I.
Scotland continues to lead the way in renewable energy conversion and plans to meet, rather exceed, their 2011 goals. That's only 3 years from now, by the way, for anyone who thinks it would take too long to convert away from oil in the US. This article, reporting the announcement of construction of Europe's largest windfarm, notes that energy from Scottish renewables already exceeds that from nuclear. Today, not ten years from now, Scots are getting their energy from wind, water, etc. Is there anything the Scots can do that we, Americans, can't?
For more articles reporting the dynamic conversion in which the Scots are engaged, check the links in my right-hand column, Scottish Links.
II.
The article I linked above mentions Alec Salmond, and it's improbable that American readers know who that is--here's his brief from Wiki. There's an interesting situation brewing between the Scots and the English. When I first started seeing this idea in the news, I thought it was just references to antiquated ideals of Scottish independence, but as I kept reading, I began to realize there's a real sentiment in Scotland, some in England, for the Scots to go it alone. (This article gives a brief review of events leading to today's position.) Naturally, not every Scot is in favor of independence, but the party headed by Alec Salmond continues to spearhead the effort.
The Brits and Scots have an interesting parliamentary arrangement (devolution) in which the Scots convene a kind of Scottish sub-parliament under the umbrella of the greater British parliament. The Scots hold seats on both, and Scots vote on both, but only Scots can vote in the Scottish parliament, although they receive general monies.
The Brits complain that they don't have a say over what happens to that money, because only Scots get to vote on Scottish-only affairs. Scots, though, also get to vote on English-only affairs. In effect, the Scots (if they had enough power) could block funding to an English program, yet approve it for a similar Scottish one. See the problem?
The parliamentary organization of Great Britain is wa-aa-aay over my head, so I'm in no position to judge, but it's fascinating to watch this ancient, historical dispute continue into modern times, played out in national politics.
Even if Scotland remains tied to the government of Great Britain, they will soon be energy-independent, relying on their native, renewable resources, and that is a far greater independence in this energy-crazed world.
By the fire one should drink ale, one should slide over the ice.
Showing posts with label wind energy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wind energy. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Renewable Energy II
If you're still campaigning for exploration of oil in Alaska, for off-shore drilling and for coal, then you're behind the times, a dinosaur, and you're, frankly, bringing the rest of us down. Our future and independence is in renewable, energy resources. No more of this archaic, messy, expensive, wasteful, poisonous gunk. From now on, America will use geothermal, wind, wave, solar and biomass resources to generate energy.
The Pickens Plan, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, Montana, Solar Energy International, North Carolina, Nevada, Hawaii, New Jersey
There are just a few of the news articles I found in a quick search. Americans are getting with the program! We can do it!
The Pickens Plan, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, Montana, Solar Energy International, North Carolina, Nevada, Hawaii, New Jersey
There are just a few of the news articles I found in a quick search. Americans are getting with the program! We can do it!
Monday, June 23, 2008
Jimmy Carter-Ahead of His Time
From the Wikipedia article for Jimmy Carter:
In 1973, during the Nixon Administration, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) agreed to reduce supplies of oil available to the world market. This sparked an oil crisis and forced oil prices to rise sharply, spurring price inflation throughout the economy, and slowing growth. Significant government borrowing helped keep interest rates high relative to inflation.
In 1977 Carter had convinced the Democratic Congress to create the United States Department of Energy. Promoting the department's recommendation to conserve energy, Carter wore sweaters, had solar hot water panels installed on the roof of the White House, had a wood stove in his living quarters, ordered the General Services Administration to turn off hot water in some federal facilities, and requested that Christmas decorations remain dark in 1979 and 1980. Nationwide controls were put on thermostats in government and commercial buildings to prevent people from raising temperatures in the winter (above 65 degrees Fahrenheit) or lowering them in the summer (below 78 degrees Fahrenheit). Carter also donned a cardigan sweater to emphasize the point. (Speed limits were reduced to 55mph around this time, and tax incentives were made available to people who installed solar panels.)
Along with my parents, I watched Jimmy Carter in a speech on TV, asking the American people to conserve energy. We listened, and my family was behind him 110%. My dad bought a Volkswagen diesel Rabbit, which got about 10,000 mpg. We had three solar panels installed on the house. We installed a fireplace in the living room. We kept the thermostat at 65 in the winter and wore sweaters. We didn't have air conditioning then so that wasn't an issue!
