Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Wharf Rat who wrote (252195)	12/24/2007 1:12:27 AM
From: Wharf Rat	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

Can't be done if you never start. This is so cool. My son just called and told me about this. Bounced some ideas off each other, re connected with a coal plant for sequestration, use it for growing algae for biofuels, ... We need to go to Oz. A Tower in Oz to Touch the Sun DaithÃ Ã“ hAnluain 09.06.02 \| 2:00 AM Last week the Australian government added its support, but no cash, to a hugely ambitious renewable energy project: the 1 kilometer-high solar tower. The project is a solar-generated wind farm on a massive scale. It works on the principle of convection -- hot air rises -- and the tower functions like a chimney. In a big chimney, air can rise very quickly. The air reaches 65 degrees Celsius at a speed of 35 mph toward the center of the 7-kilometer collector -- essentially a big greenhouse. As it rises, it turns specially designed wind turbines and produces electricity. When night falls, heat stored in solar cells during the day is released and continues to turn the turbines. Unlike traditional wind farms, the tower doesn't have to rely on the weather for a good crop. It produces its own wind, 24 hours a day. The project resembles a modern tower of Babel, and it's almost as ambitious. It will be nearly double the height of the world's tallest structure, the CN Tower in Canada. It will be visible from space as well as 80 miles away at ground level. If it is built. Its chief promoter, EnviroMission, is very serious about the plan, and the company has some very serious people who say they can do it. For starters, the Australian federal government recently awarded the tower Major Project Facilitation Status. It means the project is of major public interest, has the moral backing of the Australian government and will be fast-tracked by government agencies. The government couldn't wait to get in on the act. "This project confirms Australia as a world leader in renewable energy production aimed at reducing greenhouse gases. The EnviroMission venture will represent the world's first full-scale application of this new solar technology," said Ian Macfarlane, Australia's federal minister of Industry, Tourism and Resources. The project's credibility is enhanced by the technology's developers, German structural engineers Schlaich Bergermann and Partner (SBP), one of the world's most prestigious design companies. SBP has previously experimented with other alternative energy sources, notably a solar power-collecting dish that can reach temperatures of 700 degrees. "We developed the solar tower prototype in Spain after the oil crises of the early '80s," says Wolfgang Schiel. "But we didn't get a chance to develop the system because everybody thought oil would go up to $36 a barrel and actually it dropped to $15 and everybody lost interest." Until now. The prospect of climate change and the demand for carbon emissions control has given new impetus and financial feasibility to the It's also impressed environmental activists abroad. "Such a plant may be relatively costly to build compared with a conventional wind farm," said Robin Harper of the Green Party in Scotland. "But its advantage is that it can run when there is no wind and also at night. "This gets around the problem of having to store energy, one of the biggest criticisms of most existing wind and solar technologies." A 1-kilometer tower can produce 200 megawatts, enough electricity to power 200,000 homes. This energy output will represent an annual savings of 830,000 tons of greenhouse CO2 gases from entering the atmosphere. "One of these plants would produce as much electricity as a small nuclear reactor, so they are a very serious proposition," Harper said. The tower would also have a huge tourism impact. In fact, the majority of the 50 jobs projected for the power plant would be in the visitor center. It takes just 15 staff members to run the station. Wentworth Shire, New South Wales -- the town where the solar tower will be located -- certainly sees its potential. "The significance of this project cannot be overstated," says Wentworth mayor Don McKinnon. The company says it hopes to begin construction early in 2003 and open the plant by late 2005 or early 2006. wired.com

To: Wharf Rat who wrote (252195)	12/25/2007 1:22:50 AM
From: Wharf Rat	Respond to of 281500

Yielding the moral high ground: Part II Republicans have every reason to share ownership of the climate issue Posted by Joseph Romm at 12:55 AM on 24 Dec 2007 This post is by ClimateProgress guest blogger Bill Becker, Executive Director of the Presidential Climate Action Project. In Part I, we saw how conservatives were turning their backs on the moral issue of our time -- global warming. Here we'll examine the many reasons conservatives should share ownership of this issue. Global warming and its solutions involve issues that are important to conservatives, progressives, Independents and even political agnostics. For example: National security: "Climate change can act as a threat multiplier for instability in some of the most volatile regions of the world, and it presents significant national security challenges for the United States," 11 retired admirals and generals concluded in a security analysis last April. "The increasing risks from climate change should be addressed now because they will almost certainly get worse if we delay." Jobs: The global need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is arguably the biggest entrepreneurial opportunity the United States has known. Billions of the world's people need access to clean energy, a market of unprecedented scale. Here in the United States, according to an analysis by the Management Information Services in Washington, D.C., energy efficiency and renewable energy can create 40 million jobs by mid-century, at skill levels stretching from entry level to the highly technical. Competitiveness: Two of the fastest-growing renewable energy technologies today -- solar electric cells and wind turbines -- were invented in the United States, but we gave up our lead to Japan, Germany and Denmark ... and China! We need to get it back. America remains the world's top innovator; unleashing that talent is a key to our economic security in a post-carbon world. If we want to be the global market leader in green technologies, little steps and tentative leadership won't do the job. As Sam Walton said in building his business empire: "Incrementalism is innovation's worst enemy. We don't want continuous improvement; we want radical change." Conservation: A long-time theme among some progressive Republican leaders has been the need to put "conserve" back into "conservatism." Says Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich: "The group that I believe is the future of the American conservative movement and indeed the future of American politics are those who favor a green conservatism." As governor of California, Ronald Reagan got it, too. There is an "absolute necessity of waging all-out war against the debauching of the environment," he said in 1970 as American celebrated the first Earth Day. Since Teddy Roosevelt, presidents of both parties have stated a commitment to the health of the environment and, more recently, the climate. Freedom: "The real inconvenient truth about climate change," says Republican Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina, "is that some people are losing their rights and freedoms because of the actions of others -- in either the quality of the air they breathe, the geography they hold dear, the insurance costs they bear or the future environment of the children they love." Family: As Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) put it to Couric: "Let me put it this way to you. Suppose I'm wrong, there's no such thing as climate change, we adopt green technologies. Then we've just left our kids a better world. Suppose I am right and we do nothing? Then what kind of planet have we handed to our children?" America's Obligation to Lead: "The nations of the world must make common cause in defense of our environment," President George H.W. Bush said on Sept. 9, 1989. "And I promise you this: This nation, the United States of America, will take the lead internationally." The silence from the conservatives running for the GOP nomination (other than McCain) can't be blamed on a paucity of ideas. Any candidates looking to build a climate platform can turn, among other places, to the Presidential Climate Action Plan -- more than 300 specific proposals for the next President to implement during his or her first 100 days. TIME magazine calls it "The Global Warming Playbook." Many of its proposals could have come from the Republican caucus: $1 billion in incentive awards for breakthrough technologies, small business development as the engine to move technologies to market, an end to energy subsidies that amount to corporate welfare, carbon pricing to put some magic back into the marketplace, and even the elimination of the U.S. Department of Energy in favor of a smaller and more nimble agency. Back in 2005, before they threw their hats in the ring for the presidency, McCain and Clinton made a joint visit to Alaska to witness the effects of climate change first hand, sending the signal that this is an issue that both parties should embrace. So far, the rest of the GOP's presidential hopefuls are avoiding the embrace. Freedom, morality, competitiveness, a healthy economy, national security -- they all are traditional conservative issues. They also happen to be climate-action issues. Do conservatives really want to give them up for adoption? gristmill.grist.org