My take on Oil, Coal, NG and Nuclear as sources of energy

[madokie]

As long as we continue to rely on oil, coal, Natural Gas and Nuclear for our energy needs many technologies will be passed up, not looked at seriously or plain ignored. There is a whole host of technologies that are for the most part benign, in comparing to the three I listed, that aren't even being taken seriously because of the present energy lobby.
We have solar that could be doing a lot more if we'd get serious and fund it. One of the side effects of using solar is the removal of some of the heat. When some of the energy of the sun is siphoned off to make electrons less is left to make heat, something we need less of today but thats totally ignored or I don't see any reference to it in anything I read about solar so I have no choice except to believe its not being looked at.
We have wind that could be doing a lot more if we'd get more serious about it, promote its use by small towns like the one I live in for instance, all the small towns around me as well. I don't have any idea as to the amount of electrical energy we could get here in Chouteau, Ok by utilizing our wind potential but any would be better than none and the wind does blow here most days.
We have geothermal that is for the most part ignored that we could also mine for precious metals we'll be needing in the near future, google is your friend, that we are reliant on china for today that is passed off as its only available in a few places. True its not presently available everywhere but could be in many more locales if we'd use some of the other technologies that we have to make that happen. We can drill miles into the earth for oil today so why not drill miles to tap into the heat that is down there for instance.
We can use the power of expansion that heat gradients could give us. Our present air conditioners are an example of that energy and the potential is all around us for that one. The power of expansion is one of the strongest sources of energy that we know of today, in fact much of the energy that we use is derived from that alone. Think internal combustion engines that are used in almost all our cars and trucks, think steam turbines that are used to spin the generators that make our electricity, all of which is the power of expansion, or maybe I should refer to it as the power of phase change, whichever.
We have wave power that isn't even taken seriously except for a few visionaries and is scoffed at by many as pie in the sky. Its always going to be there no matter what we do with other technologies and its right here under our noses.

We have the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster that is not going to go away anytime soon that still has the potential to make a large section of an island uninhabitable by humans as an example of the folly of the path we're presently on. Twenty five years later the area around Chernobyl is still not safe to live in as an example of the long term problems that nuclear energy brings to the table.
We just had the BP oil disaster in our own gulf that will take many years to recover from, if we even do, is also an example of the folly of the present path we've taken.
We have an environment that is an example of what happens when we let the dollar speak louder than common sense, regulations and government involvement.
We have options for our energy needs today, its the will and leadership that we're lacking. The power and riches of the present system we have is stifling any and most all attempts to do better.
We can do better than what we'd doing today and if we want to survive as humans on this planet we call home we'd better get busy with our options.

Peace and have a wonderful day

[NYC_SKP]

1. Tesla: "If we use fuel to get our power, we are living on our capital and exhausting it rapidly."

THE POWER OF THE FUTURE

We have at our disposal three main sources of life-sustaining energy—fuel, water-power and the heat of the sun's rays. Engineers often speak of harnessing the tides, but the discouraging truth is that the tidewater over one acre of ground will, on the average, develop only one horse-power. Thousands of mechanics and inventors have spent their best efforts in trying to perfect wave motors, not realizing that the power so obtained could never compete with that derived from other sources. The force of wind offers much better chances and is valuable in special instances, but is by far inadequate. Moreover, the tides, waves and winds furnish only periodic and often uncertain power and necessitate the employment of large and expensive storage plants. Of course, there are other possibilities, but they are remote, and we must depend on the first of three resources.

If we use fuel to get our power, we are living on our capital and exhausting it rapidly. This method is barbarous and wantonly wasteful, and will have to be stopped in the interest of coming generations.

The heat of the sun's rays represents an immense amount of energy vastly in excess of water-power. The earth receives an equivalent of 83 foot-pounds per second for each square foot on which the rays fall perpendicularly. From simple geometrical rules applying to a spherical body it follows that the mean rate per square foot of the earth's surface is one-quarter of that, or 20 3/4 foot-pounds. This is to say over one million horse-power per square mile, or 250 times the water-power for the same area. But that is only true in theory; the practical facts put this in a different aspect. For instance, considering the United States, and taking into account the mean latitude, the daily variation, the diurnal changes, the seasonal variations and casual changes, this power of the sun's rays reduces to about one-tenth, or 100,00 horse-power per square mile, of which we might be able to recover in high-speed low-pressure turbines 10,000 horse-power. To do this would mean the installment of apparatus and storage plants so large and expensive that such a project is beyond the pale of the practical. The inevitable conclusion is that water-power is by far our most valuable resource. On this humanity must build its hopes for the future. With its full development and a perfect system of wireless transmission of the energy to any distance man will be able to solve all the problems of material existence. Distance, which is the chief impediment to human progress, will be completely annihilated in thought, word and action. Humanity will be united, wars will be made impossible and peace will reign supreme. http://www.tfcbooks.com/tesla/1915-09-09.htm

