You are exactly right Horace, we need to solve this problem as quickly
as possible. Drilling for oil or even building new reactors will take
many years, up to 10 years depending on who makes the estimate. In
contrast, putting up wind turbines is fast. The slow part is hooking
them to the grid in a massive way. If the country can keep its focus
while the price of energy goes back down, we might make some progress.
That is why the government is needed to encourage the free enterprise
system to keep investing in alternative energy even though it is no
longer profitable. Is this socialism?
Regards,
Ed
On Nov 1, 2008, at 3:43 PM, Horace Heffner wrote:
On Nov 1, 2008, at 1:18 PM, Jed Rothwell wrote:
Edmund Storms <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
This is exactly what Obama has proposed to do in contrast to
McCain who
wants to drill for oil and encourage nuclear power.
Just to clarify, Obama also supports nuclear power.
The candidates are actually close together on energy policy, at least
in their speeches and web sites.
[snip]
- Jed
I think it is a no brainer that for national security purposes the
US needs at least for an intermediate term an "all of the above"
energy policy, moderated by financial and timing feasibility and a
vision of longer term goals. Increased drilling can help short term
if it is done where delivery infrastructure is close by or quick to
build, like ANWR. A lot of the offshore options are just pie in the
sky things, like ITER. They shortly may even not be economical. I
also doubt if nuclear is even feasible short term, economically or
not. The law suits will take forever. Solar, wind, and grid
upgrades can be implemented immediately without conflict with long
term goals. The main problem is energy storage and that can be
ameliorated by large quantities of battery powered vehicles taking
on energy at good times as controlled by a networked smart meter
system, and other energy storage systems now available.
The above problems are like the proverbial draining of the swamp.
The immediate problem is the imminent destruction of the industry
and the progress made to date toward renewable energy. This is
more like an alligator taking chunks out of you while you work on
draining the swamp. It has to be dealt with very quickly.
Best regards,
Horace Heffner
http://www.mtaonline.net/~hheffner/
