Energy Demand Verses Global Warming! by Lynn Mills
Copyright by Lynn Mills all rights reserved
Class of 58, Bountiful High, Utah
Our critical need for energy and the absolute necessity of
maintaining a
livable planet seem to be diametrically opposed. How can we keep
producing more
energy without increasing the planets heat index and pollution levels?
It is a
perplexing conundrum to say the least and a dichotomy of monumental
importance.
The answers we come up with will mean the world lives or dies. Not just
mankind but all life could be threatened. We are
witnessing our world being sucked into an ever strengthening vortex or
death
and sterility. Do we diminish the Earths population so we use less
energy? Do
we hope for some alien life form to intercede and save us at the last
minute?
Perhaps you are a religious person like me and you place your faith in
God to
correct our mistakes and mitigate the damage. The religious scenario is
not
very comforting either, as many of the world’s religions present
a picture depicting
Earths last days with a burning earth, droughts, famines, pestilence,
earthquakes, wars, death and destruction on an apocalyptic scale. If
things
continue along this line of progression we will see a destabilized
world
wide social structure and suffering the likes of which has never been
witnessed
in all the Earths history! If the Earth goes into uncontrollable
thermal build up it may become blistering hot and cloud covered like
it's sister planet Venus, devoid of life.
Is there an answer? Can we find the energy we need to
continue our progressive journey into the future? If we find this power source
can we use it without over heating the Earth?
Lets examine the most popular energy proposals.
Wind power generation more than
quadrupled between 1999 and 2005 and yet it barely supplies 1% of the
world’s electricity. The down side of wind power is that the wind does not
always blow. Another recent problem is that birds fly into the swiftly
rotating blades. Some of the birds being killed are breeds struggling to
survive extinction.
Hydro Electric production from dams is
a mute point. There are very few new dams being planned and some of the
existing dams are likely to be dismantled because of environmental
concerns.
Ocean power is another form of energy
that is creating a lot of interest. Power from ocean currents, breakers
and tides is already being used on a small scale. This discipline looks
promising to me. At the ship yard here in Bremerton,
WA.
USA
I marvel at the thought that the tides can lift huge aircraft carriers,
some times as high as fourteen feet. I wonder about all the ships in the
yard and how much energy could be garnered if the combined weight of all
those ships rising and falling twice a day could be used to turn a large
generator. In my mind I envision two very large, man made harbors* fitted
with gargantuan floats. As millions of gallons of water flow into the
harbors with the incoming tide the floats would ratchet aircraft carrier
sized weights or even larger high into the air. Each tide could ratchet
the weights even higher. As one harbor was lifting its weight the other
harbor could be letting its weight generate electricity and visa versa
alternatingly cycling back and forth between lifting and generating. This
would insure a constant source of uninterrupted power. There are dozens of
variations of this that could be used. One of which might use water pumped
by the floats high atop a cliff to generate electricity as it descended
again through turbines. Tidal power generation is now being pioneered
using several different methods and it is a fledgling resource that must
yet prove it can successfully compete.
* The harbors need to be man made to
avoid environmental issues arising from disturbing natural bays.
Geothermal power is being used today
all over the world. The USA
is the leader as far as total mega watts generated but the Philippines
and Iceland
leads the world percentage wise. The Philippines
generate 27% of their electricity from geothermal sources followed by Iceland
with 17%. Geothermal energy is growing rapidly now that energy prices are
spiraling upwards. There are still many places to be developed and with
careful management this resource will be a bright spot for many countries
in the future of energy production.
Photo
Voltaic generation is still very much up in the air. How ever it is also
becoming more attractive as the rise in energy prices accelerate. The cost
to produce solar cells is expensive and the efficiency is poor 10% to 15%
being average and at best and most expensive 18%. That means that the
energy a solar cell generates from the light hitting is is only 10% to 18%
of the total energy available to the solar cell. The picture gets brighter
all the time though. At present there is a great deal of research going on
and money being invested to increase the efficiency of photo voltaic cells
and scientist hope to bring online cells that operate at 80% efficiency.
At the same time there are promising new techniques being developed that
may dramatically reduce the cost of solar cell production. I have not done
the math so I don't know how the ratio to area plays out. In case you are interested
in doing the math here is a starting place. The most one could expect to
glean from an imaginary solar cell operating at 100% efficiency in full
sunlight is about 100 watts per square meter. If you perform the
calculations to determine the area required to run an average
household I would be interested in hearing about your results.
Lynn@fishtackler dot net (substitute a .
for dot)
Here is my proposal
for an inexhaustible and unlimited source of energy. There is a source of
unlimited energy and when I say, "unlimited" I mean unlimited, inexhaustible,
endless, perpetual, and never ending! Like all the other possible energy sources
my suggestion needs a lot of research and development before we can harvest it.
Here is what it will do for earthlings if we can solve the associated problems.
We will be able to provide all nations with clean cheap power. Unlimited cheap
energy means manufacturing costs would plummet. It would mean that exotic
materials and compounds once too expensive to produce could be made in
abundance. What about all the heat produced as a by product? How can we use
that much energy with out exacerbating our global warming problems? If we have
unlimited energy then we have the ability to heat and cool or air condition the
Earth as needed. An endless energy supply means we could desalinize all the
water a thirsty Earth could use. It would mean that we could terraform places
like Mars, mine mineral rich asteroids and colonize the moon, . The
possibilities are almost as endless as the energy source.
Imagine our Earth the size of this period. swimming in a stream of energy. The stream
this dot is immersed in would be as wide as the Pacific Ocean.
This stream represents the energy released each second by the sun. The ocean
rushing past that does not strike the dot represents the energy available to an
advancing civilization. The Earth receives far less than a trillionth of the
energy that the sun sends out in all directions to be lost in space. We
are at the point of, "sink or swim," Let's choose to swim. Let’s find
ways to collect the rich energy source surrounding the Earth. Let's find ways
to focus that energy Earthward. Let's find out how to anchor solar collectors
in space to keep the solar winds from causing them to drift. Let’s not sit back
in resignation thinking it is too hard or even impossible. It is critical that
we find ways to harness this energy. As Winston Churchill said during the
battle for Briton, ‘’ It is not enough that we do our best; sometimes we have
to do what's required!"
Maybe a time will come that will bring a better and brighter future with plentiful energy for all and less inequality
for the masses. I would love to hear your comments, theories, criticisms and especially
your opinions. Email me at
Lynn@fishtackler dot net (substitute a .
for the word dot. This protects me from spam.)