:kick:

[madokie]

3. I do believe the answer for the most part lies in the heat and light from the sun

directly in photo voltaic and the power of expansion by utilizing the heat, or phase change whichever a person prefers to refer to that energy.
Thanks

Although I do agree with Tesla on much of his thoughts/work I don't take his word as gospel.

[NYC_SKP]

9. Indeed. Even wind power is due to heat and light from the sun.

The uneven heating of the Earth's surface by the sun creates the wind.

All of our sources are originally Solar except for uranium and geothermal.

[russspeakeasy]

2. I agree. The options are right under our noses.

But the big oil dollar speaks so loudly it's hard to hear the alternatives.
Government is not the answer, as you pointed out. It will take a change in societal attitudes to move us in the right direction.
No one that I know of that is in, or running for office, has much interest in bucking big oil, or coal.
While I am glad to see the price of gas coming down, it once again puts alternatives on the back burner.
Thank you for your post.

[kristopher]

4. You might want to check out companies like Futura Solar

Light, heat and electricity

Every building is a real-time solar collector, gathering light and heat. Its primary collecting surface is its roof. But unfortunately we don’t put that hot rooftop energy to good use. Even in this time of increased awareness about greenhouse gases and energy conservation, most of that rooftop energy goes to waste rather than being harnessed to make hot water or electricity.

Futura Solar LLC offers an efficient low cost way to put that rooftop energy to work – via a patented application that combines existing technologies into a structurally integrated solar roofing system.

The most cost effective way to gather this rooftop energy is to do it right the first time – when a building is built from the ground up. Yet many buildings are also undergoing modifications such as repair, retrofit or redesign. This means there are perfect opportunities to bring efficient, cost-effective solutions to problems of expensive heating and cooling or electric energy by rethinking rooftop energy capture and utilization.

Futura Solar’s Sawtooth Solar Daylighter (an A-frame system), can be applied to buildings large and small, from shopping malls to schools and ‘big box’ type buildings. The sawtooth array pictured above becomes the roof, and the roof becomes the array. The tri-truss design replaces a portion of the main building supports (two expanded joists). It is then combined with an Air Heater (southside) and Ventilator Window (northside) built onto the tri-truss, making for ultra-efficient capture of both incident and reflected solar light.

Is solar power...

http://futurasolar.com/

[madokie]

5. Have you ever checked out how our native American built their teepee's

They used the energy from the sun to help keep warm in the winter and cool in the summer by the way they covered the poles that supported their dwellings with hides allowing for air movement. The way they used two layers with air flowing between the two. Sometimes for something to do check out an authentic teepee's. Not a whole lot unlike what you're linking to here.

I think in some cases solar can be considered power.

[OKIsItJustMe]

6. "One of the side effects of using solar is the removal of some of the heat."

Hopefully, it goes without saying by now that I am a fan of solar, however, I don't think this is one of solar's advantages.

Solar panels by design capture sunlight, the more, the better.

Much of the energy from the sunlight generates heat directly, and some of it generates electricity. Of course, eventually, the electricity also becomes heat. All energy eventually becomes heat.

[madokie]

7. I guess in the grand scheme of things that would be right

Last edited Mon Jun 25, 2012, 08:38 AM - Edit history (1)

I wasn't looking that far down the chain. Thanks for clearing that up for me

grammer

[OKIsItJustMe]

10. Quite alright

That being said, the heat we generate is a relatively minor concern, compared with the amount of heat we trap with greenhouse gases, preventing it from leaking back into space.

[Kolesar]

8. New construction will give us buildings that use almost no energy

...as compared to the existing stock of buildings and homes that consume a major portion of humans' non-renewable energy budget.