Page 2 - Global Dimming

I saw that special on TV

Necromanced, but it's an interesting subject nonetheless, so why not?

Anyways, Anubis, you do know how nuclear power plants work, right? They simply use nuclear reactions to heat uranium to very high temperatures and then they use that heat instead of burning coal or using water or wind. It's all the same, it just sounds cool because it has a radioactive sticker on it. Nuclear power is not just electricity coming out of one end of a rod of purified uranium

And as for producing hydrogen from nuclear energy, of course it's possible. The problem is the same as it is now: it's not profitable. You need to put in more energy breaking hydrogen away from the oxygen than you actually get out from burning the hydrogen, so it's a loss of useable energy overall. That's the problem. Even if we could set up solar panels all over the place, it's still more profitable to take that power and use it to heat homes and run people's lights, for example. I guess one of us just needs to get into the hydrogen business. Hey, build it and they will come

yes, i DO know that they simply use the same old inefficient forms of gas exchange by heating water.

All we can really do is try and push flexfuel vehicles and mandate that every gas station has at least 1 ethanol pump by 2008. Gradually consumers will move over to the ethanol fuels because its cheaper for them, and gasoline will be phased out. this will be great for the farmers because, suddenly, we arent putting billions of dollars a day into the saudi's pockets, we are putting it in to the pockets of the american farmers, who have been struggling for a while. after 10 years the cost of refining the corn will go down as new techniques are made, and all will be well. and btw, fuck the environment i dont give a shit

The Chinese have started putting low rpm turbines on rivers without dams in a test to generate power these are like wind mills with angled vanes very interesting.

mmm... not too good for us kayakers though .

lol.

Like a lot of ideas ethanol is no long term solution to our energy needs. Right now ethanol for fuel use is consuming about 20% of the corn production. You can see that there is a real limit to how much more can fuel can be produced using corn.

Ethanol seems more like one of those feel good solutions like wind power and solar power that sound good but not what is needed for long term energy needs. The jury is still out on fuel cells and hydrogen fuel. They may be viable if the technology and economic hurdles can be overcome. If the US really wants to lower their petroleum needs they need to start building nuclear power plants. It is a waste to be using fossil fuels for large energy production. I think even France is using nuclear power plants to produce something like 90% of their electrical needs.

Someone in an early post stated that their were only 30 years of fossil fuels left. It's kind of funny that I heard the same thing 30 years ago. It is true that a lot of the current reserves are too expensive to extract but economics may someday change that. I bet the real answer to how much fossil fuels are left is more in the 300-500 year range.

There is a lot of untapped gas and petroleum off the US coasts. Their is a lot of resistance to explore these. The realty is that if we do not claim these reserves other countries will. Their is nothing to stop them from taking the gas and petroleum in the areas in international waters. There was a news item a week ago where Cuba was involved in doing that. As demand rises faster than the supply and prices remain high it will be economical for countries to look for oil and gas anywhere they can find it. Won't the envirionmentalists look foolish if they stop the US from drilling off our shores and the Chinese just come and take it all right under our noses. This is not farfetched as you might think because the Chinese demands for oil and gas is rising rapidly. Why do you think they are being so nice to Iran? Their huge need for oil is driving their politics.

and there tyou have it ladys and gents.

"there's oil left somewhere, we just gotta find it".

bah!

you go find your oil under the tundra! you go burn it!

you go destroy what's left of our crippled planet! and then you will see WHY people are so up in arms about this!!

ADDING CARBON TO THE ATMOSPHERE IS NOT GOOD!

no other way of looking at it!

Started with a turbine RAY HEGLAND made for powering lights at our swimming hole to keep the kids safe that was made from a squirrel cage fan conectted to a system of gears (he has also made them with the belt type but it is not as good) to a surplus computer tape drive motor so that the water from the river poured into the top of the fan and came out a hole which was cut in the bottom of the fan housing making a waterwheel.
This system charges 3 to 4 amps each there are 6 of them into 8-12 volt batteries, 24 hours per day!
It's easy power, cost next to nothing to build, and for 2 years NO maintenance.

Sorry for the slow reply. I just came across your response today.

20 years ago I was an avid environamentalist. I was a regular participant at Earth Day. A couple of times I even manned one of the booths. I was also a regular member of the Sierra Club and was even a officer one year. I fondly remember the many hikes I was able to participate in. Environmental issues discussed at local meetings mainly related to state issues.

Then I grew up. I saw things in a new light now. The solutions put forth by environmentalists occasionally had merit but most did not. When I stopped blindly believeing the hype and actually looked closely at the assumptions and so called evidence everthing fell apart. Having a BS in Physics and minor in Astronomy helped a lot in evaluating the evidence. I also learned a lot in the 15 years I worked at a NASA field center supporting engineering and scientific projects there. Sorry to have burst your bubble. Reality has a way of doing that.