On American energy independence

"There is enough wind West of the Mississippi to supply three times the amount of power you currently use." --Dr. Helen Caldicott on American electrical power and possible energy independence. Link here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAKZGse5SCw&feature=relmfu; Information here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Helen_Caldicott

The future?

The best thing about this possible future? That we'd have photovoltaic cells all over our homes, commercial buildings and even our cars so we'd create our own, clean electricity and hopefully either shrink tremendously or do away with commerical power plants and the mining and burning of coal, among other things. The worst thing about it? We'll have an attention span of the tsetse fly.

Got satire?

At once funny and sick at the same time.

Imagine: A replacement solution for power plants and energy

As John Lennon said, let's imagine:

--Imagine there is a solution for getting away from burning coal, digging and mining for it

--Imagine there is a way to get away from power plants

--Imagine there's a way to cut down on our pollution

--Imagine there's a way to stop paying a monthly price for power

--Imagine there's a way to use our current office buildings and houses windows to create the electrical power we need

--Imagine, further, that we could use the windows on our cars to do the same--to generate the electricity to run our clean, electric cars

It may be here sooner than we think:

Green: Transparent Photovoltaic Cells Turn Windows Into Solar Panels

Quote of the day--on government and lessons we could learn

The private company that sent those men down thousands of feet to dig for copper and gold could not possibly have funded and organized the rescue operation. So it was taken over by the government of Chile.
--James Herrenan, The Huffington Post, "How a Government Takeover Saved 33 Lives"


Link to original post:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-heffernan/how-a-government-takeover_b_763017.html

And now for something completely similar...

(With apologies to Monty Python's creators for appropriating their line).

Now, the latest energy news:

HOUSTON (Reuters) – A natural gas pipeline exploded in north Texas on Monday afternoon, CNN reported.

The blast was originally thought to be an oil well explosion.

An electrical crew was digging a hole when it struck the gas pipeline, an emergency services spokesman in Hood County, Texas, said.

WFAA-TV, the Dallas/Fort Worth station, reported three people were dead and 10 were unaccounted for after the blast.

People dying in large numbers in China, in coal mine explosions and collapses.

People dying in record numbers here, in the US, in the same.

An oil well explosion and leak in the Gulf of Mexico, creating the biggest natural disaster ever.

And now this.

Mind you, this last one is small (unless you're one of the 3 dead or one of their family or friends) but what is it going to take to point us all, as a nation--if not as a world--that we need to invest heavily in the far safer, cleaner and so, smarter solar power, particularly with photovoltaic cells?

If we all have these on our businesses and homes, along with new and better battery technology which, from what I understand is coming along pretty well, all things considered, we would need far less energy companies since we could create a lot of our own power through a calendar year.

Our air would be far cleaner. We would pollute far less, having gotten rid of coal, the transportation of coal and the burning of fossil fuels.

We could also, then, switch the jobs from out of coal mines with their requisite coal dust and health problems for the miners, to much better, cleaner jobs, perhaps installing the solar cells or some other, better, cleaner work.

Is it easy?

Certainly not.

Can we do it overnight?

Again, no way.

But do we need to do it?

I think we all know the answer to that is a resounding "yes".

And it would be "something completely different..."

Link to original post:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100607/us_nm/us_natgas_blast_texas

Quote for the day

By E.J. Dionne

Ever heard the one about the guy who hated government until a deregulated Wall Street crashed, an oil spill devastated the Gulf of Mexico, a coal mine collapsed, and some good police work stopped a terrorist attack?

Link to original post:
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/will_we_keep_hating_government_20100506/