Re: AN ENERGY WINDFALL

From: Dr. Jai Maharaj (usenet_at_mantra.com)
Date: 10/16/04 

Date: Sat, 16 Oct 2004 00:32:42 GMT

"Bob Eldred" <nsmontassoc@yahoo.com> wrote:

> I like it, lets do it. As mentioned above, at the present time, the best
> thing to do with wind generated electricity is to offset coal, gas and oil
> power generation by feeding wind generated electricity in the national
> electric grid wherever possible. The offset in these other fuels can help
> alleviate the growing shortages and high prices of petroleum. Whether or not
> battery cars can come into play is another, much more complicated question
> and should not be a factor in the establishment of wind power. It would be a
> pity if wind power, en mass had to wait for good batteries.
> Bob

In article <LLL7m58VdPn9@cZ242d2bHiepJX>,
 Dr. Jai Maharaj posted:
>
> > AN ENERGY WINDFALL
> >
> > Forwarded message from prez@usa-exile.org
> >
> > [ Subject: An Energy Windfall
> > [ From: prez@usa-exile.org
> > [ Posting Host: 128.206.49.147
> > [ Date: 15 Oct 2004 10:23:39 -0500
> >
> > Free Americans Proclaiming Total Emancipation and Working
> > Towards Democracy. NOTE: Thanks to eon3 for this; it's
> > a helpful analysis even though the focus -- US "oil
> > independence" -- is jingoistic and plays directly into
> > the hands of those craving to ravage Alaskan wildlife
> > preserves. -- kl, pp
> >
> > Eco-Economy Update 2004-12
> >
> > For Immediate Release
> > Earth Policy Institute 2004
> > October 13, 2004
> >
> > THE SHORT PATH TO OIL INDEPENDENCE
> >
> > Gas-Electric Hybrids and Wind Power Offer Winning Combination
> > http://www.earth-policy.org/Updates/Update43.htm
> >
> > Lester R. Brown
> >
> > With the price of oil above $50 a barrel, with political
> > instability in the Middle East on the rise, and with
> > little slack in the world oil economy, we need a new
> > energy strategy. Fortunately, the outline of a new
> > strategy is emerging with two new technologies.
> >
> > These technologies -- gas-electric hybrid engines and
> > advanced-design wind turbines -- offer a way to wean
> > ourselves from imported oil. If over the next decade we
> > convert the U.S. automobile fleet to gas-electric hybrids
> > with the efficiency of today's Toyota Prius, we could cut
> > our gasoline use in half. No change in the number of
> > vehicles, no change in miles driven -- just doing it more
> > efficiently.
> >
> > There are now three gas-electric hybrid car models on the
> > market: the Toyota Prius, the Honda Insight, and the
> > hybrid version of the Honda Civic. The Prius -- a midsize
> > car on the cutting-edge of automotive technology -- gets
> > an astounding 55 mpg in combined city/highway driving. No
> > wonder there are lists of eager buyers willing to wait
> > six months for delivery.
> >
> > Ford has just released a hybrid model of its Escape SUV.
> > Honda is about to release a hybrid version of its popular
> > Accord sedan. General Motors will offer hybrid versions
> > of several of its cars beginning with the Saturn VUE in
> > 2006, followed by the Chevy Tahoe and Chevy Malibu.
> > Beyond this, GM has delivered 235 hybrid-powered buses to
> > Seattle with the potential to reduce gasoline use there
> > by up to 60 percent. Other cities slated to get hybrid
> > buses are Philadelphia, Houston, and Portland. Hybrid
> > engines are catching on.
> >
> > With gas-electric hybrid cars now on the market, the
> > stage is set for the second step to reduce oil
> > dependence, the use of wind-generated electricity to
> > power automobiles. If we add to the gas-electric hybrid a
> > plug-in capacity and a second battery to increase its
> > electricity storage capacity, motorists could then do
> > their commuting, shopping, and other short-distance
> > travel largely with electricity, saving gasoline for the
> > occasional long trip. This could lop another 20 percent
> > off gasoline use in addition to the initial 50 percent
> > cut from shifting to gas-electric hybrids, for a total
> > reduction in gasoline use of 70 percent.
> >
> > The plug-in capacity gives access to the country's vast,
> > largely untapped, wind resources. In 1991, the U.S.
> > Department of Energy published a National Wind Resource
> > Inventory in which it pointed out that three of our 50
> > states -- Kansas, North Dakota and Texas -- have enough
> > harnessable wind energy to satisfy national electricity
> > needs. Many were astonished by this news since wind power
> > was widely considered a marginal energy source.
> >
> > Yet in retrospect, we know that this was a gross
> > underestimate simply because it was based on the wind
> > turbine technologies of 1991. Advances in design since
> > then enable turbines to operate at lower wind speeds, to
> > convert wind into electricity more efficiently, and to
> > harness a much larger wind regime.
> >
> > The average turbine in 1991 was roughly 120 feet tall,
> > whereas new ones are 300 feet tall -- the height of a 30-
> > story building. Not only does this more than double the
> > harvestable wind regime, but winds at the higher
> > elevation are stronger and more reliable.
> >
> > In Europe, which has emerged as the world leader in
