Alfred Holzheu – online and verbose – The Main Pontifications page – The energy Koolaid acid test
Alfred Holzheu – online and verbose – The Main Pontifications page – The energy Koolaid acid test
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Saturday, August 14, 2010 at 5:36 PM
5:36PM
Aug 14, 2010 at 5:36 PM
http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/question638.htm
If you truly want to get real, you must separate the conversion efficiency of solar energy into food from the the conversion of solar energy into mechanical motion. Although plants are indispensable for the production of food (even us omnivores know that), they are very poor at making that transition from solar nuclear froth into making the wheels of the bus go round and round. Both are important, but both have their place. To digress a little, there are probably seas of methane on Titian, ergo hydrocarbons are probably a gift from the GOD, and we can use that gift to produce modern life. Consequently we can produce food, or produce solar cells (assuming that you don’t buy into the CO2 is bad hypothesis) from that energetic bounty. Each has its proper place and efficiency coefficient, but to take the inefficient process of growing a plum and making fuel from it is just stupid, when the same expenditure of effort can produce 15 times the energy with solar cells. I am ignoring nuclear for the moment as we do not have a environmentally acceptable process to extract energy from the true source. If someone comes up with a solution to this conundrum, all bets are off. But until then, we need to drink reality tea, not fantasy koolaid.
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“The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.” Albert Einstein