Is 'Green Energy' the way out of the Recession

The topic of Green Energy keeps popping up in the news. Our President even mentioned it in his speech to the joint houses of Congress. But my skepticism is increasing regarding how practical these ideas of solar panels in the desert, off-shore wind farms, and tide-based water-power generators. There seem to be great sweeping statements by environmentalists and energy producers/providers that either ignore or fail to recognize the multiple aspects of energy needs. While I’m clearly not a chemical engineer nor a physicist, it appears that there are at least XX facets to this: Transportation Energy; Public Use Energy; Waste & Recyling; and Energy Infrastructure. For this post I’ll address Trans. Energy & Energy Infrastructure,in a later post I’ll address the other two facets.

Transportation Energy
Both our previous and current Presidents have spoken about Americans addiction to oil. With the exception of some buses and trains, the majority of both private and commercial transportation has its lifeblood on oil(gasoline and diesel). This remains so because there is no commonly available technology that is more efficient (with such a high power-to-weight ratio) for land vehicles than the internal combustion engine. What this means is that any ‘solution’ for our oil dependence must replace the fuel with an alternative, not eliminate it. Biodiesel may serve this function, but that would require conversion of many gasoline powered vehicles. If the government is going to push for vehicle conversion, it may be better to push for converting vehicles to hydrogen power instead. This removes the majority of the pollution emissions generated by vehicles on the road.

Energy Infrastructure
Unfortunately, without the improvements, developments, or refinements necessary to both the power grid and fuel grid, any type of mass vehicle conversion program will falter. American’s N.I.M.B.Y. issues have delayed or halted the production of many power plants (oil, coal, or nuclear). Without having an overabundance of cheap energy, the inefficient tasks—such as splitting water to get hydrogen or pumping water uphill into dams and reservoirs—cannot be undertaking if the power demands on the current grids are to be met. The lack of cheap energy may also effect the willingness of energy providers to expand the capabilities of gas stations to include hydrogen fuel. In other words, if there isn’t an efficient way to distribute the hydrogen fuel to your stations, and there isn’t a high demand for the hydrogen fuel, why invest in retrofitting your stations to carry it?

Performing Arts on the Web cont.

Today’s Selections come from what appears to be a documentary on Sylvie Guillem.

…from wikepedia: “Sylvie Guillem CBE (born 23 February 1965 in Paris, France[1]) is a French ballet dancer. She was the top-ranking female dancer with the Paris Opera Ballet from 1984 to 1989, before becoming a principal guest artist with the Royal Ballet in London. She is currently performing contemporary dance as an Associate Artist of London's Sadler's Wells Theatre. Her most notable performances have included those in Giselle and in Rudolf Nureyev's stagings of Swan Lake and Don Quixote.” (Wikipedia)

Video Clip: ">Sylvie Guillem - Part 1

Video Clip: Sylvie Guillem - Part 2

Video Clip: Sylvie Guillem - Part 3

The film clips are entirely in what sounds like French, which I don’t speak. Consequently, I do not know what they are actually saying throughout the film. It appears that the documentary is more about Sylvie Guillem, the dancer, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvie_Guillem) than about a particular performance. I don’t know if it was the choice of the director or more the reality of the dancer, but the film shows how isolated a life Sylvie leads, even whilst she operates amongst the other people involved in the same productions. I wonder if that is characteristic of all high-level dancers.

There are 7 clips total to the documentary; the second half of which will be in a later post.