Pages

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Revolution Watch US Energy security Council Revisited

I can't resist taking a look at one additional presentation that came up at a round table put on by the Energy Security Council. As I stated previously, there were many aspects of this get-together that I thought stunk to high heavens, I mean, they made no sense. Did anyone offer one ounce of doubt on any of this BS?

I made a brief mention of a presentation and some hoopla  that was made over this person who had been manufacturing methane in Iceland. They went to quite an effort to feature him as some sort of hero and I couldn't figure out why. They all seemed to be in a lather as if this methane was the future and the jest of the meeting was on this magical new fuel.

The dude who made the methane said he did it by taking the over-abundant CO2 out of the air and combing it with hydrogen and he got methane. Wow, what a deal. We need to get rid of CO2 as it is causing global warming and hydrogen is in water, so bingo we can just put them together and we have all of our energy needs met and the CO2 will go away and the earth will be saved.

Something didn't make sense here. First off, lets say we do make some magic methane ( It can be done and is being done), we are still going turn right around and burn it for energy----and then once again release the CO2 into the atmosphere. Yes methane is cleaner than gasoline, but still is a hydrocarbon. What the hell kind of circular deal is that?

There is even a bigger catch. Hydrogen does not exist as a free element, it has to be produced by splitting it off water (or natural gas) and to do that, the process of hydrolysis has to be used. That takes electric ENERGY. What is the source of electricity--COAL fired Plants, Natural Gas plants and Nuclear plants. The  elements then have to be put together. Throw in the second law of thermodynamics and it is real obvious that as we move form one form of energy to another and we lose energy---entropy. It is a lose--lose deal and here we have these big folluting yahoos grinning ear to ear over this methane diatribe. Give me a break. Jesus, do we have a long way to go to get where we need to go!

Thursday, October 17, 2013

United States Energy Security Council----Missionary's Position




 I took the opportunity to watch an entire round table discussion from the US Energy Security Council---all 1 hr and 47 minutes ( http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/PolicyRound ). It was loaded with big shots from all over the place, and I mean all over the place. While the discussion was very interesting, and I will admit to hearing new ideas, it left me befuddled to say the least.

The idea of the council was to find a way to produce a fuel that would take us off petroleum and on to new fuels that were cheaper, and less important, cleaner. I will admit that if we want to keep business as usual, then we will have to find a way to drive without using the expensive depleting, and very foreign (8 million b/day),  oil supply. Of course, the BAU thing is suspect all by itself---in this very finite world---but then they are only interested in the most immediate time frame and not the lives of our grandchildren.

So they went to great discussion on what the new fuels might be. Well, that is where the befuddlement came in. First off, they made the wild-ass assumption that oil was the price it is because of OPEC which is the damnedest thing I have ever heard. It is expensive because all the cheap oil is running out and the marginal producers (deep water, sands, fracking)  set the price. So if 10 million barrels a day are from wells where it cost $80 to produce it, then the world price is over $80---and that will be for ALL oil. Why would Saudi Arabia sell it for $5. It is a free market. We could refuse to buy it and they would say fine---run out then because there is no one else to sell it to you. SA is just capitalizing on their position---supply and demand. Jesus Christ. I got the feeling that McFarland really feels pissed our oil is under their sand.

They insist that we should have choices like methanol made from natural gas because it can be done and natural gas is cheap. All well and good and  seems to make sense---and it will be done to some extent. But methanol still gives off CO2! It only has 65% of the energy per unit volume of gasoline. Then they go on and on how abundant fracked natural gas is when independent annalist (Art Berman and others) are saying that the wells deplete by 80% in 2 years and the estimates being tossed out are all hyped up to increase the value of the companies stock (Devon,  Chesapeake). There is some indication the Bakken play has already peaked---and sure as hell is running into the Red Queen Affect.

To top it off they insist that this gas will remain cheap when it was just announced that virtually every major player in the gas industry is loosing big time money, and lots of it. The price has to go up. If that is the case, it may not compete with gasoline just like the god-damned ethanol scam.

Some one also mentioned that per capita gas consumption is going down, which it may be. Did they mention that it might be due to the recession and loss of our industry?. Did they mention that per capita may be down but the population last year in the USA went up at least 2.5 million? That means the over all consumption may well still be going up.

Oh ya, electric cars. Another great idea. They talked as if the electricity came out of somebody's ass. It comes form coal 45%, nat gas 30% and Nucs 20%. Is that progress?


It is hard to imagine that a group like this could have a discussion and never mention once these issues. It is just blah, blah, blah, cornucopian, techno-triumphalist babble. For god's sake man go after growth.





Saturday, October 12, 2013

Missionary's Position--------Our World in Politics and Money


It is true I have been a politician---for some 20 years it is said. While I have seen may "interesting" things none seems to match the debacle we now are witnessing. We are at an odd juncture it would seem. Most of Europe is being pounded by austerity, probably to a level most of us in the US of A don't realize. The statistics on unemployment of youth is frightening in the hard hit countries.

Like the US, the many countries of Europe are also being run for the interest of big corporations and the wealthy, all of whom seem to be doing just fine. It is a shift that is very uncomfortable in view of possible social instability. The truth is, most of Europe, like the US, has to drop its standard of living primarily because it was living beyond it's means. Again, like us, they borrowed tons of money to develop their economies only to find out that it was not possible to pay back the loans. There simply is not enough resources to drive the system. They can not compete with the powers of cheap labor in the third world. This being the price of globalization. All very tragic, all very obvious, but not all peoples of the earth can live the rich life of the west without depleting the world's onetime supply of resources in a matter of a few years.


