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#10
October 7th 05, 04:19 AM
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Mike Coslo wrote:
Dave Heil wrote: wrote: K4YZ wrote: wrote: K4YZ wrote: "THOSE" cars have been pretty much standard for 20 years now... Yet they still burn gasoline and other petroleum based fuels. The fleet mileage standards are not improving. The USA imports much more energy (almost all of it in the form of oil and natural gas) than in the 1970s. My mileage standards are doing fine. I'm on my third Dodge Neon. The 2 liter engine delivers about 33 mpg on the highway. I'm tall but I have 4 or 5 inches of space between the top of my head and the roof of the car. Yes, the U.S.A. imports more oil than it produces. It looks as if we *do* have an energy policy and part of it seems to be, "Let's use theirs before we use ours". Well, if that is our game plan, we better have enough reserves to fight most of the world off. Otherwise it is dangerous brinkmanship. The countries which produce oil are interested in selling it. We're interested in buying it. I don't see any danger in that at all. Why isn't there a massive program to solve our energy problems? The White House has been in the hands of a former oilman for more than half a decade now. You'd think there's be some understanding of what needs to be done for the future, but where's the leadership? Well, we aren't going to be driving electrics because of limited range. The hybrids are quite expensive. The hydrogen-powered car won't be viable until we can produce hydrogen cheaply. I really doubt that H is going to ever be a valid fuel. I used to think that but I heard a recent radio story which might change my mind. The South Africans are developing a "pellet bed" small nuclear reactor. Tennis ball-sized spheres of graphite and ceramic are packed with yellow cake. Core temps can never get hot enough for meltdown but are high enough to produce hydrogen and to desalinate sea water. What kind of leadership would you like to see? I would like to see some leadership realizing that driving single digit fuel millage SUV's is an unpatriotic act, that building under insulated McMansions that take immense amounts of energy to heat is an unpatriotic act. Naaaah. Those who drive the SUVs are being bitten in the wallet. I know a number of pickup truck owners hereabouts, who are buying small cars. Nobody is building underinsulated anything these days. My pal W8RHM built his dream home three years ago. It is large and it has geothermal heating. The heating system was supposed to pay for itself within ten years or so. With the energy hikes of the past few years, it'll be paid off much sooner. 'RHM is now paying winter heating bills of 45-65 bucks. Those who have big, old homes will sell 'em to someone who can afford to heat them. The way we are with oil and gas in recent times reminds me of the legendary lighting of cigars with 100 dollar bills. In yo' face consumption... You may feel free to paint me with that brush. My lease agreement with Columbia Gas provides me with 300,000 cubic feet of gas yearly. I'm barely using more than half. I'm heating a glassed-in side porch and a workshop in the barn. As soon as I get around to it, I'm adding a greenhouse lean to on the back of the barn. I've a gas conversion kit for a gasoline generator. In short, I'm going to very conspicuously use right up to that 300,000 cubic feet and I'm not going to feel any guilt over it at all. I think that one critical lesson that should be gleaned from these two hurricanes this summer is that we are incredibly vulnerable in a few important areas. under the right circumstances, losing that much oil and gas production could be a near fatal blow. That's right. We need to drill in more places. ANWAR should be hurricane proof. Nobody wants to discuss one of the real solutions to sufficient energy: more nuke reactors. I say the best thing to do now is to *not* rebuild the parts of NO that are below sea level. Salvage what can be saved, and move away. Will Our President exhibit leadership and say that's what should be done? Or will he make exorbitant promises, pouring much more money into rebuilding than it would take to relocate? Do you really think that the POTUS has the clout to declare that NOLA won't be rebuilt? Nope. New Orleans will be rebuilt, and will be rebuilt again, and perhaps a third or forth time, until it slips beneath the waves for good. Yep and people are free to build where they choose. Without the freedom to make choices, America wouldn't be America. I won't be rushing to buy a home in New Orleans but most of those folks wouldn't live on a hilltop in rural West Virginia. That suits their needs...and mine. Dave K8MN |
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