The sad part is that has indeed become a museum piece, one of the roads Jimmy Carter foresaw -- he didn't have the leadership ability to make this a "we-will-put-a-man-on-the-moon mission." The U.S. chose the wrong road due to many bad reasons, all well documented in Tom Friedman's latest book (Hot, Flat and Crowded).
The exciting part is the the new administration gets it... smart grid, wind, sun, and hopefully, a breakthrough technology. Now, more than ever, we have stop pouring CO2 into our atmosphere and we have to stop paying hundreds of billions of dollars to dictatorships dedicated to our downfall.
The MOST exciting part is that the current president has the raw leadership power to make it happen.
Mr. Obama has taken very strong positions on a number of issues of concern to all of us. He is not the only one who has done so, and a fast pass through: http://www.thehiawathatriad.org, http://www.triadexp.info, and http://www.triadblog.info/blog may supply some interesting insights.
Do you suppose there is an analytical message in the story of the solar panels that never stayed where they were placed?
Jimmy told all of America that these panels were the wave of the future. I was designing and building energy systems for high end homes during that time. Using 30 year life cycle analysis I quickly eliminated solar water heating as a non-starter. The rest of America made the same decision in the following 10 years, the government subsidies disappeared, and existing systems proved to be maintenance nightmares. Oh, yes, the then "oil crisis" disappeared.
Many respond to economic analysis as the right way to evaluate energy decisions by saying that "money does not account for the human element" or "it does not account for mother earth." That is great theater, but it forgets the simple truth that money measures the use of energy and resources. Hence, higher life cycle cost means higher energy and resource use.
The other lesson from Jimmy Boy's solar panel is that a single government policy solution is extremely dangerous. If the government is wrong, we do not have an alternative. If you leave individuals to the selection of a system you get nearly infinite alternatives, thus very low risk to society.
Beware of group think and legislated solutions. Imagine if Google had been legislated instead of created!
The sad part is that has indeed become a museum piece, one of the roads Jimmy Carter foresaw -- he didn't have the leadership ability to make this a "we-will-put-a-man-on-the-moon mission." The U.S. chose the wrong road due to many bad reasons, all well documented in Tom Friedman's latest book (Hot, Flat and Crowded).
ReplyDeleteThe exciting part is the the new administration gets it... smart grid, wind, sun, and hopefully, a breakthrough technology. Now, more than ever, we have stop pouring CO2 into our atmosphere and we have to stop paying hundreds of billions of dollars to dictatorships dedicated to our downfall.
The MOST exciting part is that the current president has the raw leadership power to make it happen.
The most important part is that time has run out.
All the best,
Ken
Mr. Obama has taken very strong positions on a number of issues of concern to all of us. He is not the only one who has done so, and a fast pass through: http://www.thehiawathatriad.org, http://www.triadexp.info, and http://www.triadblog.info/blog may supply some interesting insights.
ReplyDeleteDo you suppose there is an analytical message in the story of the solar panels that never stayed where they were placed?
ReplyDeleteJimmy told all of America that these panels were the wave of the future. I was designing and building energy systems for high end homes during that time. Using 30 year life cycle analysis I quickly eliminated solar water heating as a non-starter. The rest of America made the same decision in the following 10 years, the government subsidies disappeared, and existing systems proved to be maintenance nightmares. Oh, yes, the then "oil crisis" disappeared.
Many respond to economic analysis as the right way to evaluate energy decisions by saying that "money does not account for the human element" or "it does not account for mother earth." That is great theater, but it forgets the simple truth that money measures the use of energy and resources. Hence, higher life cycle cost means higher energy and resource use.
The other lesson from Jimmy Boy's solar panel is that a single government policy solution is extremely dangerous. If the government is wrong, we do not have an alternative. If you leave individuals to the selection of a system you get nearly infinite alternatives, thus very low risk to society.
Beware of group think and legislated solutions. Imagine if Google had been legislated instead of created!
why take them off? that is green energy
ReplyDelete