A Smart Way Forward

This candidate,  Dave Peiser, is running for Congress in the 49th District in California.  He put out this advertisement on YouTube and it's extremely hopeful, by my way of thinking. As usual, California is ahead of the rest of the nation when it comes to nature and this shows just how much, at this point:

Clean, renewable, sustainable energy, winning locally

As the Sierra Club points out

Known for being the hometown of President Harry S. Truman, the city of Independence is now leading the shift to cleaner energy in Missouri - eliminating coal power by 2016 and tripling its clean energy goals.


As Independence, Missouri's own Examiner newspaper covered the story:

Council solidifies renewable energy goals

With a resolution Monday, City Council threw its support behind a future of increased renewable electric energy in Independence.

The resolution, introduced by Council Member Scott Roberson, identifies the Council’s goals regarding renewable energy and provides direction to the city manager for policies and programs related to that.

“This gives a whole new direction to energy in Independence,” Roberson said during the end-of-meeting comments. “Leon Daggett at Power & Light, the city manager, all of us have working really well together on this.

“I think this will bring all sorts of new possibilities.”

The resolution states the Council’s goal to have 10 percent of IPL’s energy supplied by sources that are not carbon-based (coal and natural gas) by the year 2018, which would conform to a state standard for investor-based utilities; as well as to increase that goal to 15 percent by 2021.

It also notes the city’s recent conversion of its streetlamps to LED lights, as well as future plans to remodel an office building for IPL’s administrative offices.

The resolution directs City Manager Robert Heacock to:

• Assure the new IPL offices are designed to minimize energy use and incorporate renewable energy.

• Develop a feasibility study for options such as solar, wind and geothermal energy at city-owned facilities.

• Develop a study to evaluate incentives and sustainable programs regarding renewable energy that can be provided to customers.

• Provide a status report by November on those projects.

• Do a rate study for residential, commercial and industrial customers, including provisions for renewable energy programs, and report back to the Council by May 2015.

Other directions include shutting down the coal-fired Missouri City Power Plant and phasing out coal at the Blue Valley Power Plant by January 2016 – both plans that have been in the works – and producing a report by next July outlining options and costs for disposing the Missouri City plant.

It's enough to give a person hope.

Great solar energy news out of California

Just as I'd hoped and written about here, earlier:

How your windows could be the future of electricity: Scientists create transparent solar panels out of 'glass-like' plastic

"...researchers developed a new transparent solar cell which means windows in homes and other buildings can have the ability to generate electricity while still allowing people to see outside.

The University of California, Los Angeles team describes a new kind of polymer solar cell (PSC) that produces energy by absorbing mainly infrared light, making the cells nearly 70 per cent transparent to the human eye.

They made the device from a photo-active plastic that converts infrared light into an electrical current.

"'These results open the potential for visibly transparent polymer solar cells as add-on components of portable electronics, smart windows and building-integrated photovoltaics and in other applications,' said study leader Yang Yang, a UCLA professor of materials science and engineering."

Here's one of the most important, additional features:

"'Our new PSCs are made from plastic-like materials and are lightweight and flexible,' he said. 'More importantly, they can be produced in high volume at low cost.'"

This is, potentially, a huge breakthrough.

Now if we can just put these all over our homes and commercial buildings, we'll be able to generate our own electricity, save loads of money, burn less coal and clean the air significantly, just with this one advancement. We'll be far less dependent on the utility companies, as well, of course. Finally, it seems we would be able to, eventually, anyway, do away also with nuclear energy, its costs and all the residual, additional nuclear waste we never knew how or where to store.

Those are huge improvements for societies and nations.

With the loss of power for some 600 million people in India the last two days, too, it's been pointed out that that is an excellent and timely reminder of coal's big weaknessses and shortcomings. If we can get this kind of technology out across the world, even the poor could have a steady, reliable and clean source of electrical energy. The benefits of this are multiple, at least, if not exponential.

I still say this could also lead to cars and buses having this same technology on them so we'd run clean transportation, too.

