Melancon (D for TX 4) Let's Talk Energy Now

Nobody is going to like this reply (0.00 / 0)

We, and I mean us individually and the people running our multi level governments and private sector corporations are the biggest wastrel's and spend thrifts on the planet.

We keep our homes and the majority of places where we work darned near as cool as our refrigerators and vice versa in cold weather.

More examples....why do they put headlights on cars and trucks?  They sure as hell don't need them to drive in our bright as daylight cities and a great many miles of our major highways at night.

I'm sure many of you have flown in airliners at night and hope you've looked out the windows and down at all the city lights.

Both our east and west coasts and miles, some places hundreds of mile inland, at night from the sky sets up a glare so bright, that cause pilots of small planes to wear sunglasses in their alloted very limited "Injun Country" air space.

From the ground that night light glare is so astounding that all the stars, with exception of a very few of the brightest stars, cannot be seen.

If just one night a week every light period with exception of interior lights in the U S A were turned off, and people drove by vehicle headlights nation wide, how many billions or trillions of kilowatts of energy would be saved?  There would be as well the plus that the bad guy night rovers would either have to stumble through the dark to do their dirty deeds or use flashlights which makes good aiming points for police and citizens defending themselves and their property.

I prefer, rather than seeking out new yet to be found rather dubious sources for power such as ethanol, even some of them more exotic sources, for electric power to power our homes and vehicles, is to use that which is already right in front of us easy to develop and exploit and thusly creating millions of jobs in the power industry from brainpower to sweat.

Power plants don't have to be gigawatt or trigawatt generating plants....so how many small, one two, or as high as five kilowatt generators per mile located on both sides of rivers depending of river current speed, could be powered through gear reduction drives by paddle wheels that turn by river current?  If these paddle wheels are located well below, say a minimum of five feet below the water line, passing boats wouldn't even notice them and in floods they in the majority of instances wouldn't even get touched by debris, plus repairs on this type power generating system would be easy and in general upkeep would be mimimal.

What about our ultra strong deep ocean currents and all their power nobody yet has thought to exploit the easy way, abd again by paddle wheel or turbines attached to the outside of unmanned remotely controlled submersibles sunk to depth and anchored to the sea floor that turn X number of generators, depending on the size of each submersible; power cable connected to land?

How about thousands of smaller remotely located nuclear power plants instead of a few hundred of the gigantic area killers should they go critical and detonate like a bomb.

Then there is hydrogen that could be used to power cars and believe me if NASCAR and USAC can develop racing cars with fuel storage tanks that can survive 200 mph impacts 90% of the time, a hydrogen fuel cells to survive far less than 100 mph impacts 100% of the time.

Folks, we haven't begun to scratch the surface for alternate power sources that are right there in front of us because we have been brainwashed by propaganda experts to think that bigger is better and yet to be discovered exotics are the only alternatives available...and that's pure nonsense.

The brain power in this nation is virtually limitless and it's about time we started using it again.

And one thing we are all going to have to face, must face either now and not much later, is that we are going to have to make a great deal of sacrifices if we expect to continue to live in the same or at least similar very privileged standards we are all used to and take all too for granted.

I don't want to see our landscapes cluttered up with windmill power generators and ugly solar panels on every rooftop, but I must accept such as part of my own personal sacrifice until other more realistic practical power sources can be found.

Thanks for your time reading this.

Tom Pearson

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by: TomP @ Sat Aug 16, 2008 at 17:18:24 PM UTC

I apologize for the delayed repsonse (0.00 / 0)

I agree that we have a long way to go on the conservation front, but I disagree that it'll radically change our life style.  Just look what happened with a 3% decline in demand a over the last few months.  If we give people more affordable options, then they will willingly migrate to the new technology.

Fighting for Texas families






Democratic Nominee for US Congress, TX 4th, 2006, 2008

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by: Glenn Melancon @ Mon Aug 25, 2008 at 20:16:01 PM UTC

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