Cascajun

Gasoline prices are back over $3 and are expected to “hold those gains for a while.”

So, what about the greatest source of energy known to man? The NY Times has an article on the current state of solar power.”

But for all the enthusiasm about harvesting sunlight, some of the most ardent experts and investors say that moving this energy source from niche to mainstream — last year it provided less than 0.01 percent of the country’s electricity supply — is unlikely without significant technological breakthroughs. And given the current scale of research in private and government laboratories, that is not expected to happen anytime soon.

Even a quarter century from now, says the Energy Department official in charge of renewable energy, solar power might account for, at best, 2 or 3 percent of the grid electricity in the United States.

What about the oil companies? Surely they must be investing in some alternative. Isn’t petroleum a finite resource? BP is investing in natural gas. This is their new source of energy?

In the meantime, coal-burning power plants, the main source of smokestack emissions linked to global warming, are being built around the world at a rate of more than one a week.

What of the cleanest, cheapest source of energy available given mankind’s current level of technological advancement?

Recently a taboo against mentioning nuclear energy has developed among scientists - especially those specializing in energy. None of the articles in the recent special issue of Science devoted to energy mentioned nuclear energy - pro or con - even though nuclear energy provides 17 percent of American electricity. Perhaps energy scientists feel that mentioning nuclear energy will have an adverse effect on their grants. Perhaps there is some other reason. To some extent “hydrogen” in the energy literature is a code word for nuclear energy, since many articles promoting hydrogen don’t say how else it can be generated economically in the quantities required to run an economy. Recent waves of ideology are strongly involved.

As the NYT article points out, there is a lack of basic R&D funding for solar energy. Most money for solar is being directed at subsidising usage of and conversion to solar, rather than improving the technology or solving the storage problems.

More alternative energy research dollars should be directed at solar energy and the associated storage problems. That’s our long term energy solution. We already have a viable short term solution, its nuclear energy. If the developed world want’s to improve the global environment and foster sustanable development, we should be promoting and subsidizing the use of nuclear power in developing nations.

“The ban on DDT, says Gwadz of the National Institutes of Health, “may have killed 20 million children.”

But, it’s not all bad. Bald eagles are off the endangered species list.

I wasn’t on fire like yesterday, but it was a great ride anyway.

I went out for a solo ride yesterday morning and had a personal best. I rode my favorite short ride in under an hour.

Sue Dandridge and Robin Clark completed their trip from Ketchikan, Alaska to Anacortes, WA on July 4th. The total trip time was only 34-days! The previous day they rowed 60 miles in one day, from Nanaimo, BC to Roche Harbor, WA.

The linked photo was taken by a kayaker from Santa Fe, NM who is paddling from Anacortes to Ketchikan and crossed their path in the Grenville Channel.