Energy of the Future

Image via Wikipedia

There have been a number of ideas brought forth as to being the solver of part of the problem of future energy for use upon this little blue planet of ours.  But no one has a solution that will, by itself, solve our energy problems by themselves. This is also true of what energy to use to propel us to far distant stars and planets. They have one solution but it will only last for 10 years and then the people using the space craft will have to develop their own solution.

What I think the problem is, is that they are all looking to solve the problem with 20th century solutions. What they have to look for is a 21st or even a 22nd century solution. What does this mean? Well I think it means that they have to look at what elements they don’t know and how could they use them with what they know to create new sources of energy. Just because they haven’t found them does not mean that they don’t exist, it just means that they have not found they way and/or means to find them.

I was taught in computers that when you start to design something and you don’t know how long it will take, you start at the end and calculate what you need before the end to get there. And then what is needed to get to the next to last step and so on until you get to the beginning or where you are at this time.

I know that it sounds strange to some and logical to others but really isn’t that the way that the physicists, chemists, and mathematicians should be thinking. Not how to get there, but what are they trying to get to and work back wards. Isn’t that really what Einstein was trying to tell us with his famous equation E=MC2? I know that he worked out how to get there, but didn’t he really understand where he was going and worked it out about how to get there? I don’t know as I am not a genius or even really smart, but I do know how to think logically and that is how you get to where you want to get to.

This simple idea has run around my brain ever since I first heard of it and tried it out to solve my first computer problem. I also used it to plan the implementation of a new system for NATO that is now the basis for all communications between all the different military departments around the world. This is to insure that no-one military will be left in the dark when it comes to working together to solve a problem.  Therefore I believe that I can speak with a little confidence when I say: “Start solving the problem, by looking at the final solution”.

By the year 2050 the world will need more than 50% more energy to keep up with the growth of the consuming publics demand for the energy. Right now it takes 110,000 watts a day for each person in the US. In Europe they need 55,000 watts. And in Asia they consume 16,000 watts and Africans us only 8,000 watts.

Where does all this come from? Well it comes from fossil fuels (oil, coal and gas), water, sun, nuclear, and wind. As we all know, we are running out of fossil fuels and because of that all the prices have risen and will continue to rise until we find a more usable (reusable?) source. You and I have heard of the “new” engines for cars and other means of transportation that use other sources. But you probably don’t know that they have had these engines for decades, but because the oil was so cheap, the manufacturers thought that retooling their assembly lines would cost too much and the consumer (you and I) would not purchase them as long as the price of gasoline was so low. Now that the prices of the fuel have risen so much, they have decided to bring them out of the development  stage to the fabrication process.

But vehicles are only one of the consumers of these fossil fuels as I have stated before. You and I also use electricity for our cooking, ironing, washing, housecleaning, and just lighting our homes. Think about all the  consumption that is going on in all the offices and stores where we shop. Again, lighting, heating/cooling, advertisements, and of course the ever-present computers, screens, and printers which we no longer can get along without. How many of you have more than one computer at home? At work? We see special stores selling them and all the accessories that we “need” to have to make our work/gaming easier and faster. New larger homes need more energy just because of their size and the growth of the earths population and their connection to the “lines” will require more and more energy.

If everyone on the planet used the same amount energy as the “average” US user, we would need 5.4 earths to supply the amount of  force required to feed their requirements. This calls for all of us to use less and less and for someone to design more efficient equipment requiring less energy supplies. And there is the request for all of us to be more creative in how we re-use our supply and find ways to use less energy. More efficient light bulbs can save 1% of requirement. If everyone on earth would use these light bulbs and turning off the light when it is no longer required, you would save 20 power plants around the earth.

As a little thought before I go: Raising beef cattle requires the use of 10X more energy than to raise the same weight in chickens. So save where you can.

o give you an idea about where the energy is going, and faster than we can create new sources, China is building the equivalent of 2 New York Cities per year. That’s how many more people in just one year? Just about 17 million, and that’s only 1 country. Just think of what’s happening around the world. And we need to find and build more energy supplying sources. There will be an extra 1.3 billion (1,300,000,000) people requiring twice as much energy in the next 10 years. How are we going to do it?

China’s people are becoming the new middle class of the world with the US becoming a 2nd rate or even a 3 rate country if we don’t start doing something now to change the future.

Are the energy sources up to the job? Well, nuclear energy could supply 9%, maybe 15%, if we build new plants, but that would take a change in the attitude of the people in the different countries and then what would we do with the radioactive waste that every nuclear plant creates, every day?

We could build new dams which could supply up to 25% of the world’s energy needs, but we would have to dam every river in the world. Some of them would require multiple dams. Then where would all the migratory fish and water life go? You can’t build a dam and still allow all the fish to go up and down the river. Only the salmon can use water ladders to return to their breeding grounds as it has always been their nature to go up water falls throughout history.

Wind would be a good idea and would give us up to 30% of our needs, but as you noticed, I said ‘up to’. The bad part of this is that the wind has to be blowing all the time on all the windmills all the time. You and I know that doesn’t happen so windmills will help, but not really enough.

Solar cells now only supply 0.1% but we would need over 4,000 times as many as we now have to really make a difference. But the good part is that it would supply us with power as long as the sun shines. Which means that over 50% of them will not be producing 50% of the time. They would also require millions and millions of hectares of land that people could not live or work on.

With the right mobilization you and I can do just about anything, but it also requires industries to create and change to new technologies. Renewable energy in not just a plant but also a business that we all need to be a part of. We could use existing factories and change the existing equipment to make new products for using or creating renewable energy.

You and I need to get together with all the rest of our friends, neighbors, countrymen and the rest of the people on earth to design/create new sources of energy

Related Articles

• Obama’s State of the Union Address [VIDEO] (planetsave.com)
• Moving the Navy and Marine Corps Off Fossil Fuels (whitehouse.gov)
• Energy: Hydrocarbons in North America (energybulletin.net)
• What are the advantage of alternate energy (wiki.answers.com)
• Study: 100 percent renewable energy possible by 2030 (sfgate.com)
• SmartWatt Energy to Sponsor IARW Southeastern Chapter Meeting (prweb.com)
• A Future of Fossil Fuels (technologyreview.com)
• Artificial Leaf Closer to Reality. Humans Today Consume 15 trill watts of power, 85% from fossil fuels. (worldnewsrecord.wordpress.com)
• Research Proposal and Outline: Alternative Energy (envirowriters.wordpress.com)
• The Energy Report (climateinsight.wordpress.com)
• Research Proposal and Outline：Say No To Fossil Fuels (envirowriters.wordpress.com)
• “Today, humans consume an average of 15 trillion watts of power, 85% of which comes from burning…” (underpaidgenius.com)
• Urine explored as energy source (autonetinsurance.co.uk)
• The Future Of Energy Use (alan.com)

Advertisements