How Does Gas Win An Environmental Debate

Well today in Washington the Senate was debating environmental legislation that will put natural gas in the forefront on generating enough electricity to curb a demand for electricity that has run rampant in recent years.
Coal is to dirty and wind and solar are not dependable enough according to their line of thinking.
There is no doubt coal is dirty as anyone can see simply by looking at a coal miner at the end of the day. At the same time companies are ramping production on photo voltaic cells that are more stream lined as well as more efficient. They should be more cost effective as well. Ampulse Corporation, Golden CO. has raised $8 million along with various partners to step up production of PV products.


“Ampulse has assembled a strong management team along with key strategic partnerships with two renowned laboratories to develop a low-cost, high efficiency, c-Si thin-film PV solution for the residential, commercial, and utility-scale solar markets,” said Daniel Leff.

Wind is well positioned in the market place simply because development has momentum and oil is beginning to be so volatile because of supplies needed in countries like China and India. The shear number of cars alone added to just one of these countries is scary indeed. China's demand for oil alone is to exceed a jump of 150% by 2020.

In any event, the Republicans, today, were clearly trying to either obstruct or derail any progress on environmental policy as the Senate struggles to put rose colored glasses on the rest of the world.

What Everyone Should Know About Renewable Energy

It has long been observed and proven that nature has already provided man with enough resources for energy—sunlight, geothermal heat, tides, and wind. Because these energy are abundant, in fact, so abundant that they could be replenished perpetually, they have come to be known as renewable energy.

Though extended discussions about renewable energy and its sources can become winded and more complex, every average person interested enough should at least know the basics in order to grasp the concept of how incredibly beneficial these energy sources are.

Man has long harnessed the power of wind and had applied it for practical purposes, albeit in smaller scale such as the power produced in windmills. Current technologies had long converted these simple renewable energy mechanisms to develop wind farms that generate energy supply without the associated risk of pollution
. A lot of wind farms have been established in the United States and abroad to generate electricity. This provides proof on the increasing attraction of using wind power as source of renewable energy while decreasing environment risks and hazards. One critical consideration in establishing wind farms would the presence of constant strong winds, which is why many wind farms are located in elevated areas and even offshore locations are considered viable settings for this kind of renewable energy facility.

Renewable energy from water comes in many different forms. The most common would be the hydroelectric energy that is generated by waterfalls while some areas of the world also generate micro hydro systems that produce smaller amounts of electricity. Renewable energy is also tapped from currents deep under the ocean. This is termed as tidal stream power and several technologies have been developed to harness these viable source. Other sources of renewable energy generated from oceans would be tidal changes, temperature difference, tidal motions, and of course, waves.

Another viable renewable energy source is sunlight, which earth certainly has in abundance. There are numerous technologies developed to tap the solar energy and convert it into electricity, heating systems, and even cooling systems. Though most of these technologies are still in the initial stages, there is no denying the potential benefits promised by this renewable energy source. One of the leading concerns is cost of the materials used, though several affordable yet more efficient designs are still expected to be introduced into the market.

A lot of geothermal power plants had been built and have long been operational in several parts of the world. This is because this source of renewable source of energy generates power at low operating cost. Though some experts may contend that geothermal energy would not last as long as the others and is technically not renewable, it is still expected to provide large amount of power for a long time, even for a hundred years or so. However, it is still classified as a renewable energy source by the International Energy Agency and, like all other sources mentioned above, geothermal energy is reliable and environmentally friendly.

Though none of the renewable energy sources are considered to compete with fossil fuels just yet, it still provide some form of alternative for environmentally conscious individuals and communities in doing their share of lessening environmental degradation and destruction, something we can all ultimately derive benefits from.

Who Am I?

That is the million dollar question each one of us could be asking ourselves. I wonder every morning for about an hour!! I then get along about my day and realize all these things I do, ideals I entertain and people I interact with and . . .and . . .and STILL I wonder who I am.

