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I've been thinking a lot about alternative energy recently, given the skyrocketing price of Light Sweet Crude. I am happy that alternative forms of energy are getting serious attention, but I am dismayed by the direction some of the trends are taking. I really think that we should be investing in clean energy, but this seems not to be happening.
Electric power is not clean. It is often manufactured by burning coal or by controlled nuclear reactions. Neither of these are clean sources of power. Until we have figured out what to do with the radioactive waste, and I don't mean burying it in the Canadian Shield, we shouldn't be using the technology. I realize that some electricity is generated by other means, like hydro electric power, but this is fraught with serious problems. One only has to look as far as the Three Gorges Dam or the destruction of the pacific salmon fisheries for evidence.
Ethanol is not clean either, and it could better be used for food. After all, there is an international food crisis. And then there is the issue of how much carbon must be used to produce ethanol. It makes more sense to me to use agricultural byproducts rather than food itself, so I am sort of happy that the Ontario Government has invested $7.5 million in project (at the University of Western Ontario) to turn things like corn husks and manure into fuel and biogas. Still, I wouldn't describe this as clean energy.
There is lots of conflicting information surrounding various water-powered cars, like those from Denny Klein or Stan Meyer - who was not poisoned, despite the rampant conspiracy theories - or the Genepax car. This still seems to be a dream, and I wonder what impact it would have on our water supplies. But, such an invention would be a step in the right direction. In my opinion, what we need is a car that runs on urine. It would give fill 'er up a whole new meaning.
There are lots of hits on Google for this topic, but I am not convinced that such an invention is ready. Urine certainly qualifies as a renewable resource. I guess we'll have to carefully study the emissions - of the car that is. It would also lead to other sources of revenue. Instead of finding a public washroom, you could ask someone if they require a fill up. I would sell mine for an affordable 25 cents per litre.
6 comments:
You hit the nail on the head on food. It costs almost as much energy to convert as it yields.
Urine is an interesting alternative.
That sounds like I wrote it. I'm in 100% agreement with you on ALL those points!
Nuclear power is just one of the many reasons I'd NEVER vote for McCain. He wants to build 47 new plants.
I am interested to see the result of building a waste-to-ethanol plant in my backyard:
http://media.cleantech.com/3034/greenfield-enerkem-to-build-waste-to-ethanol-plant-in-edmonton
I was also getting a haircut the other day, and I told my hairdresser that we should cut hair as a fuel source. She told me I could probably power a Humvee.
You're right on, ZF. One would have to ask who is in bed with whom to avoid getting into perfectly renewable energy such as geothermal, active/passive solar, wind and tidal.
Oh...you mean oil has influence in government circles????
Oh dear. What a shock.
p.s. why are we not fermenting kitchen waste into ethanol or gas and using it? Would address landfill, energy cost and energy supply concerns all at the same time.
Beats me, guess I'm just not thinking.
Nah dont sell it just keep it and put it in bottles to use in a car. LOL... I have seen this car that they plan to have out in one of these two countries in 2009 is that they run on water or something and then they would like to bring them to the states soon afterwards. But you are correct with a lot of what you said. There is so much waste and polution with what they think is best. We have a lot of wind farms going up here. That is how they would like to power our homes some day. I am not sure what they use besides wind to power those things with really.
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