When Ronald Reagan came into office, suddenly no one cared about conserving energy anymore. The crisis was over, and we had plenty of oil and gas. But my dad...he still cared and continued to keep the thermostat down. He still does. I inherited a consciousness and conscience about energy conservation, and since 1980 and today, it's been a teeth-grinding experience for me to watch the U.S. continue to rely heavily on fossil fuels. When we started going to war over it, it was more than frustrating.
I see articles on the internet and opinions in the newspaper about how much oil is still in the ground and how many years these reserves will last. Some people (oil execs?) urge we should increase drilling to solve today's high gas prices. They want to increase off-shore drilling and dig into ANWR. What a brilliant idea! We'll just put off the final disaster for the next generation! It worked once, when Reagan came into office; we can do it again! Like KS R-Rep. Todd Tiahrt said, "There's this romantic image of ANWR. There's a reason nobody lives up there." Why would we care to preserve Alaska for our kids anyway? Besides, the Exxon Valdez was just a one-time accident.
We're paying ridiculous prices for gasoline, not because we're not drilling hard or fast enough, but because we were short-sighted and didn't invest in solar and wind energy like President Carter urged. I know no one reads about history, but this history is only 30 years ago. If we don't read, can't we just remember? I have a better idea than increased drilling. Maybe we can finally convert to solar, wind, bio and wave energy, leaving a legacy as a responsible generation who invested in our environmental and economic future by providing renewable, resource options for our children. Call me crazy....
______________________________________________________________
I wrote the above blog a week ago, before I learned about Bush's tragic push for oil. At that time, I didn't post it because one of my objectives with this blog is not to air my rants, but to present the life of a person choosing positive options, the life of a person who wishes no ill on others and doesn't inflict any. Much of what we do is not bad in itself, but evil only because we try to make other people do it, too. If more people would mind their own business and take care not to impose their wills on other folks, the world would be a better place. In lieu of posting, I added President Carter's Speech, labeled 31 years ago, to my right column and left it to people to read for themselves. That day I posted about the mystic literature I've been reading.
With that in mind, I'll try not to rant about the oil, especially not today when I've learned that George Carlin died. Without George here to remind us how silly we really are, we might start taking ourselves too seriously. Today, I'll try to take the long view, the Carlin view, the only view that can keep me sane.
America is an excrutiatingly, young country. Because we are poorly educated in world history as a whole, we Americans forget how brief and inconstant we truly are. We are a flash in the pan. It is possible we could be more...just possible, but if we continue to pursue exploitative and short-term goals, we will suffer the inevitable end. It's not easy to be a survivor, and those empires which have done it seem to have shared one feature, a succession of great leaders with long-term vision.
America is standing at a transitory position in history as regards its energy use. I'm halfway through my lifetime and will probably die before the consequences of our decisions are met. President Bush, much older than I, will no longer be around to see the effect of his maladroit policies. We can all look at this as George Carlin would have, that in the long run the Earth will not suffer from our stupidities, because we'll all be extinct. In a shorter view, our children will probably still live in a country we call America, but it's strange to know that even in one more generation, that of our grandchildren, the country could fail, a victim of poor, resource conservation and short-sighted foreign policies.
I haven't given up hope--Bush might still be stopped, the 'new green' politics might delay him until American voters can get him replaced with Obama--but I'm preparing for the worse. Offshore drilling may go forward. We might get a new dose of oil from the Middle East. We might elect McCain and reject a future of renewable, energy resource. If all that happens, then falling back on Carlin's philosophies may be all I have left to replace the sadness and regret which will, invariably, outlast all this frustration and outrage.
In 1973, during the Nixon Administration, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) agreed to reduce supplies of oil available to the world market. This sparked an oil crisis and forced oil prices to rise sharply, spurring price inflation throughout the economy, and slowing growth. Significant government borrowing helped keep interest rates high relative to inflation.
In 1977 Carter had convinced the Democratic Congress to create the United States Department of Energy. Promoting the department's recommendation to conserve energy, Carter wore sweaters, had solar hot water panels installed on the roof of the White House, had a wood stove in his living quarters, ordered the General Services Administration to turn off hot water in some federal facilities, and requested that Christmas decorations remain dark in 1979 and 1980. Nationwide controls were put on thermostats in government and commercial buildings to prevent people from raising temperatures in the winter (above 65 degrees Fahrenheit) or lowering them in the summer (below 78 degrees Fahrenheit). Carter also donned a cardigan sweater to emphasize the point. (Speed limits were reduced to 55mph around this time, and tax incentives were made available to people who installed solar panels.)
