Can't say I'm into Earth Day. It's a semantics thing. I don't believe "We belong to Mother Earth." However, I do believe we need to be good stewards because this is our home, and it's all we have.
Staying on the tree hugger topic, I look at some of the things that get presented by some "environmentalists" and have to scratch my head.
Wind Power - Great, as long it is NIMBY. Did you know windpower requires oil? And the towers can spill oil? And if you have to many in one area it screws up the power grid (because of the up and down of the power).
Solar - Heard a guy say that it should be written in the building codes that every building should have it. Don't you think if it were economical everyone would be jumoing on this bandwagon? Needs more research. And what does it take to make the cells?
Hybrid - This has some potential. It's not for everyone. My driving style has changed, so it may be worth looking into.
Ethanol - You have to be kidding! You know what this is going to do to the price of vodka? 3rd world countries are being effected by the increase in the price of corn. What does that mean? Long run, price of everything imported from 3rd world countries goes up. And for what? It takes more energy to make ethanol. It burns cleaner, but you burn more of it. More CO2. Argh. Ethanol is for margaritas and martinis.
Nuclear - Another NIMBY thing, but if you don't want emissions, this is the way to go. Just be prepared to take care of the waste.
Coal - The drum is beating for IGCC. We'll see. It might work IF you make the unit base loaded. Cycling a CC unit isn't good for it (not that's it good for any, but...). Stick with pulverized, and dump the Clean Air Mercury Rule, unless you want lots of holes in the ground full of unusable flyash, the cost of cement to go through the roof, and you electric bill to go through the roof.
Sorry for pirating the thread, but I do feel better getting that off my chest.
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