Here's hoping this spreads and spreads quickly, across the nation and world.

It is said that the nation that "owns" solar technology will own the next century.

Even if that's not true, this is a huge boon, potentially, for the nation and even, again, the world and in many ways.

Link: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2177763/Scientists-create-transparent-solar-panels-glass-like-plastic.html

Coincidentally, this article came out today, too:

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/07/31/613161/massive-blackout-leaves-620-million-indians-without-power-demonstrating-dangers-of-relying-on-outdated-coal-system/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+climateprogress%2FlCrX+%28Climate+Progress%29

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.

It was the best of air, it was the worst of air: State of the Air 2011

Who knew?

There is an annual ranking of the air quality of cities and states around the US, done by the American Lung Association.

Makes sense.  I should have known but wasn't aware of it.

To get right to it, there are some interesting developments in it for us, locally.

Topeka, KS is on the list of "Cleanest Cities for Ozone Air Pollution".

Congratulations, Topeka.  (I still don't want to live there but at least it's got good, clean air).

Lincoln, NE ranked 11 on the same list.  Kudos.

But wait!  Our neighbor to the North, St. Joseph, MO-KS (my hometown), ranked 7th (7th!) on the "Cleanest US Cities for short-term particle pollution" while Lincoln, NE showed up 21st on that list, too.


Good on you, St. Joe!


Now for the bad news.


St. Louis-St. Charles-Farmington, MO-IL is on the list of "Most polluted cities by year 'round particle pollution at number 17.


Poor ol' St. Lou.  It sucks to be you.  One of the most violent and now, as it turns out, one of the most polluted, too.  Yikes.  The Chamber of Commerce either scrambles on this or just lets it go, unable to do or say anything about it.  (Btw, Detroit, coincidentally, beat them out, too, at the number 16 spot.  Two of the most violent cities are both also have some of the dirtiest air.  Wow.)


The fact is, the list shows that, without doubt, some of the worst, filthiest and most polluted air is, without exception, is in California.  No wonder those people want clean air regulation.  Good for them.  Good for all of us.

The best air in the country?

Honolulu, Hawai'i.

There's a shock, huh?

As for our hometown digs here in KCMO?

Good news, really, overall.

We don't rank on any list of the "cleanest air"...

but we sure aren't on any of the "worst air" lists, either.

Cause for celebration.


Links:  http://www.stateoftheair.org/
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110427/hl_nm/us_air

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

Los 33: short biographies of the 33 miners in Chile

Grupo 105

Leader: Raul Bustos, age 40, hydraulics engineer

Bustos was forced to leave his job at the Chilean shipbuilder Asmar, in the port city of Talcahuano, when an earthquake struck in February. Leaving his wife and two children, he found work at the San Jose mine, where he worked on the water supply system.

Juan Aguilar, age 49, supervisor

Aguilar’s wife Cristy Coronado has been camping above the mine every night since her husband became trapped underground, and says that he seems to be in good spirits when she speaks to him. The couple are from the mining town of Los Lagos.

Osman Araya, age 30, miner

Araya has a wife, Angelica Ancalipe, and baby daughter named Britany. Most of his letters have been addressed to them or to his mother. In one video message he said: “I’ll never leave you guys, I’ll fight to the end to be with you.”

Florencio Avalos, age 31, driver

Florencio is the older brother of fellow miner Renan Avalos, and in charge of filming the videos sent up to rescuers and relatives. His father, Alfonso, cried with joy after hearing that one of the three drilling rigs working on the rescue had reached the tunnel adjoining where the miners were trapped.

Renan Avalos, age 29, miner

The younger brother of fellow trapped miner Florencio, Renan decided to start work in the San Jose mine after his brother got a job there. His main contacts on the surface are his father Alfonso and his uncle Wilson Avalos.

Jorge Galleguillos, age 56, miner

Galleguillos’s main contact on the surface is friend Miguel Valenzuela, who had been due to enter the mine on the day it collapsed. Galleguillos is on medication for hypertension. He has asked Valenzuela to keep everything he sends to the surface safe as souvenirs for when he gets out.

