omtayslick
New member
Obi-Wan,
I am not a glutton. I wish that the entire world could enjoy our standard of living. And they could, if not for political considerations. Starvation is not a lack of resources problem, it's a political problem. The USA could feed most of the world single-handedly if we were allowed to.
I am all for "green" solutions that work. The fact is, most of them don't. They're just somebody's idea of good PR. Most of this stuff is politically motivated as well.
Take wind power as one small example. I live in Indiana, and windmills are being erected at an incredible pace. They are very impressive. One blade for these things takes an over-sized semi-trailer to haul it. I watch them rolling down the interstate every day.
But now lets examine the facts. Put up a windmill, get free unlimited power, right? Not exactly. If you put up enough of these to replace the power generated by a conventional power plant, there is no way to store the power. It would take an incredible amount of batteries to do this. (and then what do you do with the spent batteries?) So what happens when the wind doesn't blow? They have to leave a conventional power plant idling (using energy) to take up the slack when the wind isn't enough. Because you can't fire 'em up like turning on a light switch, so they have to be ready to go.
So, at this point in time, wind power is practical on a small scale only. Someday, when someone develops a storage scheme that is practical it will be viable on a large scale. When that day comes I will be all for it. But right now, it's a salve for the masses, and great PR for the politicians.
There are similar holes in most of the other green schemes.
Don't accept what they tell you at face value. Dig a little for the facts.
With sincere best intentions,
Tom
I am not a glutton. I wish that the entire world could enjoy our standard of living. And they could, if not for political considerations. Starvation is not a lack of resources problem, it's a political problem. The USA could feed most of the world single-handedly if we were allowed to.
I am all for "green" solutions that work. The fact is, most of them don't. They're just somebody's idea of good PR. Most of this stuff is politically motivated as well.
Take wind power as one small example. I live in Indiana, and windmills are being erected at an incredible pace. They are very impressive. One blade for these things takes an over-sized semi-trailer to haul it. I watch them rolling down the interstate every day.
But now lets examine the facts. Put up a windmill, get free unlimited power, right? Not exactly. If you put up enough of these to replace the power generated by a conventional power plant, there is no way to store the power. It would take an incredible amount of batteries to do this. (and then what do you do with the spent batteries?) So what happens when the wind doesn't blow? They have to leave a conventional power plant idling (using energy) to take up the slack when the wind isn't enough. Because you can't fire 'em up like turning on a light switch, so they have to be ready to go.
So, at this point in time, wind power is practical on a small scale only. Someday, when someone develops a storage scheme that is practical it will be viable on a large scale. When that day comes I will be all for it. But right now, it's a salve for the masses, and great PR for the politicians.
There are similar holes in most of the other green schemes.
Don't accept what they tell you at face value. Dig a little for the facts.
With sincere best intentions,
Tom