Can someone please deliver me from these crazies who believe that the current alternate energy ideas and projects will provide us with never ending solutions to global warming and all the power generating ills that beset us.
I don't know how many trillions of windmills and billions of solar panels they think we'll need to install to allow us to get rid of the coal, oil, nuclear and gas powered plants we have now.
What does it take in terms of manufacturing energy to build a windmill fan anyway? What do solar panels consist of? Where do those raw products come from, and how do you get them?
Hey, I would love to own an electric car too, but they'll only go so far between recharges and a full recharge takes at least three hours so I'm told. Some regenerate as they run or as brakes are applied or some such thing, but not really say the skeptics. So they have to be recharged.
Will these vehicles operate in Saskatchewan at 40 degrees below and will they get me from Estevan to Saskatoon without a recharge? And if not, where do I recharge and at what cost? Will recharge stations replace gas stations? If so, can I sit at the recharge station for three hours for less than $40? I guess I can work on my crank winding, recharging laptop while I wait.
If we're going to have electric vehicles, then where will 500 trillion megawatts of additional electrical power come from? Gerbils in a perpetual motion cage?
Will there be roadside charge stations or response vehicles for emergencies? How much electricity will it take to get that semi to haul six tonnes of produce to the market 1,000 kilometres away?
Who is going to stop the mischief makers from coming along in the middle of the night to unplug my car while I'm sleeping? If they can siphon gas, they'll siphon power. What if they bring a toaster along and steal my power to make a toasted cheese and tomato sandwich instead of letting my car recharge?
Right, you'll build in safety features so that can't happen sorta like that locked gas tank idea. That'll work. That won't add much to the cost of my electric car.
So after you've shown me that you can build 200,000 electrical recharge stations in every region to serve all our millions of electric cars, trucks, and trains, who checks the fuse boxes?
I mean one charge might get me to Moosomin, but not home. Do I sit around for an additional three hours, or walk to my appointments while my car is getting recharged at the friendly recharge station? Hope they'll wash the windows.
What happens on those nasty snow stormy nights when I get the plugs mixed up and discover the next morning that the block heater and interior warmer was hooked up to the battery recharge. Oh, I won't need to worry about the thing not starting if it's electrical. OK, I believe you Peter Pan.
Solar panels? Anyone want to clean them every two days? I don't even like washing my windows. Who wants to climb on my roof and wash down solar panels? Maybe they'll design a kind of "tilt-a-panel" for easier access for the Mr. Clean crew.
So if you're going to give me 100 million solar panels, why not a direct link from the panel to my electric car? Save me a step. Sun comes up, we go to work. Sun doesn't shine, we get to stay home. Wind doesn't blow or blows too hard ditto.
The new car may go from Burbank to Santa Barbara, but will it take me from Stony Rapids to La Ronge? I'm assuming of course there is a road between those two communities. I haven't been in our more northern regions lately, but the message is clear, I'm just not big on research as you can see.
I understand, we all need a little time to digest the new world of alternate energy. Ethanol was a bit of a false start. I get it: Brazil, lots of left over sugar cane stalks to make gas. Sugar cane, great for ethanol production. Starchy corn that nobody wants, pretty good too. Wheat, not so great. Back to the drawing board my friends.
OK, biomass or geothermal maybe we have something there. What do you think?
Let's put it this way, I'm not planning on going on any lecture circuit with my wonderful storehouse of knowledge about alternate energy, but I do know that some people believe we're on the cusp of a new era of powering up the world.
I'm not cusping yet. I still think we have to refine our traditional power production sources and fuels while filling in the gaps where we can.
What do you think, dear diary?