Jose Henriquez, age 54, drill master

Henriquez is the group’s official “pastor” and organises the daily prayers at 7.30am and after lunch. He was an evangelical preacher, and has worked in mines for 33 years. His brother, Gaston, also a miner, was once trapped in a mine himself, and has been reassuring Jose from the surface.

Daniel Herrera, age 27, lorry driver

Herrera’s sister Calda told reporters of his plans to keep letters and clothes from the experience, to display in his house. But in letters to relatives, the paramedic’s assistant complained about a psychologist who was treating the men saying he had caused “hysteria” among his workmates.

Juan Illanes, age 52, miner

A former corporal in the Beagle border conflict between Chile and Argentina, Illanes became the first of the 33 men to celebrate his birthday underground. To celebrate turning 52, the authorities allowed Illanes to speak with his wife, Carmen Baeza, for five minutes by video.

Mario Sepulveda, age 39, electrical specialist

Sepulveda regularly presents the videos the miners send up. In one taken in late August he acted as the narrator, taking the viewer on a tour of the 600 square feet subterranean quarters, and the adjoining mile-long tunnel. His contact on the surface is relative Gilberto Espinace.

Luis Urzua, age 54, topographer

Officials claim Urzua has been picked as a leader by his peers, who have nicknamed him “Don Lucho”. In the first moments after the mine collapsed, Urzua ordered the men to huddle and took three miners to scout up the tunnel. He has used his topography training to make detailed maps of their environs.

Richard Villarroel, age 23, mechanic

Villarroel’s family members have been camping above the mine, where he has worked for two years. His mother, Antonia Godoy, said: “I really want to reach in and pull him out of the television screen.”

Grupo Rampa

Leader: Carlos Barrios, age 27, miner

Barrios has emerged as a leader in his group. His mother, Griselda Godoy, has been sending him packages of clothing labelled with his name. She told reporters he was not happy with the way a psychologist had been working with the men.

Claudio Acuna, age 56, miner

Acuna is one of the palomeros, who organise the packages to and from the miners. He became the second of the miners to celebrate a birthday when he turned 54 on 9 September. His wife’s gift was a signed T-shirt from the popular Chilean football club Colo Colo.

Samuel Avalos, age 43, miner

Avalos’s main contact on the surface has been his father, also named Samuel Avalos, aged 70. He had worked in the mine for five months, and now checks the mining area’s air quality.

Yonni Barrios, age 50, ‘the doctor’

Barrios learned first aid through helping his diabetic mother as a child. That secured the position of a general medical adviser to his colleagues. His wife, Marta Salinas, discovered he had a mistress when she came across another woman holding a vigil for him following the accident.

Jose Ojeda, age 46, master driller

Ojeda has been sending sketches to the surface showing how the three groups are divided and the areas where they are sleeping. He is on medication for diabetes, and has asked his niece to print T-shirts for his entire group – all bearing the words “Grupo Rampa”.

Alex Vega Salazar, age 31, heavy machinery mechanic

Salazar’s wife, Jessica Salgado, spoke to him on 4 September. She said: “He is worried about some of his debts. But I have told him not to worry, that I have cancelled them already. You can see his face has changed, that he’s better. I told him that I love him.”

Jimmy Sanchez, age 19, miner

As the youngest of the miners, working in the San Jose mine was Sanchez’s first job. He had been there for only five months before being trapped underground. Now, he checks the mine’s temperature and humidity daily. He has a wife, Helen Avalos, and a three-month-old baby.

Victor Segovia, age 48, electrician

Segovia has a wife and 11-year-old daughter Jocelyn. In a letter to them he wrote: “I try to be strong but when I sleep I dream we are in an oven and when I wake I find myself in eternal darkness. That wears you down…” His daily task is to explain the general situation in the mine to officials.

Claudio Yanez, age 34, drill operator

In August, Yanez’s long-term partner Cristina Nunez proposed to him via letter – the offer was accepted. The couple have two daughters. However, Yanez’s mother and Nunez have been squabbling over who should receive his August wages and donations to the family.

