|
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Database of State
Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency www.dsireusa.org This vast database provides links to federal and state energy tax deductions, grants, and other incentives for renewable energy use. National Renewable Energy
Laboratory Solar Energy Technologies
Program: Solar America Initiative Energy Information
Administration U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency: Clean Energy Solar Haven (AZ) A Passive Solar Manufactured
House (CO)
"Building a new house or restoring an old one - investigating Alternative Energy makes a lot of sense!"
|
SolarBuzz.com
|
"Basic Research Needs for
Solar Energy Utilization"
"Solar Energy Technology
Multi-Year Technical Plan: 2003-2007 and Beyond"
|
Solar Revolution:
The Economic Transformation of the Global Energy Industry by Travis Bradford. MIT Press, 2006. Designing With Solar Power:
A Source Book for Building Integrated Photovoltaics
Solar Power: The Evolution of
Sustainable Architecture Tackling Climate Change in the
U.S.: Potential Carbon Emissions Reductions from Energy Efficiency and
Renewable Energy by 2030 The Solar Economy: Renewable
Energy for a Sustainable Global Future
"I figure that an investment in Alternative Power today will save me big bucks tomorrow!"
|
|
|
|
|
Awhile back I picked-up the August 2005 issue of Popular Science magazine
whose cover article talked about "Saving A Scorched Earth" by Michael Behar,
illustrated by John MacNeill. It talked about all sorts of things we could
do to get rid of nasty pollution-causers like Co2. Most, if not all had
expensive concepts which aimed at treating, but not curing the problem - and
at a cost of millions and billions of dollars. If you have the chance, stop
at your local library and read the feature....
PUMPING Co2 Underground We seem hell-bent on making life tough on our children and grandchildren just for the name of profit - shame on us! The idea is by pumping Co2 underground, we get rid of a lot of pollution and push more oil and gas to the surface - sounds okay? Whoops, there's a time bomb to this approach - the Earth is a surface which shifts and changes over time - think tectonic plates and volcano's. What is trapped underground can easily surface when the ground shakes and blows steam - as well leak into basements. The other itsy-bitsy problem is pollution of the ground water - you know, the stuff we drink - bottled or tapped! FILTERING Co2 from the Air Actually, vacuuming the air isn't a bad idea - not a cure, but interesting. However, Behar points out that the cost and immense amount of power required would minimize its benefits. So, you might draw a little pollution out of the air, but it would still not be an all-fire solution. The energy to operate the devices would be costly. Back to the drawing board guys and gals! Also, as Mike points out, it would take the area of one southwestern state to place these scrubbers. Think of the amount of money taxpayers would need to shell out - can you say "pork belly", sure you can! DRAWING the SHIT to the OCEAN Cheap, once the stacks are in place - half a ton of carbon for a dime at current costs. Wind blows to the rotors of the stacked ship and turbines blow seawater into the air. So, what does this accomplish? Well, according to its proponents, it causes iron to hatch plankton and remove a great deal of Co2 from the atmosphere. Ahhh, but there's a catch! There is a potential "ripple" effect on ocean life and the food chain. Plankton would not only engorge on the Co2, it would also remove needed nutrients from aquatic life...uh, lets forget that one! STONE the Co2 Will our imaginations never end - the concept of turning a gas into rock. Okay, here's how this works -You mix inexpensive chemicals like serpentine or olivine, super-heat it until it turns into magnesium-carbonate. So you turn it to rock - nature takes its time on this approach, and science would speed it up - but a lot of fossil fuel is used - and it creates more greenhouse gases than it takes out of the air...ouch! GIANT WIRE MESH Umbrella in Space Our tax dollars at work - float a huge umbrella in space (while throwing tons of money down a toilet) between the Earth and the Sun. Well, I really don't think it would be too popular with astronomers - plus a few good space rocks could knock it out of orbit, as well cause a few runs like in nylon stockings. It's supposed to block ultraviolet light rays. They say there are few maintenance cost once in space. But here's the fun part - the shield needs to be at least 600,000 square miles in size - come-on guys, really, now! Band-aids such as this are costly and somewhat dumb - also, like the plastic-adhesive with gaze, they tend to fall off at inopportune times. We need to look at the core problem which is finding ways to eliminate the pollution itself - we must look at our inventions and make them operate via sunlight, wind power, hydro-power, geothermal or other non-polluting sustainable sources of fuel yet to be discovered. There is no logical reason we can't encourage the alternative power industry to become mainstream - by reducing our dependency on fossil fuels on a personal level, we would naturally reduce Co2 - and we'd make sure future generations to follow wouldn't end up with a crisis of unprecedented urgency. Gotta tell you what I've been doing - I use bright-white florescent bulbs which are ten watts and under. My walls are light-colored to better reflect light. I use a 35-watt solar panel to recharge the NiMH batteries I use. My appliances are all Energy-Star compliant. The car I drove was a four-cylinder job with fuel-injection - it got me from point A to point B. You can think about making your next car a Hybrid, and later one which operates on Hydrogen. Our children should consider a home that is solar-assisted and/or wind turbine assisted. And we need a president with the guts to encourage industry to "green" its factories as is being done at Ford Motor Company! We don't need bandages, we need CORE solutions! The other benefit...if we do it right...is to create a new American industry with the agreement, if you want to sell it to the USA, you have to make it in the USA using American workers! God created a perfect world, it took humankind to really screw it up! |
