GLOBAL WARMING REAL, TIME TICKING ON ALT ENERGY

Man, do I really need to blog about global warming?

Does anyone still need convincing that hundreds of millions of cars in the world are creating a blanket of gasses that are raising the temperature of certain areas of the planet while generally screwing with weather patterns in other areas?

Do I still need to mention that there are plenty of alternatives to oil and other fossil fuels out there that could not only help reduce the greenhouse gasses that cause global warming but also reduce our dependancy on foreign oil? If we reduce our dependency on foreign oil we also decrease the number of countries we have to invade and people we have to kill (including our own men and women in uniform) in order to secure said oil.

Since so little is being done about these issues, the answer is apparently yes. So, here are a few clips from various articles in the news recently:

From [http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article306881.ece|an article] at Independent.co.uk:

On a high-profile and bi-partisan fact-finding tour in Alaska and Canada's Yukon territory, Senators John McCain, a Republican, and Hillary Clinton, the Democratic senator for New York, were confronted by melting permafrost and shrinking glaciers and heard from native Inuit that rising sea levels were altering their lives.

"The question is how much damage will be done before we start taking concrete action," Mr McCain said at a press conference in Anchorage. "Go up to places like we just came from. It's a little scary." Mrs Clinton added: "I don't think there's any doubt left for anybody who actually looks at the science. There are still some holdouts, but they're fighting a losing battle. The science is overwhelming."

Their findings directly challenge President George Bush's reluctance to legislate to reduce America's carbon emissions. Although both senators havetalked before of the need to tackle global warming, this week's clarion call was perhaps the clearest and most urgent. It also raises the prospect that climate change and other environmental issues could be a factor in the presidential contest in 2008 if Mrs Clinton and Mr McCain enter it. Mrs Clinton and Mr McCain, who represents Arizona, are among the leading, and the most popular, likely contenders.

From [http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050818/ap_on_go_co/climate_change_alaska_2|an article] from AP.org available at News.Yahoo.com:

McCain and Sen.
Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., are sponsoring legislation that would limit greenhouse gas emissions from utilities and industry. The Climate Stewardship and Innovation Act would cap U.S. emission levels at levels recorded in 2000.

Opponents of the legislation, including Sen. Ted Stevens (news, bio, voting record), R-Alaska, chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, attribute warming to cyclical geophysical forces.

From [http://www.treehugger.com/files/2005/08/worlds_largest.php|a blurb] at TreeHugger.com:

The very large, soon-to-be-built Iowa plant (two 100,000 square-foot buildings) will use soybeans from local farmers and produce 37.5 million gallons of biodiesel per year. Politicians from the region have been falling over each other to praise the project, calling it good for agriculture, good for US national security, good for jobs and the economy, etc. "

The above is good because here is a clip from [http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/08/18/MTFH69017_2005-08-18_13-53-52_SCH850008.html|an article] from Reuters.com available at Breitbart.com:

The world could run out of time to develop cleaner alternatives to oil and other fossil fuels before depletion drives prices through the roof, a leading Dutch energy researcher said on Thursday.

Ton Hoff, manager of the Energy Research Center of the Netherlands, said it could take decades to make alternatives affordable to the point where they can be used widely, although high oil prices were already stimulating such research.

"If we run out of fossil fuels -- by the time the oil price hits 100 dollars or plus, people will be screaming for alternatives, but whether they will be available at that moment of time -- that's my biggest worry," Hoff said.

"That's why we need to use fossil fuels in a more efficient way to have some more time to develop these alternatives up to a level where the robustness is guaranteed and their price has come down ... This could take decades for some technologies."

Stubbornly high oil prices have renewed worldwide interest in sustainable energy sources, such as solar, wind and biomass as well as biofuels.

Some people still believe it's just international tensions that are keeping the oil prices high--I am seriously doubting this. Too much has happened to suggest we're starting to run out of oil. That's just me, I'm no expert, but I am looking at the facts. Things like experts saying we'd be hitting peak oil between 2005 and 2010, various oil companies scaling back the amount of oil they claim they have access to, among other things.

I just think it's funny when there's so little movement toward alt energy. I mean, what's the harm in developing it? So, what if global warming isn't real? Why can't solar and hydro and these other energy sources help us reduce our dependence on oil from countries who commit dispicable acts? In Saudi Arabia, they have public beheadings yet we buy a lot of oil from them. Would you buy a Twinkee from a corner store that held beheadings?

I wouldn't. Yet, we have to buy oil from all sorts of questionables because it's about money, not Twinkees.

So, regardless of your argument against alt energy, it just makes better sense to explore it. Why can't energy companies diversify and explore these alternatives? There is a lot of money to be made there, too. You could build solar panels that will break every so often, thus forcing us to buy new ones. Even biodiesel is used up and needs to be replenished. Hell, ExxonMobile should buy up a huge soybean farm and start producing soybeans for biodiesel.

Why is the new always fought against? Are we humans that stupid?

There is hope, though I'm sure it'll be ignored. AutoBlog.com recently [http://www.autoblog.com/entry/1234000263054348/|blogged] on a hybrid sports car. Here's a clip:

It’s called ”The Attack” and it’s a hybrid supercar with over 300 hp developed from a AC electric motor powering the front wheels and a 1.9L VW TDi biodiesel powering the rears. The batteries powering the electric motor act as capacitors able to discharge a lot of energy in short bursts, enough for 0-60 runs in the sub 4-second range. Under normal driving conditions the car is powered by the biodiesel engine and achieves 50mpg.

And the best part is, this super-hybrid didn’t come from the Big 3 or some obscure Euro supercar maker, “The Attack” is the work of the West Philadelphia High School Electric Vehicle Team - a group of 6 high school, YES, high school kids.

Yep. High school kids did something the auto industry hasn't been able to do. A hybrid with power.

So, all you nay sayers out there can lick me.