That said; I am passionate about a lot of things. I am passionate about people, politics, the earth, my children, God as I do or do not understand Him . . .Me . . . I Am. . .We Are . . . and last but not least my wife of 16 years.

I started this blog because I need some ways to advertise a web site where I'll be selling goods to the world of a sustainable nature. There are many other things I'll need to do of course but I needed to start somewhere so here I am. I would dearly love to make enough from this venture to stay home and run the business. Currently I only make it home every two weeks to see my family; my occupation keeps me traveling constantly. Someday!!!

On the political front I don't see much happening. In one corner we have McCain accusing Obama of being Brittany Spears and in the other corner we have Barak saying no he isn't. In reality McCain's ideas on solutions for our energy crisis don't appear to be all that far removed from Bush's. I think that it is very hard to pigeon hole McCain in the same hole as Bush even if they are from the same party. Let me put it a different way; had McCain applied for a job with the federal judicial system under the rule of Bush, he would have been turned down. All in all McCain is an alright guy. I had breakfast at the same table with him while in Antarctica and he is probably the most genuine human being in politics I'll ever meet personally in my lifetime. He is a very unassuming man; a man that is where he is because he is trying to accomplish a task not make a name for himself.

Barak, on the other hand, stands for change; change that is long overdue. Bush has made such a mess out of things that ANYBODY would be a welcome change at this point. The trouble is; does Obama understand what he is getting into and what it will take to straighten out the mess we are in. The economy is way out of whack our deficit is quoted as anywhere from 3.5 triillion (from the conservative estimates) to 9.5 trillion (taking in consideration what is owed to Social Security and some other things). In any event it is a mess and Barak will need some talented help if he is going to get America back on track. I'm not sure he can put together the right team.

Personally I think the next superpower will be the European Union. There is no way around it. They have largely stood back while the U.S. has tried to bail itself out of George Bush's war and we have borrowed ourselves back into a corner. The E.U., excepting the British, have been wise in staying out of a situation that can only end in humiliation.

We, as a nation, have the opportunity right now to take back our place as the worlds superpower. All we need to do is expend more resources in the direction of sustainable energy. To build whatever it takes to power the world into the next millennium is the challenge we must accept. The American people have the knowledge and innovation to do exactly that; provided they can get the funding to do it.

Oil Reserves

What makes Obama think selling oil reserves will solve any of the problems we have with oil today. Is it just a band-aid to lower prices temporarily? He can't be serious! It must be just a political ploy to get headlines. I thought he was an eloquent enough speaker to command headlines without pulling some lame stunt like that.

A couple of months ago, when Hillary thought we should shake loose of some reserves, Obama claimed it would do nothing for the prices or reserve stockpiles. Now he has taken an about face on the issue.

Come on Obama! What's with you anyway? How has our situation changed that we can now sell oil reserves and fix the oil problem. It hasn't! Your just looking for press!

It is a well known fact that oil prices today have a built in speculation cushion of about 30%. In other words, without speculators manipulating the prices they would be considerably lower. Even at that; how significant would it be. I say notta! At $2.80 per gallon; gas would still be to high. There just is not enough money in a consumers pocket to pay that price for gas continually. Add to it escalating prices at the grocery store and other places and it is clear; we need to do something drastic. Selling oil reserves is not it and neither is drilling off shore.

Drilling off shore will not fix the problem. We need drastic policy shifts of a green nature along with the incentives to draw serious investors out of the woodwork with enough capitol to dive into wind & solar power with the tenacity it takes to come out the other side with a workable solution that will at least LOOK like there may be some hope for a greener sustainable future.

If we end up taking a back seat on a global scale; it will only be the fault of the few holding the controlling interest in the oil supply in the USA. It doesn't have to be that way. We had what it took during the industrial revolution to see far enough to put us ahead of the curve far enough for it to last into this century. Now let's do it again. We are the free thinkers of the world. Come on; we can do it.