Victor Zamora, age 33, vehicle mechanic

Zamora had no work in the mine on the day of the accident, but went inside to repair a vehicle. Originally from Talcahuano, he began work at the San Jose mine when an earthquake in February hit the city. Zamora has a wife and a young son named Arturo.

Grupo Refugio

Leader: Omar Reygadas, age 56, bulldozer operator

Reygadas had been working at the mine for many years, but how many exactly is not known. He requested to speak first to his youngest son Lucio.

Carlos Bugueno, age 27, miner

Bugueno is a childhood friend of fellow trapped miner Pedro Cortez, who joined the mine at the same time as he did – it has not been reported exactly when. His mother and half-sister, Katharine Castillo, have been holding a vigil for him.

Pedro Cortez, age 24, miner

Cortez started working at the mine at the same time as childhood friend Carlos Bugueno. His main contact on the surface is his mother Doris Contreras, who has been reading the Bible at the San Jose mine since he became trapped underground.

Mario Gomez, age 63, miner

In July, Gomez had a meeting with mine managers to beg them to solve problems that made the mine unsafe. Following that meeting, he told his wife he was going to retire from mining as it was unsafe. He is the oldest of the miners, and has worked in mines since the age of 12.

Franklin Lobos, age 53, driver

When Barcelona player and miner’s son David Villa sent two signed T-shirts to the miners, Lobos received one of them. This could be due to Lobos having played professionally for a local league.

Carlos Mamani, age 23, heavy machinery operator

Bolivian Mamani’s main contact on the surface is his wife Monica Quispe. His father-in-law declared he had no intentions to work in a mine again, following the trauma of being trapped. Prior to the accident he had been working in the mine for only five days.

Edison Pena, age 34, miner

Pena has reportedly been running 10 kilometres a day underground, and it has been suggested he is the most physically fit of the miners. He is also a dedicated Elvis Presley fan, requesting Presley music compilations to be sent down.

Esteban Rojas, age 44, in charge of maintenance

Rojas has sent a letter to the surface asking girlfriend of 25 years, Jessica Ganiez, to marry him. Ganiez says she has already bought the wedding dress. They have three children together and two grandchildren. His brother is fellow miner Pablo Rojas.

Pablo Rojas, age 45, miner

Rojas worked in the mine for six months before the accident. His brother is fellow miner Esteban Rojas. He has a wife and son.

Dario Segovia, age 48, drill operator

Segovia’s father Dario Senior was also a miner, and has spent a week trapped in a mine. Dario’s sister, Maria, has been leading prayers at Camp Hope, where relatives of the miners wait. Others at the camp have nicknamed her “La Alcaldesa”, which translates as “the mayoress”.

Ariel Ticona, age 29, miner

Ticona’s wife, Elizabeth Segovia, gave birth to their first baby on 14 September. Authorities used a fibre-optic link to allow him to watch a video of his daughter’s birth. Ticona asked his wife to name their daughter Esperanza, the Spanish word for “hope”.

Link to original post:  http://coalmountain.wordpress.com/2010/10/10/los-33-short-biographies-of-the-33-miners-in-chile/

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

Happy Earth Day

Happy 40th Anniversary.

It was 40 years ago this year, I imagine you've heard, that we started this "Earth Day", when the Cuyahoga River caught fire in Ohio.

Thank goodness that doesn't happen anymore.

But that sewer we call Brush Creek--and a whole lot more like them--are all over the country and we're not taking care of them.

And then there is what China is doing to that whole quarter of the planet.

I think pages and pages can be written, right now, on what we can and should do to better treat our planet--and so, ourselves--so we're not polluting or damaging it and doing damage, then, to ourselves.

I'll only mention a couple, here, now:

First, I think it's obvious we need to stop poisoning our world with the chemicals and pesticides we've been using so heavily and with such ugly, damaging results (in spite of what Monsanto and the chemical companies say).

