While liberals drive an agenda of "global warming" which may well being occurring, it is not "man made" and should not be the focal point of the conversation on energy.
Focal point of our conversation on energy must be based on real facts versus speculation or "science tainted with politics".
Real facts are that fossil fuel is a finite resource. Put all the political spin you want on this and the facts do not change. At some point, we will suck all of the oil out of the ground that there is. That, people, is a fact!
Whether that is in 200 years or 500 years, it will still occur. I think the latest estimate is 300 years.
The question now becomes: what do we do?
First and foremost, we need to stop the political bullshit about man-made global warming and focus on real energy solutions. If we decided today that man needed to raise the temperature of the globe 2 degrees...there is no technical or scientific way man can do this. Just the same, there is no scientific way for man to decrease the temperature of the globe by 2 degrees. The earth's temperature cycles. Not a damn thing man can do to influence this. Sorry....not happening.
Second we must move away from obvious "none solution" items that are political driven:
Electric cars - do nothing toward getting us off of fossil fuels. These cars are driven by political environmental nut cases and it is unrealistic to think electric cars will ever replace existing gasoline cars. Here are the facts:
Facts are that these cars still require a charge which they must get from the grid which is powered by fossil fueled power plants. There are 276 million cars in America. 1 electric car consumes 30KW of electricity every 1.6 hours it is driven. In America, we average .96 hours per day driving our car. That means that 276 million cars use 28.8KW of electricity per day. Based on these numbers, to replace every American car with an electric car to save America would add 7.9 Trillion MW to our already loaded down Power Generation System! America's current power generation capabilities with every power plant on line it 4 Trillion MW per hour. In 2020 Americans used 3.8 Trillion MW per hour! If we add 7.9 Trillion needed to run 276 million cars, that would require us to produce 11.9 Trillion MW per hour! People, this summer they are predicting "brown outs" if the temperatures in the east our slightly above normal! Brown outs mean the power grid will shut down electricity to different areas to prevent overloading our Grid! How the hell do the environmental WHACOS expect to charge their damn electric cars! Basically, what the environmental nut cases are wanting to do, is IMPOSSIBLE...unless...unless...we remove the POLITICS in this and go at it using science, technology and COMMON SENSE! I challenge you to prove me wrong. I have spent about 17 years studying energy in America. We are on the border of an Power Generation Crisis! It is not IF it will occur....IT IS WHEN WILL IT OCCUR!
Wind Mills - WILL NOT GIVE US THE TRILLIONS OF MW WE NEED TO RUN ELECTRIC CARS! While a perfect alternative energy for a small family farm or family home, just not worth a hill of beans as a means of replacing huge 675 Megawatt base load power plants. One wind mill produces about 3 Megawatts of power. It takes 225 windmills to replace one 675 Megawatt power plant. This would take several hundred areas of land and have a severe impact on the local environment, the least of which would be a danger to birds. And...they can only produce energy when the wind is right...too little wind and they won't turn and in too much wind that have to be locked out to prevent damage.
Solar Energy - WILL NOT GIVE US THE TRILLIONS OF MW WE NEED TO RUN ELECTRIC CARS! However, of all the potential energy resources we have, the sun holds one of best promises for providing a future unlimited source of energy. And while the technology is not here yet to really use this resource, 60 years ago, we did not have the technology to produce a cell phone that connects to the internet! We only developed this technology due to supply and demand of Free Market Enterprise. Our focus must be on how we utilize the power of the sun to replace certain energy needs in our lives. I do not see Solar replacing gasoline cars, but solar can certainly power small homes utilizing the roofs of the homes versus taking up acres of land. Solar can also be combined with fuel cells to enhance their output.
Fuel Cell Energy - USED AND IMPLEMENTED CORRECTLY, COULD BOOST OUR POWER GENERATION TO SUPPORT A TOTAL ELECTRIC CAR FLEET! Of all our potential energy resources this one holds the most promising of all for renewable energy. This technology right now is about where the computer chip was in 1990. Here is an energy source that uses a heat process to create hydrogen from water to produce energy. It produces zero harmful gases in the process. And, it can run off of any fuel that will produce heat: propane, natural gas, oil, methane, wood and yes, ever solar heat. It can even be made to run of your sceptic tank's methane gas! Based on the research I have done, fuel cells, properly advanced and properly applied, in time can replace the large base load fossil fuel power plants...and at some point can be made to run using human or animal sewage waste...which would be getting energy by burning our own waste. Fuel cells used to develop a distributed generation grid, could power America for centuries to come!
DISTRIBUTED GENERATION - THE FUTURE
Fossil fuel is a finite resource. We must get off of it. In addition, our current large "base load" power plants and our large power transfer lines are far too easy targets for terrorist or for our enemies in times of war. So, while we must get off of fossil fuel, we must also downsize our grid and spread it out into smaller generation units that are less of a target for people seeking to do us harm. In our plan to develop a better power generation system for the United States we must address all concerns: reliable, safe, environment friendly, secure, cheap and renewable. Below is a step by step approach to overhauling our Power Generation System (some content is from Introduction to Distributed Power Generation. I highly recommend this site as while it does not have all I am going to suggest, it does a great job of defining Distributed Power Generation. First, there are 3 critical steps that must be done "up front":
Step 1: Set a hard date to phase out Large Base Load fossil fuel power plants. Do not just outlaw them and close them. Use rational thinking instead of politics. Set realistic year by year goals to phase them out with a hard date to have all out of service. Since the average life of a base load power plant is 30 to 50 years, set a date of 40 years as a target to remove all base loads system from our grid.
Step 2: Develop the concept of our new power generation system that will provide realistic, common sense guidance that is void of political influnces...as once something is politicised...it is doomed! Stay clear of political motives for power generation development. It is the "people" we are trying to help...not the politician!
Step 3: Fund and execute the plan over a period of 40 years. Do not attempt to accelerate it. We have 200 to 300 years, maybe more, of fossil fuel....use 40 more years of it while we slowly convert over to a better Power Generation System.
Only after the above 3 steps are done, do we then begin to implement Distributed Power Generation.
Distributed Power Generation. It is basically a concept of taking a centrally located large base load fossil fuel power plant producing, let's say 675 Megawatts of electricity, breaking it up into about 130 smaller alternative power generation plants each producing about 5 Megawatts of electricity and spreading these smaller units throughout a very large area.
Whereas the large base load powerplant feeds a large very high voltage power distribution line, the smaller units would feed directly into the exiting local power structure via smart meters, removing the need for large high voltage power distribution lines.
