| Energy [message #58170] |
Fri, 15 May 2009 14:29  |
lisagurl 
Messages: 2131
Registered: October 2007
Location: inside |
Senior Member
BL3D |
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In total, the European lifestyle uses 125 kWh per day per person for transport, heating, manufacturing, and electricity. That's equivalent to every person having 125 light bulbs switched on all the time. The average American uses 250 kWh per day: 250 light bulbs.
And most of this energy today comes from fossil fuels. What are our post-fossil-fuel options?
Among the energy-saving options, two promising technology switches are the electrification of transportation (electric vehicles can be about four times as energy-efficient as standard fossil-fuel vehicles) and the use of electric-powered heat pumps to deliver winter heating and hot water (heat pumps can be four times as energy-efficient as standard heaters).
Among all the energy-supply technologies, the three with the biggest potential today are solar power, wind power and nuclear power.
As a thought-experiment, let's imagine that technology switches and lifestyle changes manage to halve American energy consumption to 125 kWh per day per person. How big would the solar, wind and nuclear facilities need to be to supply this halved consumption? For simplicity, let's imagine getting one-third of the energy supply from each.
To supply 42 kWh per day per person from solar power requires roughly 80 square meters per person of solar panels.
To deliver 42 kWh per day per person from wind for everyone in the United States would require wind farms with a total area roughly equal to the area of California, a 200-fold increase in United States wind power.
To get 42 kWh per day per person from nuclear power would require 525 one-gigawatt nuclear power stations, a roughly five-fold increase over today's levels.
I hope these numbers convey the scale of action required to put in place a sustainable energy solution. What about tidal power? What about wave power? What about geothermal energy, biofuels or hydroelectricity? In a short article, I can't discuss all the technology options.
But the sober message about wind and solar applies to all renewables: All renewables, much as I love them, deliver only a small power per unit area, so if we want renewable facilities to supply power on a scale at all comparable to our consumption, those facilities must be big.
If you don't want to build 1 million wind turbines, you can drill 1 million geothermal boreholes instead.
Before I close, I would like to say a few words about the idea that "the hydrogen economy" can magically solve our energy problems. The truth is that, in energy terms, today's hydrogen-powered vehicles don't help at all. Most prototype hydrogen-powered vehicles use more energy than the fossil-fuel vehicles they replace. The BMW Hydrogen 7, for example, uses 254 kWh per 100 km, but the average fossil car in Europe uses 80 kWh per 100 km.
In contrast, electric vehicles use far less energy: as little as 20 kWh per 100 km, or even 6 kWh per 100 km. The problem with hydrogen is that both the creation and the use of hydrogen are energy-inefficient steps. Adopting hydrogen as a transport fuel would increase our energy demand. And, as I hope the numbers above have shown, supplying energy to match our demand is not going to be easy.
The public discussion of energy options tends to be emotional, polarized, mistrustful and destructive. I hope that focusing attention on the numbers may make it possible to develop honest and constructive conversations about energy.
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| Re: Energy [message #58215 is a reply to message #58170 ] |
Sat, 16 May 2009 06:53  |
 Capucine 
Messages: 210
Registered: October 2007 |
Senior Member |
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Thank you, Lisa, for these figures. They are very revealing and helpful to clear thinking. I am very optimistic that both the energy crisis and global warming will work them selves out naturally. The energy aspect will be resolved by price. As the fossil fuels become rarer, so will the ingenuity of man to cope, using ever less energy to power his activities. People will move to habitable regions as the always have as the climate has changed. I suspect that carrying capacity may become a more urgent problem than simple warming.
On a personal note, my driving habits have changed over the last decade or so. I was driving in France a Cadillac for 9 miles to the US gallon, then a Italian sports car at 18 per gallon, and now I'm down to a Peugeot at 45 miles to the gallon. Slowly everyone is drifting in this direction, influenced more by price than ideology. Few are saving from conviction, just as people here in France are not really socialist except from monetary necessity.
i favor the French nuclear solution for electricity generation ( http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf40.html ) It has maintained a constant supply here with a flourishing export industry. Renewable sources are great, but they should be used for those exceptional opportunities of geographic or other circumstances.
