Energy System - Paradigm

The first thing we need to do is look at energy as a system and not just fuel. Our system has four parts:

1. Generation
2. Storage
3. Transmission
4. Utilization

Generation - conversion of fuel into some type of usable energy. This could be the generation of electricity, conversion of stored energy into motion (burning gasoline to make a car go, for example), or conversion of fuel into heat ( gas furnace, for example. The main thing is that you are changing stored energy into something usable.

Storage - if you are not going to immediately use the energy you have generated, then you need to store it. Batteries, lakes and basements filled with drums of water are examples.

Transmission - If you are not generating the energy near the point of use then you will have to get the energy from generator to point of use. Power lines, hydraulic hoses, and fan belts are examples.

Utilization - once you have the energy, how are you going to use it? how much of it is used to do the job and how much is wasted or used elsewhere in the system.

The main point to take away from this is that the energy crisis isn't just fuel. It is a problem with the whole system and to cure the crisis we have to develop/invent a new and better system.

Technorati tags: energy crisis, paradigm, system, energy

Energy - Introduction

If you haven't noticed yet, I use this blog to work-out ideas that the wife and I come up with when we go on road trips. Today's rant has to do with the Energy Paradigm and the need to radically shift it.

The current paradigm is centered on the burning of fossil fuels to generate energy in the form of electricity or some type of motion (e.g. cars, trucks, planes, ships, etc.) Fossil fuels, such as gasoline and diesel fuel, are great for vehicles because they are stable, full of energy, and relatively easy to refine from crude oil. Coal, on the other hand, is better suited for stationary conversion into electricity.

What about wind, nuclear, solar, or biofuels? Wind and solar are great for generating electricity in that you are feeding off an existing, renewable source of energy. The problem, though, is that the availability is erratic, and there is no way to effectively us it for directly powering vehicles. Nuclear is fraught with problems due to toxic waste products and biofuels need to be tweaked more so that the net energy produced is consistently positive (more energy produced then used to produce.)

Why not just stick with fossil fuels? Two words: finite supply. There is a finite supply of oil and coal on this planet and once it is gone, it is gone. The same is true for coal. Another problem is the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Already we are at 2% global concentration and the number is rising. Eventually, it will reach 4% at which point some scientist speculate all hell will break loose.

So, what is a group of highly motivated, highly intelligent Americans to do? We need to develop an energy system (yes, system) that is as easy to use as petrochemical, limitless as solar, doesn't produce carbon dioxide (like fossil fuels do) or toxic waste  products (like nuclear does), and which can be used to power houses, cars, factories, and everything else that we use energy for.

Are we up to the challenge?

Technorati tags: energy, fossil fuels, nuclear energy, solar, wind

Our Sputnik and Our JFK

Sputnik put the fear of God (and the Russians) in us when it launched on October 4, 1957. On that day NASA and the space race were born.

On May 25, 1961, John F. Kennedy challenged America to "before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him back safely to the earth.". On July 20, 1969, this task was accomplished when we landed two men on the moon and returned them and their companion safely to earth in Apollo 11.

How did we do this? In such a short span of years we went from sending a chimp into sub-orbit to having men walk on the moon. How could we accomplish this Herculean feat?

Inspiration and good old American Spunk. We, as a people, rose to the challenge. JFK said: "make it happen" and NASA engineers, the cream of the crop, got the job done.

Today, our Sputnik is the energy crisis and its evil sibling, global warming. Our Herculean task? Developing a source of energy that is plentiful, clean, renewable, and not based on carbon. The big question: who will be our JFK? Who will inspire us to reach the greatness as we did with the space race?

And will we be able to meet that challenge?

Technorati tags: energy, JFK, Kennedy, NASA, Space Race, Sputnik, oil, crisis