Monday, June 7, 2010

Yin Yang

This is one of those push/pull kind of things.  For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. 

By example:  The Turks are pissed off at the Israelis for shooting up their blockade running cruise ship and have sworn revenge.  But it turns out that Israelis comprise the lion's share of tourists on Turkish Mediterranean beaches and out of fear, have been canceling vacation reservations by the thousands, thereby leaving dozens of Turkish tourist resorts in dire financial straights.  Who would've thought?

The same kind of impossible to foresee consequences occur in almost any and all human interactions and endeavors.  Let's look at energy.

Excepted from an article in the NY Times.

WASHINGTON — Burning fossil fuels costs the United States about $120 billion a year in health costs, mostly because of thousands of premature deaths from air pollution, the National Academy of Sciences reported in a study issued Monday...

Nearly 20,000 people die prematurely each year from such causes, according to the study’s authors, who valued each life at $6 million based on the dollar in 2000. ($6 Million?? I don't think so. C) Those pollutants include small soot particles, which cause lung damage; nitrogen oxides, which contribute to smog; and sulfur dioxide, which causes acid rain...

The study lends support to arguments that society should pay extra for energy from sources like the wind and the sun, because their indirect costs are extremely small.  (The logic behind this eludes me. C)  But it also found that renewable motor fuel, in the form of ethanol from corn, was slightly worse than gasoline in its environmental impact... 

Eethanol, a mixture of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent unleaded gasoline, or E85, showed slightly higher damages to environment and health than ordinary gasoline, because of the energy required to raise the corn and make ethanol from it...

This same cost/benefit applies to hydrogen and even electric vehicles as well.  The cost of producing the hydrogen and electricity outweighs the gains.

Now lets factor the environmental and economic costs of an uncontrolled oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico into the equation and see how the figures turn out.

Here's an idea:

7 comments:

  1. Well, I would like to comment, but the subject is just plain boorish.
    I got it.
    Things have to change.

    Let’s begin with something close to my heart.
    Motor racing!
    The Indy Racing League, with a new boss man, who just left the rodeo, (so this ain’t his first), has been humping Ethanol for years. Back Home Afuckingin in Indifuckin’Anna. Please get Gomer off the stage! I’m dying here.

    Oval racing needs to get a grip on fuel sources. Hey it started with horses and hay and a mile and a furlong (at the most).
    Now Jesus, Round and Round (with Brazilians and Japs and Australia and England and Wherethefuckisthat? for 500 miles, Jezzz my Knesss. 500 miles, I can mow the yard, take a shower, take a nap and still see the end of the fucking race!!! While cooking supper! Hell I could eat that horse for what it does these days. Oval Racing my ass.
    (but I digress)

    The cost of beef is rising ‘cause the farms sold the cattle to raise corn.
    NASCAR, ain’t no better, hell fire, I’ll’s be see’em and raise them one, 600 miles under lights. Sponsored by Coke! Buggied, booggidudy, buggiedy.
    I ‘teh you wah!!! Boy Howdy.
    “If you want to hang out you have to take it out…”

    Formula One.
    Rich fuckers showing up in Monaco Harbor ridin’ 200 foot yachts.

    So now your main man says he can:
    A) put compressed air in a container for free. My first clue.
    B) This guy thinks (Jules Gabriel Verne, 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) a guy born over 180 years, was born on his birthday. This was my second clue about his credibility.
    C) “it has to be compressed, and then it will…” solidified my concept of his mind set.
    D) ToWit? Now your stuck in the fucking woods, husking’ corn and hunting for deer and you need to hump 500 #’s of compressed air to get back on the road. And the fucking car is stuck in the mud, cause is slid off into the ditch. Light weight and all.
    E) What the hell are these guys drinking?
    F) $15,000.00!!! You’re kidding.

    So I don’t know what I might have to offer.
    I pray this missive is received with the joy and jocularity with which it was sent.

    ReplyDelete
  2. That's it! Hot air. Just think Punch, once they git them gawl dang perpetual motion air cars going they could have a race that never ends! The last man standing wins. Just imagine the commercial advertising rights. Bernie will roll over in his grave with envy.

    And.. since the only exhaust is cold air, imagine what an impact it will have on global warming. I can see it now... "The Indianapolis 5 Million, The Greenest Race On Earth!"

    ReplyDelete
  3. Another idea whose time has come:
    HEMP CAR
    http://www.hempcar.org/

    ReplyDelete
  4. There you have it! A car powered by hemp and you can smoke the exhaust! Why didn't I think of that? Everywhere you go people will spontaniously begin singing Kumbaya!

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  5. Looks interesting to me, maybe a solar panel on top to run the compressor? I still think hydrogen has a lot of possibilities too, some youtube videos make it look pretty easy to make. Plus think of all the inventions the oil companies have bought up and kept quiet over the years. I'm all ready to move away from oil, as long as I don't have to pay some B.S. carbon tax to do it.

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  6. Horses. How about horses? The thing about a horse is, you can put one of those bag things on it's front, and the damned thing will go damn near all day long...'til it drops if you want it to.

    So stick a bag on the front, and a cylinder of compressed air on it's haunches, and a hose up it's ass. Unlimited mileage.

    ReplyDelete

Sorry about the comment thingy folks. Too much spam.