Between the fish kills, the "dead zone" out in the Gulf of Mexico and the die-off of so many millions of bees worldwide, it seems obvious we're poisoning the world we need in order to survive.

The second thing we ought to do, it seems clear, is to stop "mountaintop removal" that the coal companies are using to get their coal ever so much cheaper.

"Mountaintop removal."

How could anyone, anywhere claim that this "mountainto removal" is anything but horribly damaging to the riverways and entire area surrounding what was removed and damaged?

It's indefensible.

We need to push our representatives in Washington and everywhere we can to stop this and as soon as possible.

I think it should be one of the things at the top of our list this Earth Day, 2010.

Now, go recycle some paper, cans, plastics and more today and pick up some trash.

Let's celebrate Earth Day this year and make this a better place to be.

Ironies and coincidences

I've always thought that the irony of us wanting cooler summers, with air conditioners, bringing about global warming and climate change was one heck of an irony.

Here we all want to be cool in our homes and as we run our errands in our cars and what happens? It heats up the planet, ultimately, so the longer we try to keep it cooler, the worse it gets.

And that, then, brings me to a wonderful coincidence we can use to solve the pollution/global warming/climate change problems.

To wit, as we get warmer and warmer (it's been in the low 100's in Oklahoma and Texas this week, the more sense it makes to use all that sun and heat on photovoltaic cells to create our electricity.

It just makes sense.

And when you figure in the true costs of fossil fuels, particularly coal (the digging of it, the transportation, the burning and its requisite pollution and carbon dioxide release, at minimum), compared to the cost of these photovoltaic cells, it brings the cost of these cells down hugely.

Think of it--we would no longer need power plants, ladies and gentlemen. The truth is, you could and would generate your energy yourself, on your home. We would all generate our own power.

Think about it. Truly think about it.

NO MORE ELECTRIC BILLS.

It truly could be possible within our own lifetime--and I'm over 50!

A downside? The power companies go out of business.

Somehow, I think I can live with that.

It would free us from coal mining--a foul, dirty, hazardous and frequently deadly job. It could help free us from using Middle Eastern oil, the center of the world's oldest, longest and most heated and insane war.

With that, we should, truly be able to cut our defense budget dramatically (which we should do anyway, but that was--and will be again--another column).

It just makes sense and it's within our grasp.

We need to push our government harder to make it happen and as soon as possible.

We don't know our history

If you know anything of history--our history, anyone's history, really, the history of humans and humankind (I'm going to be "pc" here, live with it), you have to know that mankind has been built on the rich and wealthy--the very wealthy, frequently--taking advantage of and living on and because of, the poor and, frequently, the very poor.

If you study humankind's history, you will learn this.

Think of it--history as far back as we can go.

Go back to Egypt, Egyptians and the pyramids. Who do you think built those? We all know who did. The poor; slaves, likely.

If you've watched "The Tudors" on Showtime lately, you can see the wealthy--"Royalty"--living on and because of the poor, what we call "serfs". It still goes on today, as we all know.

Watch the series "We Shall Remain" on PBS and see if you don't see the materially and financially poor aborigines--Indigenous Americans--exploited and beaten down, killed, by people with more money and material goods.

If you've seen this other series, "Appalachia: A History of Mountains and People", you've seen how the poor were horribly expoited, again and again by corporations and the wealthy, frequently absentee owners.

Think of the Aborigines of Australia. It was the same situation. The financially poor, used, abused and thrown away by the newer, material society.

And we call that "success".

And yet we don't learn anything from this, either. We don't hold back the corporations; we don't keep the coal companies from their mountaintop removal; we don't conserve nature; we don't protect our waterways.

We don't learn that we don't need to have the wealthy continue to exploit all the rest of us, pollution or no pollution.

We don't learn.

I'll tell you, we'd better start. We'll all benefit from it.

Links:
http://www.wholeearth.com/issue/1120/book-review/270/night.comes.to.the.cumberlands
http://appalachiafilm.org/
http://www.sho.com/site/tudors/home.do