Along with my parents, I watched Jimmy Carter in a speech on TV, asking the American people to conserve energy. We listened, and my family was behind him 110%. My dad bought a Volkswagen diesel Rabbit, which got about 10,000 mpg. We had three solar panels installed on the house. We installed a fireplace in the living room. We kept the thermostat at 65 in the winter and wore sweaters. We didn't have air conditioning then so that wasn't an issue!
When Ronald Reagan came into office, suddenly no one cared about conserving energy anymore. The crisis was over, and we had plenty of oil and gas. But my dad...he still cared and continued to keep the thermostat down. He still does. I inherited a consciousness and conscience about energy conservation, and since 1980 and today, it's been a teeth-grinding experience for me to watch the U.S. continue to rely heavily on fossil fuels. When we started going to war over it, it was more than frustrating.
I see articles on the internet and opinions in the newspaper about how much oil is still in the ground and how many years these reserves will last. Some people (oil execs?) urge we should increase drilling to solve today's high gas prices. They want to increase off-shore drilling and dig into ANWR. What a brilliant idea! We'll just put off the final disaster for the next generation! It worked once, when Reagan came into office; we can do it again! Like KS R-Rep. Todd Tiahrt said, "There's this romantic image of ANWR. There's a reason nobody lives up there." Why would we care to preserve Alaska for our kids anyway? Besides, the Exxon Valdez was just a one-time accident.
We're paying ridiculous prices for gasoline, not because we're not drilling hard or fast enough, but because we were short-sighted and didn't invest in solar and wind energy like President Carter urged. I know no one reads about history, but this history is only 30 years ago. If we don't read, can't we just remember? I have a better idea than increased drilling. Maybe we can finally convert to solar, wind, bio and wave energy, leaving a legacy as a responsible generation who invested in our environmental and economic future by providing renewable, resource options for our children. Call me crazy....
______________________________________________________________
I wrote the above blog a week ago, before I learned about Bush's tragic push for oil. At that time, I didn't post it because one of my objectives with this blog is not to air my rants, but to present the life of a person choosing positive options, the life of a person who wishes no ill on others and doesn't inflict any. Much of what we do is not bad in itself, but evil only because we try to make other people do it, too. If more people would mind their own business and take care not to impose their wills on other folks, the world would be a better place. In lieu of posting, I added President Carter's Speech, labeled 31 years ago, to my right column and left it to people to read for themselves. That day I posted about the mystic literature I've been reading.
With that in mind, I'll try not to rant about the oil, especially not today when I've learned that George Carlin died. Without George here to remind us how silly we really are, we might start taking ourselves too seriously. Today, I'll try to take the long view, the Carlin view, the only view that can keep me sane.
America is an excrutiatingly, young country. Because we are poorly educated in world history as a whole, we Americans forget how brief and inconstant we truly are. We are a flash in the pan. It is possible we could be more...just possible, but if we continue to pursue exploitative and short-term goals, we will suffer the inevitable end. It's not easy to be a survivor, and those empires which have done it seem to have shared one feature, a succession of great leaders with long-term vision.
America is standing at a transitory position in history as regards its energy use. I'm halfway through my lifetime and will probably die before the consequences of our decisions are met. President Bush, much older than I, will no longer be around to see the effect of his maladroit policies. We can all look at this as George Carlin would have, that in the long run the Earth will not suffer from our stupidities, because we'll all be extinct. In a shorter view, our children will probably still live in a country we call America, but it's strange to know that even in one more generation, that of our grandchildren, the country could fail, a victim of poor, resource conservation and short-sighted foreign policies.
I haven't given up hope--Bush might still be stopped, the 'new green' politics might delay him until American voters can get him replaced with Obama--but I'm preparing for the worse. Offshore drilling may go forward. We might get a new dose of oil from the Middle East. We might elect McCain and reject a future of renewable, energy resource. If all that happens, then falling back on Carlin's philosophies may be all I have left to replace the sadness and regret which will, invariably, outlast all this frustration and outrage.
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