Some
of my Suggestions for the Future of Energy in the United States
To free us from high priced foreign oil, this country needs to switch from gasoline powered cars to electric cars for everyday use. After the initial investment, wind power, solar
power, hydro electric power, etc. will produce free electrical power to the
grids lowering the overall cost. It would initially be expensive to switch, but
at the present cost of $700 billion dollars a year to purchase foreign oil, it
would in the long run free us of this devastating drain on the US economy.
Amory
Lovins group (Rocky Mountain Institute ® RMI) has designed a new safer more
efficient automobile made stronger with advanced carbon fiber materials. Known
as the Hypercar ® this design has less drag and would make a great plug-in
electric car. It was designed to be powered by fuel cells and would use
hydrogen as fuel, but I personally feel that it is an excellent candidate for a
plug-in electric car. I think hydrogen powered cars are years away, but
hydrogen powered electric plants might be feasible in the interim. I suggest that if photovoltaic (PV) panels
are incorporated into the roof of electric cars the batteries could be charging
while in the parking lot at work, at the mall or at home thereby increasing the
total driving range. They could be plugged in to the grid at night during low
use hours. There are at least 17
electric cars now planned to be in production in the next 3 years. Those who
can afford a personal PV charging station could charge them independent of the
grid as well as provide a portion of their home energy use.
I know
a lot people complain about the looks of wind towers and photovoltaic panels,
but when this country is energy independent and the overall rates are
stabilized and reasonable they will be surprised by how beautiful these
structures will appear then. I think large photovoltaic and wind farms dotting
the landscape are a small price to pay for energy independence. What a
wonderful secure feeling knowing that whatever other countries do will not
affect our independence. Wood powered electric plants and offshore wind energy
farms are another possibility.
Many
homes could be heated with wood using the efficient CO2 neutral masonry heaters
common throughout Europe. (See Masonry Heater paper.) Firewood is a renewable
fuel that is available in large amounts and can help the economy by providing
additional income for farmers and landowners. Requiring all homes to be well
insulated would save energy for heating in the North and for air conditioning
in the South.
Geothermal
energy for home and business heating would save additional resources.
The use
of solar clothes dryers and old fashioned clothes lines would also conserve
electricity.
There
is a big push to produce ethanol, but ethanol IS NOT the answer for several
reasons:
1) cars
would still require expensive internal combustion engines.
2) they
would still pollute albeit not quite as much.
3) land
that could produce food is required to produce the plant sources.
4)
currently ethanol is made from corn requiring the richest farmland (desperately
needed to grow food) and requiring the highest energy input of any crop I can
think of.
5) The
use of farmland for growing corn has been the cause for the steep increase in
food prices.
Additional information
and pictures can be found on the following websites:
Electric
Cars:
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/07/affordable-electric-car.php#ch02
Mitsubishi
All-Electric Car:
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/09/mitsubishi_unve.php
OffShore
Wind Energy Farms:
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,3478173,00.html
Rocky
Mountain Institute:
http://www.rmi.org/sitepages/pid191.php
Solar
Clothes Dryer:
http://blogs.heraldtimesonline.com/greenhouse/?p=46
T.
Boone Pickens Plan: