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Here comes the sun
I had a chance to visit T. Boone Pickens website, where he has unveiled a plan to develop contingency energy policies involving a blend of natural gas, wind and solar as a sort of 'stop-gap' measure to halt the increasing importation of foreign oil.
Whereas I think he is onto something, his plan may actually not be big enough to really make a difference. I quickly did some simple calculations on the energy generating capacity of solar cell technology (per total surface area) given its placement in any environment sufficiently 'sunny' enough to power the solar cells for a minimum of five hours per day.
Based upon published data it is possible power the entire electrical grid of the United States at almost twice its current level by simply creating a 'National Solar Farm' approximately 100 miles by 100 miles (10,000 square miles) in size.

The total land space required is symbolized by the blue rectangle on the above map. Placing this solar farm anywhere in the light blue area guarantees a minimum of 5 hours of sunlight in winter, 6 in summer --very ample amounts.
Fortuitously, the majority of this area is some of the most hostile territory to be found in the continental US, so there would not be any significant displacement of people or fauna.
Solar panels are not inexpensive, and one would think that a 100 by 100 mile wide area would be prohibitively expensive. But the raw materials of solar panels (silicon and cadmium) are themselves quite inexpensive and abundant and a government effort on par with the Manhattan Project should be able to use economies of scale to drop the production costs.
This would have added ecological advantages. A lot of electricity is generated locally, which brings many known carcinogens into densely populated areas.
Opponents might be argue that by generating electricity from a singular, highly centralized location a lot of the juice would be lost due to overall 'low conductivity' of the majority of the national electrical grid. However, this might also be an opportunity to develop the next level of superconducting devices alongside of a National Solar Farm and reform the National Electrical Grid while we're fixing things anyway.
11 comments
Wind farms are also a great idea.
Another things is to reduce, reuse, & then recycle!
We are so wasteful. Let's quit wasting food & other things that take a lot of energy to produce & use.
Even having another Yankee Stadium perplexes me. Didn't they just remodel it 30 years ago? Those type of things should last 200 years. It takes a lot of energy to do construction!! Sure it provides jobs, but how about using the labor to repair & refurbish things that really need it! Don't get me started!!
S S & L,
Mrs "T" O+ :)
Many large companies such as Wal Mart are already installing current technology on rooftops (stores, warehouses) and are reducing load during the most critical load period for utilities to generate, the peak load period.
Solar is not the answer by itself. It does provide a solution that takes advantage of 'waste' space, rooftop space on commercial applications.
Based on your response, I suspect you or one of your parents was an English teacher, that, you are suffering from some kind of arthritis and were a jogger. Your doctor diagnosed your inflammation (or you confuse inflammation with pain).
(I'm not affiliated with this D'adamo guy or website).
Since you probably do not have rheumatoid arthritis (you would have probably not posted this question in relation to your inflammation), this inflammation is indicative where the largest mass of bone exists in the body. Some things you should check: Enough Calcium/Vitamin D/Sun?, Spinach or Alpha Lipoic Acid? (take ALA anyway); statistically, you are likely a female going through menopause (men-on-pause?) but that's not necessarily true.
This is not to be ignored and I would recommend a bone density test (cheap thing to do). From the B blood type diet I suspect the vegetarian way is not congruous, but dairy products are very beneficial (lactose-free milk if you need it).
Ultimately, more information is needed based on your question to know for certain.
I recommend seeing a traditional, board-certified, internal medicine physician, and getting a blood-test. From there you will be more well equipped to understand your own, personal condition. Ultimately, we are all genetically different--even identical twins due to methylation of DNA from environmental differences.
Equip yourself. Best of luck.
We should use all the solar and wind energy at disposition.
There are potentially 72 terawatts of wind power available on earth - at least 5 times what is needed to satisfy all the world's demand for power...this would require 1.4 to 2 million wind turbines (bit of an eye sore?)
With wind as with solar, there would be a huge savings to health costs and I look forward to the day when it is cost effective for everyday people to trap their own energy and sell it to the grid The days of energy barons may be over and the serfs will rise once again.
http://frum.nationalreview.com/
But a conversation with my friend Mike alerted me that this system isn't universally appealing. His cabin is set into a hill and is cool year-round. A solar thermal system with radiant floor heating to keep it above freezing combined with a fireplace for when he is there is a better option.
And when I mentioned to him my plan to start a restaurant with a central oven, he mentioned masonry stoves, which send exhaust from a central oven sideways through the floor like a Roman bath, using all the heat energy and sequestering the creosote before venting.
As T. Boone Pickens points out, there's lots of wind in Texas and he's making a profit tapping into it there. He's running national ads at his own expense to make getting off foreign oil the number 1 campaign issue.
Imagine how silly America will look if we drill in environmentally sensitive areas, getting them online in 5 to 10 years and then find the alternatives have become far more competitive on the open market. Its like GM trying to get rid of the Hummer brand and drastically cutting back while Toyota builds new US plants to make the fuel-efficient cars people want to buy.
The world and the economy are changing. There are a lot of sustainable and economically advantageous options if you think locally.
Going off-topic, this discussion of type B vegetarianism is really interesting, because I am Type B, was vegetarian for a while, but I failed to Crohn's Disease. For me the best things have been avoiding wheat, eating fish oil (or another Omega-3 supplement), reduction of refined carbs (especially sugar and corn syrup), and exercise. Remember, our bodies produce natural steroids, and there are non-jarring forms or exercise for everyone (biking, swimming, yoga, etc).
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