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Politics : Actual left/right wing discussion -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: one_less who wrote (6)	9/5/2006 1:00:55 PM
From: TimF	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10087

Hydro and wind (esp. hydro) are often big mass power generators not small local community power solutions. You can build a single wind mill or a small water wheel in a local stream, but most hydro-power comes from large rivers that have been damned, and if that changes in the future it would only change from having large power plants using tidal forces or something like that. Windmills are perhaps a likely source for small scale generation, but they will be very unlikely to be a really significant percentage of our electricity generation, esp. if you focus on the small scale (rather than huge fields of towering windmills). Biofuel would probably be processed in large scale plants. Fuel cells require fuel that has to come from somewhere and probably won't come from the community. Fuel cells are more like a battery than they are a power plant. I suppose you could buy the cell loaded with chemicals and recharge it from solar cells or windmills or whatever, but I still think most people are likely to rely on the main power grid for the foreseeable future.

To: one_less who wrote (6)	9/5/2006 1:48:56 PM
From: tonto	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 10087

Hydro technology continues to move forward. It is close to coming to market, many people are working on it...I met two gentlemen that have been working on it for some years, they were involved in jet propulsion previosuly for NASA amd various companies and have a good track record. The start up costs shall be significant, but the long term use makes it feasible with today's technology. The first one they believe must be financed by the taxpayers since industry follows the rule, never be the first nor the last...

To: one_less who wrote (6)	9/5/2006 7:32:04 PM
From: Wharf Rat	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 10087

What will happen with SS? In 25 months and 10 days, it will begin paying Rat 200-400 bucks a month more than he needs to live on. God Bless FDR. Is power/fuel independence feasable? It better be, and it needs to happen within 10 years. It's a matter not only of keeping our society functioning in the era of declining energy resources, but of national security. I'm sick of blood for oil. Can it be done? This is too long. I'll answer it in the next post. Frankly, I expect a major world population die-off beginning within the next 15 years. A few energy stories from the last few days... Ghana's major industrial users of power are the Volta Aluminium Company (Valco), which is owned jointly by the Ghanaian government and Alcoa, and the gold miners, including AngloGold Ashanti, Gold Fields, Newmont and Golden Star. Aluminium smelters are huge electricity users, dwarfing the mines, but only some of the Valco smelters are in operation. AngloGold is a bigger user of electricity in Ghana than Gold Fields, partly because AngloGold operates Ghana's only underground mine at Obuasi, which depends on electricity to power ventilation and pumps. But Ghana is a bigger contributor to Gold Fields' overall operations than it is for AngloGold. == Moscow mayor says winter energy deficit could reach 20% (Russia largest oil produced in the world) MOSCOW - Moscow's mayor warned Tuesday that the capital could face an energy deficit of 20% this winter, sparking concerns that temporary business closures seen in January could be repeated. "Energy consumption is abnormal at present and the deficit registered in the past is very large," Yury Luzhkov said. ============= World War III more likely from oil grabs than radical Islam All at theoildrum.com ============== Iraq to up fuel imports for 2006 (OPEC member) Iraq's infrastructure has suffered years of under-investment Iraq is planning on spending some $800m (£422m) on importing oil in 2006, to counter a fuel shortage, the government has said. == Last year's news...(OPEC member) JULY 4, 2005 The OPEC Stalwart That Imports Oil Indonesia's output has been lagging for years, so it's gunning for foreign investment-fast Indonesia's energy minister, Purnomo Yusgiantoro, must feel funny at times going to OPEC meetings. Indonesia is the only OPEC member that isn't a net oil exporter, and yet it continues to pay millions of dollars in annual dues to keep its membership. Over the past 16 years, Indonesia's oil production has declined 1.5% a year, while consumption has grown at 5.4% annually. Today, Indonesia imports about 60,000 barrels of oil a day, compared with exports of 27,000 bbl. daily last year. businessweek.com