> > developing wind energy, wind farms now satisfy the
> > residential electricity needs of 40 million consumers.
> > Last year, the European Wind Energy Association projected
> > that by 2020 this energy source would provide electricity
> > for 195 million people -- half the population of Western
> > Europe. A 2004 assessment of Europe's offshore potential
> > by the Garrad Hassan consulting group concluded that if
> > European governments move vigorously to develop this
> > potential, wind could supply all of the region's
> > residential electricity by 2020.
> >
> > Wind power is growing fast because it is cheap, abundant,
> > inexhaustible, widely distributed, clean, and climate-
> > benign. No other energy source has all of these
> > attributes.
> >
> > The cost of wind-generated electricity has been in free
> > fall over the last two decades. The early wind farms in
> > California, where the modern wind industry was born in
> > the early 1980s, generated electricity at a cost of 38"
> > per kilowatt-hour. Now many wind farms are producing
> > power at 4" per kilowatt-hour, and some long-term supply
> > contracts have recently been signed at 3" per kilowatt-
> > hour. And the price is still falling. For data see
> > http://www.earth-policy.org/Updates/Update43_data.htm.
> >
> > Unlike the widely discussed fuel cell/hydrogen
> > transportation model, the gas-electric hybrid/wind model
> > does not require a costly new infrastructure. The network
> > of gasoline service stations is already in place. So,
> > too, is the electricity grid needed to link wind farms to
> > the storage batteries in cars. For this new model to work
> > most efficiently, we would need a strong integrated
> > national grid. Fortunately, the need for modernizing our
> > antiquated set of regional grids, replacing them with a
> > strong national grid, is now widely recognized --
> > especially after the blackout that darkened the U.S.
> > northeast in 2003.
> >
> > One of the few weaknesses of wind energy -- its
> > irregularity -- is largely offset with the use of plug-in
> > gas-electric hybrids, as the batteries in these vehicles
> > become a part of the storage system for wind energy.
> > Beyond this, there is always the tank of gasoline as a
> > backup.
> >
> > Some 22 states now have commercial-scale wind farms
> > feeding electricity into the grid. Although there is
> > occasionally a NIMBY problem, the PIIMBY response ("put
> > it in my backyard") is much more pervasive. This is not
> > surprising, since a single turbine can easily produce
> > $100,000 worth of electricity in a year.
> >
> > The competition among farmers in Iowa or ranchers in
> > Colorado for wind farms is intense. Farmers, with no
> > investment on their part, typically receive $3,000 a year
> > in royalties from the local utility for siting a single
> > wind turbine, which occupies a quarter-acre of land. This
> > quarter-acre in corn country would produce 40 bushels of
> > corn worth $120 or in ranch country perhaps $10 worth of
> > beef.
> >
> > Communities in rural America desperately want the
> > additional revenue from wind farms and the jobs they
> > bring. In addition, money spent on electricity generated
> > from wind farms stays in the community, creating a ripple
> > effect throughout the local economy. Within a matter of
> > years, thousands of ranchers could be earning far more
> > from electricity sales than from cattle sales.
> >
> > Moving to the highly efficient gas-electric hybrids with
> > a plug-in capacity, combined with the construction of
> > thousands of wind farms across the country feeding
> > electricity into a national grid, will give us the energy
> > security that has eluded us for three decades. It will
> > also rejuvenate farm and ranch communities and shrink the
> > U.S. balance-of-trade deficit. Even more important, it
> > will dramatically cut carbon emissions, making the United
> > States a model that other countries can emulate.
> >
> > # # #
> >
> > Additional data and information sources at
> > www.earth-policy.org or contact
> > jlarsen(at)earth-policy.org
> > For reprint permission contact rjkauffman(at)earth-
> > policy.org
> > If you find this Update useful, please feel free to share
> > it with friends and colleagues, to post on your website,
> > or to distribute on your listserv.
> >
> > End of forwarded message from prez@usa-exile.org
> >
> > Jai Maharaj
> > http://www.mantra.com/jai
> > Om Shanti
> >
> > Hindu Holocaust Museum
> > http://www.mantra.com/holocaust
> >
> > Hindu life, principles, spirituality and philosophy
> > http://www.hindu.org
> > http://www.hindunet.org
> >
> > The truth about Islam and Muslims
> > http://www.flex.com/~jai/satyamevajayate
> >
> > The terrorist mission of Jesus stated in the Christian bible:
> >
> > "Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not so send
> > peace, but a sword.
> > "For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the
> > daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in
> > law.
> > "And a man's foes shall be they of his own household.
> > - Matthew 10:34-36.
> >
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> >
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