The anglo-saxon invasions of the rest of the world are coming to an end. As they flow back to where they came from, they'll leave a trace of their passing, but then others will be at liberty to rebuild in their own visions.
Capucine
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| Re: Energy [message #70173 is a reply to message #70172 ] |
Fri, 09 October 2009 17:46 |
lisagurl
Messages: 2131
Registered: October 2007
Location: inside |
Senior Member
BL3D |
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No he has said some things that are solid facts then he has said things that are not true. Everything is not black or white just as the Democrats get some thing right and somethings very wrong. Each is playing with half a deck. I do not agree totally with any of what is on the media that is why I quote only parts and not the whole articles. People go to extremes like Gore. If he would stick to just facts and not try to blow up issues he might have more creditability.
[Updated on: Fri, 09 October 2009 17:47]
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| Re: Energy [message #71024 is a reply to message #70963 ] |
Sat, 17 October 2009 12:41 |
Katie
Messages: 14644
Registered: October 2007
Location: La La Land |
Senior Member
Administrator
Bitch Queen of Palolo
BL3D
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| lisagurl wrote on Fri, 16 October 2009 16:38 | | KayA wrote on Fri, 09 October 2009 15:19 | Lisa, but you quoted almost verbatim someone else's work and passed it off as your own....
Tsk Tsk
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I never claimed that anything I post is my own. I am not a writer or a speller.
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When you post within a forum where nearly everything else IS original -- and you do so in a format that matches the rest of that content -- it is assumed, by association, that your material is original. Ever hear of an 'ant mimic'? You could think of the problem as you're operating as a 'writer mimic'.
Lisa, may I suggest that, if you provide content that you have not authored, that you present it in such a way that your audience can tell the difference?
| lisagurl wrote on Fri, 16 October 2009 16:38 | Do I need to announce that the words are not mine because I use spell check?
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Depends. Do you find yourself troubled by an attack of conscience regarding this matter?
| lisagurl wrote on Fri, 16 October 2009 16:38 | I do not have the time or the motivation to write, especially since I do not get paid for it.
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I understand. Having a full time career does tax one's resources.
Erm ... what? You're retired? Um ... okay, then where DOES your time go? And if you have no time to generate any real content, then why are you here? Beginning Life is a transsexual support DISCUSSION forum. So DISCUSS already!
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| Re: Energy [message #71031 is a reply to message #71030 ] |
Sat, 17 October 2009 13:34 |
Katie
Messages: 14644
Registered: October 2007
Location: La La Land |
Senior Member
Administrator
Bitch Queen of Palolo
BL3D
Frequent Flyer |
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| lisagurl wrote on Sat, 17 October 2009 10:12 | | Quote: | Hmm ... okay. Would you mind citing some examples for our edification?
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Lets start with government bills like health care. They are mostly written by lobbyists. Then their are Scientific studies like drug studies paid ghost writers to do them for the researcher. Then there specifications that architects and engineers use that are taken from product catalogs and the list goes on.
Beside a forum is not copyright it is not even true writing it is speech. Anyone can and does exchange ideas all the time that are not original. But they provoke thought. For the most part Katie you are ashamed to sign you name and hide under the curtain of Admin as you have banned me. I am not ashamed or the least bit embraced to circulate ideas that make people think regardless of the words coming from my keys or someone else's.
Communication is about the exchange of ideas. Now if you want to make money then do not write on forums and copyright your keying.
As for my time yes I am retired but that does not mean I have time to waste. I live in a real live community not on line.
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Lisa, for the record, I did not ban you. I had neither the authority nor access to do so at the time. When action like that is taken, it is done so with the discussion and consent of the entire group administering BL -- hence the label of 'Administration' is employed and entirely appropriate.
You've brought up the topic of getting paid to write a few times now. Why does that matter within the context of this discussion?
You have no time to waste, you live in a real community. Allow me to repeat myself then: WHY ARE YOU HERE?
Lisa, let's cut to the chase: I want YOUR thoughts. YOUR thinking. YOUR VOICE. Quote, paste and insert anything you like, but PLEASE CITE YOUR SOURCE. I want to know when I'm considering your heart and soul, vs. material that has inspired you to share.
Think about it, this is the same thing I just asked of Jamie over in the Spirituality forum.
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