Another Energy Rant...

I'm going to keep this up until someone listens, damnit!

In the 1940's we had the Manhattan Project and we harnessed the power of the atom, and we won the most crucial war mankind has ever fought.

We didn't abdicate science and math once the bomb reigned supreme. Instead, we forged on, and Kennedy challenged us with the space race. We sort of won it. We were first to the moon, and we declared victory, and went home. And developed a space plane.(?!?!?)

Now we have surpassed Peak Oil, and it isn't just me and a few cranks saying so. Read the transcript of today's Talk of the Nation and tell me I'm still the Lone Flake.

We have ignored the yellow elephant in the living room for too damn long, and now he needs to go outside, or the bad thing is going to happen. I don't want to clean up that mess. I would rather enlarge the door now, before the inevitable happens on my new aspen-wood floor.

There is no reason to continue down the dead-end path of a fossil fueled economy other than to enrich a few. A hundred and fifty years ago, an economic engine was in place, all it needed was a fuel source. Gasoline turned out to be that source. OOPS.

Our country would look drastically different today if we had selected a fuel source that signaled responsible stewardship of the land, but we didn't and hindsight is 20/20. We gotta work with the hand we were dealt. Nobody likes having to draw to an inside baby-straight, but sometimes that's all you've got to work with. You gonna fold as soon as the ante is in? I'm not. I may parlay it into taking the pot. It's happened before.

Without turning this into a dissertation on Environmental Biology, I want to toss some thoughts out there for consideration.

Flexible Fuels Cars are already here. Flex-fuels cars can burn regular gas, or they can burn e85 which is 85% ethanol and 15% regular gas. Next time you are car shopping, look for the flex-fuel leaf. Or buy a hybrid. But flex-fuel is available on the used-car market.

Biomass Diesel is already on the road. What's wrong with pollution smelling like French fries? This needs to be developed further. Fat's are nasty to dispose of. Why not use them to transport more frozen french fries to more fast food joints to be fried up in vats of oil destined to become more biodiesel? Talk about Win-Win! How about Win! Win! Win! Win!

Wind It blows all the damn time. As long as we have water surrounding our nation and big bodies of water dividing it up, we will have wind. The energy is there, just harness it already. Farmers did over a hundred years ago, back when they needed water and the REA hadn't run a pipe across their ridge yet. Take a page of Grandpa's book, and learn how to set up a windmill. Then put the god-damn wiring underground! Don't be an idiot!

Solar It's a given! If you live where the sun shines regularly, then it's kinda silly of you to pay the gas or electric company to keep a tank of water hot that you use briefly and intermittently. I seem to recall reading somewhere that every home in America could have free hot water, including the installation of the panels and reservoir tanks, for less than the cost of bringing one new power plant on line. I gotta find that source, because if it isn't a pipe-dream, it's a good quote.

Geo-Thermal This isn't a huge player east of the Mississippi, but it is a viable alternative in western states. There is more to geysers than Old Faithful!

Green Cars This is the coolest idea I have ever heard of, and I once owned a home where the wood bin for the fireplace opened in the garage to load it and in the living room to feed the fire. I don't have the link handy, but if I find it I will post it. A couple of Sunday's back, the Times ran a front-page story about "Green Cars." Green Cars are community owned vehicles. If I understand it, it works like this: When one goes to get a drivers license, an additional fee is assessed for the citizens that elect to utilize the service. When a member needs to use a vehicle, they go on-line and reserve the car, and activate their key. This works especially well for residents who live and work in close proximity. I know I would jump at the opportunity to have decent public transit and the use of a well-maintained community car for treks off the regular or convenient public transportation route.

Go ahead, call me a Socialist, I can take it....But we gotta do something about energy! It's been a pressing issue for a long time. Now we've reached critical mass. And India and China stand poised to beat us up and take our lunch money.