I seems sad to watch the spectical of floundering politicians, who to often suffer from rectal-cranial inversion, trying to sort it out. They are so ingrained with neoclassical economics that they are not able to see the forest for the trees.  The world is changing and it is not comfortable.


In the US we have this debt limit issue that has been going on for years. In itself it is bizarre because we always exceed our budget and add on more debt. It is easy to see why the conservatives are screaming themselves blue that we can not do this---because we can not. Someone will have to pay it back and that will be our kids and grand kids. The sad part is these same people just think that by getting rid of government we will go back to being rich. How delusional can we be? Yes, we have to cut back but that will create a recession or worse. Oh, like create a lower standard of living--- just like in Europe.

The Democrats want to spend money to save the economy and then pay it back after we grow, grow, grow not realizing that this growth things is coming to an end. But if we have no growth, then we will have a recession or worse. Oh shit, it would seem no matter what we do it will be going to the same place---a lower standard of living. So the question is why don't we just sit down like adults, evaluate the situation, and then start instituting a lower standard. It sure as hell would help if the rich would also be willing to take a hit and disperse some of their untold millions to lessen the blow for the less fortunate.

It would seem that if they continue to accumulate all the goodies, the rest of the populous might just get a touch pissed off. So when will the Hamptons burn?



Volunteer Sunflowers----A Treat for the Birds

Every year without fail, volunteer sun flowers pop up all over the garden, and some times ALL over. I am not sure where the seeds come from but I have to assume they are left over from the original planting of very decorative varieties we had used some years ago. They may also have come from seeds we feed the birds--and the squirrels.

The problem is, that as time passes the hybridization that had been put into the original seeds dissipates and what we get are these wild-ass f-2 and I suppose all the way to f-5 generations plants that take on a life of their own. Sure the first ones were called Van Gough Specials and the commercial ones for bird food,  had giant heads but once they do a little crossing, the results are very different from the hyped up varieties.

This is not all that bad. It is just that these rangy monsters not only don't produce huge poundage of seeds, and they don't have huge variety off colors that Van Gough might have cut an ear for, they are just huge with a multitude of smallish flowers---almost like wild sun flowers. They do have a presence.



Now, I am really not complaining, but they do use up a great deal of space and suck nutrients, as well as set up huge shaded areas where we are trying to desperately grow carrots. I could take them out but for one reason, and one reason only, a few are allowed to stay, usually on the periphery. In the fall, The finches absolutely love these action packed feed boxes. Starting in Sept, when most of the garden is well over, they go to bloom and the Gold finches flood in. Chickadees grab a single seed and head for the bushes. It is a cafe deluxe. 


They are so happy to find fat seeds and a nice place to perch and pick, there is no way I can cut them down without being shattered with guilt. But as the flowers are gleaned, they are but stalks and need to go back to the soil. The chain saw is a joke of course, but the size of these things is profound. Fall has arrived and the garden must rest and the Gold Finches must move away. Another good year for our friends.

Sunday, October 6, 2013

A Dead Bald Eagle---A Metaphor

This last week I, with a couple of friends, canoed streams of northern Wisconsin in pursuit of fishes, Muskies and Steelhead Trout. The splendor of the place can not really be imagined but I must note that it was profound, not just in the coming of the fall colors, but in light of the morning mist and and the whistling of distant ducks. The Chickadees worked over time on the buds and Pilliated Wood Peckers announced their presence as did the night-time coyotes.


The fall light tossed dark shadows across water and the stream glistened above visible Sturgeons. But it was on the Iron River, on the 2nd of October, on a day that was overcast, windy and brushed with a light rain that I ran into a metaphor.There on the bank of the river was a dead Bald Eagle all sprawled out in the damp grass.

The sheer size of an adult Eagle, when seen up close and unpleasantly personal, is notable and certainly leaves one impressed with the power and splendor. It is true this bird, the metaphor, is also a scavenger and will, with great glee, steal and pillage that which is dead and dying. It will also kill. I remember in Colorado watching a group of three Golden eagles try to flush a fawn that was still weak from birth. The Bald Eagle is cunning, cleaver and magnificently powerful. To see a dead one is unnerving and almost disruptive. I have always admired and respected Eagles----even if they have attributes that can leave a person uncomfortable.


I paused, trying to piece the situation together, probably wondering if someone had blasted it out of stupidity but the setting seemed to say that nature had just taken a toll. There was no blood and no wounds but then I didn't really want to do an autopsy because a human caused fatality would truly leave me angered. History will have to bare that out. I got the feeling the elegant bird had made a move on a food source, a resource if you will, , maybe a fish, and had in a moment of stupidity misjudged the target. The impact of the decision was an injury that could not be sustained. The bird had been badly injured on the impact and still alive, crawled up the bank where it expired quietly, and interestingly, unnoticed.

We moved on as the others in our group really wanted nothing to do with it, even if it was a metaphor.  I do think it is important we have paid attention to Bald Eagles, for now there are many more. I did notice that in the air above the deceased bird there was another lone Eagle flying, watching maybe, to see if we humans could bring back what was probably a mate.