On February 6, 2009 the newly inaugurated President Barack Obama met with his Cabinet Secretaries and announced his decision to launch the "Atlantis Renewable Energy Project."
He told them that he had considered several comprehensive alternative energy independence strategies. While all of them had great merit it was his considered opinion that only one of these alternatives satisfied his requirements. He told his team, that like the "Manhattan Project" of the 1940's, and the "Send A Man To the Moon Project" of the 1950's-1960's, he would seek public and Congressional support for his "Atlantis Project", to harness the endless and predictable energy from our oceans and internal waterways.
Did you know that the Administration only printed 2,100 copies of its, "Financial Report of The United States", 'The Official Annual Report of the White House,' because it contains the true deficit using accrual rather than cash accounting methods? That document was published by the Dept. of the Treasury on Dec. 15, 2005.
This is the only government-wide report that uses modern accounting to tell how America is doing. And yet, the Bush Administration does not want you to read it. It was released without a press release before a major holiday.
Among its many operational revelations are:
When I listen to the Senator speak about energy policy I never hear him say anything substantive about the priorities his policy objectives would pursue. Given that "Big Oil is King", there will be a huge tug of war in any attempt to dethrone the "King". However, if the Senator defines his priorities in the context of massive job creation using the most effiecient sources of energy there is every likelihood that large majorities of the population will support him.
In the closing days of this campaign there is a hunger for specifics that McCain can't match. Since he is a "drill baby drill clone" taking a broader, well defined approach on energy policy highlighting a source of renewable energy for which there can be no opposition would provide an economic coup de grace.
Following is the substance of my recommendation:
Published in the Christian Science Monitor
There's power in here... and we don't have to drill for it. New Turbine Can Extract Energy from Flowing Water
by Sara Steindorf and Tom Regan
Water comprises 70 percent of the earth's surface and contains enormous potential as a source of energy in the future. The Amazon River alone, which transports more water than any other, could generate enough electricity to power all the towns and villages along its shore. The same is true of other great rivers around the world. So why aren't we tapping more from water's pulse?
That's the aim of Alexander Gorlov, a professor of mechanical engineering at Northeastern University in Boston , who is trying to launch an idea that would harness the power of currents and tides. If his deceptively simple-looking prototype - a barrel-shaped 36-by-40-inch turbine - can successfully transform the awesome forces of oceans, rivers, and bays into electricity, it could radically change hydropower. And thus, it could potentially solve the world's energy problems, says the optimistic Dr. Gorlov.
Wednesday, February 25, 2004
Now the Pentagon tells Bush: climate change will destroy us
Climate change over the next 20 years the Pentagon says, could result in a global catastrophe costing millions of lives in wars and natural disasters..
A secret report, suppressed by the White House and Defense Chiefs and obtained by The Observer, warns that major European cities will be sunk beneath rising seas as Britain is plunged into a 'Siberian' climate by 2020. Nuclear conflict, mega-droughts, famine and widespread rioting will erupt across the world.
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Hey You Fossil Fuel Freaks, Stop Raping Mother Earth
I wonder how the CEO's of the oil, coal, gas cartels would respond to the question? "Do you care that your children, grandchildren and, their children will likely live in a world bereft of clean air, drowning coastal cities, vanishing polar geography, shortages in energy, rapacious prices for everything, and the gradual disintegration of economic, social and political order as the outcome of your shortsighted energy policies in this the early years of the 21st century????
The Future of U.S. Renewable Energy PolicyWe Are Surrounded by This Energy
by
Robbrian
Aug 16, 2008
Part I
The Future for American Energy Policy?IntroductionIf leadership truly grasps the enormous consequences of inadequate responses to global warming and national dependence on oil and fossil fuels, then it must shift into crises mode. Decisions on energy policy must be made to address three levels of urgency: Now, the short-run and the long-run. How ironic is it that elected officials, policy analysts, investors and others are of late, pressing for "comprehensive" policies and strategies that will wean Americans from imported oil to energy created by more drilling for oil and natural gas; diversifying biomass options; expanding nuclear power capabilities; mining and cleaning coal and coal emissions; and harnessing the sun and wind on land and sea; when each in turn is nothing more than a problem switching alternative.Governors of Maryland and Virginia recently announced that expanding nuclear energy capability would, in the long run, resolve much of the energy crunch in those states. Nothing was proposed for now or even the short run. T. Boone Pickens's proposal is very appealing it promises to harness more natural gas through sun and wind energy as the workhorses to gain access and deliver natural gas to the surface. The Pickens Plan however, still requires enormous public subsidies for a so called set of "mature technologies."
A problem switching alternative is for instance, reducing the amount of CO² emissions from coal fired plants by replacing them with nuclear plants. Nuclear waste not CO²; becomes the problem. Or, replacing a portion of petroleum with ethanol it takes more energy to produce ethanol for fewer miles per gallon compared to gasoline. Or, hydrogen fuel cells that release water vapor into clouds that then heat up exacerbating global warming. Moreover, sun and wind power are intermittent and require supplementation from traditional energy sources for 24/7 operations. How much CO² is released in the extraction of natural gas? What are the additional storage and refueling costs per mile when compared to electric motors for automobiles?
