranks 15th in
carbon dioxide emissions, behind pre-industrial economies like Iran and Indonesia. France has simultaneously, reduced its dependence on foreign sources of fossil fuels, coal, natural gas and oil. While we dither with small-scale experimental intermittent technologies like
solar and
wind in the United States, France has gone nuclear and clean. In 2008
wind and solar accounted for 1.1% of US energy needs and even if we meet President Obama's objective of doubling the amount by 2012, its contribution will still be inconsequential. In the best-case scenario for wind and solar, they might together generate 20%-25% of our clean…
Continue reading | 4 Comments
Heat from the Earth, or
geothermal - Geo (Earth) + thermal (heat) - energy can be readily accessed by drilling water or steam wells in a process similar to drilling for oil. Domestic geothermal energy is an enormous, and underused heat and power resource that emits little or no greenhouse gases. Mile-or-more-deep wells can be drilled into underground reservoirs to tap steam and very hot water that can be brought to the surface for use in a variety of applications. In the U.S most geothermal reservoirs are located in the western states, Alaska, and Hawaii. About 8,000 megawatts of electricity are currently produced globally including about 3,000 megawatts of capacity in the United States. The
US Department of Energy believes that an additional 15,000 megawatts of geothermal electricity…
Continue reading | 6 Comments
Coal, which is by far the dirtiest fossil fuel, generates half of the electricity in the United States and 82% of the carbon dioxide emissions created by power production. Since it is abundant and cheap, it is likely to continue to play a major role in electricity generation for the foreseeable future. In the rhetoric of its champions, The United States is the Saudi Arabia of coal. Despite the introduction of
wind,
solar and other clean technologies, the
Department of Energy in its Annual Energy Outlook 2008 projects a small, 0.03% annual increase, in coal utilization through 2015. Surprisingly, maybe shockingly, they expect that growth rate to accelerate to 1% from 2015 to 2030 unless there are restrictions on carbon dioxide emissions or new clean technology…
Continue reading | 3 Comments
The key to producing less carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels is to use the fuel with the lowest carbon to hydrogen ratio. Coal is the least desirable because there are roughly 2 carbons for each hydrogen; oil is cleaner because it has the inverse ratio of approximately one carbon for 2 hydrogen molecules; and best of all is
methane (CH4), with 4 hydrogen molecules for each carbon molecule. Although
natural gas is primarily methane, it does contain, some longer chain hydrocarbons such as ethane, propane, butane, pentane etc. that make it slightly less desirable than pure methane. Thus, the reduction in
carbon dioxide emissions when natural gas is substituted for gasoline in an automobile is about 25-30%.
Fossil Fuel Emission Levels
- Pounds per Billion… Continue reading | 6 Comments
Wind is actually a form of solar energy. The uneven heating of the atmosphere by the sun combined with the irregularities of the earth's surface and the rotation of the planet creates wind. The terrain, bodies of water and vegetation modify wind flow patterns, making a small percentage of the earth surface suitable for wind power development. In spite of the fact that only 6% of the contiguous United States land mass can be considered "good wind areas" the Department of Energy estimates that this area could conceivably produce 150% of our current electricity needs. Wind is also the only low-priced renewable energy technology; the projected cost is between $.04 and $.06 per kilowatt-hour making it competitive with natural gas and coal-fired power plants.
Physicists tell us that energy can neither
Continue reading | 16 Comments
