New Administration's Agenda for Energy and the Environment

well well well... same thing i suggested 5 years ago.

also predicted that our economy would collapse (however did not predict it to this degree. was unaware of the depth of corruption in our financial system)

it would cost 50 to 150 billion for a new ultra high efficiency power transmission grid and would employ up to 1.5 million for 3-5 years and then as many as 2-300,000 for another 5-10 years. i read really good article on things to be done and how to do them but am unable to find it right now. numbers quoted are from memory only but was only about 3-4 months ago...Friedman maybe??

installing a network of wind and solar would employ another half million with twice that much in satellite industries to monitor and maintain it.

various sorely needed public works and road projects could put another 1.5 to 3 million to work over 20 years...

all these projects would cost us big bucks, but will provide a benefit to us or a ROI...now if we get beyond the length of the payback period as it seem Obama has, then we will be on the right track...

otherwise we can continue to buy oil from the middle east with dollars that will NEVER come back

 

Sounds pretty good.

"We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories." I admit I teared up at that point....

Rob

 

If you're a company like Nanosolar or General Electric's GE Energy division, you're seeing a lot of money coming your way soon. Watch GE step up production of the large 1.5 to 3 MW wind turbines that will be going up in the western USA over the next 5-9 years.

As for plug-in hybrids, that will be coming online from 2010 on. Toyota's Hybrid Synergy Drive is ready to be upgraded to PHEV operation, and we could see by 2012 the Prius, Camry Hybrid, etc. available in PHEV versions using Li-On or ultracapacitor battery packs. Since the Ford Fusion Hybrid uses fairly similar technology, when the Fusion is replaced in 2012 with a new model it too will offer a PHEV version.

 

Oh, good. I bought stock in G.E.

 

Same here. I didn't fully tear up, but I partially did.
I also like that he mentioned America's dependence on foreign energy and that we need to become independent.

TEXT from Inaugural speech: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/inauguration_obama_text

It's going to be interesting to see how American Auto makers are going to play a part in this. Essential to Obama's goal to create jobs in America, he must also retain pre-existing jobs, and the Big Three are critical to this. I have a feeling that now he is officially President, he is going to have some STRONG words for the Big Three.
.

 

Sadly my government just doesn't get it.

Canada the answer to U.S. energy worries, Prentice says

 

As long as:

1. They don't use the protectionist 'First xxx sold by a manufacturer' phase-out plan
2. They make sure the 'Advanced Vehicles' do a LOT better than equivalent or near equivalent models. It burns what my tail feathers are connected to that people buying a hybrid Malibu get a $1550 tax credit when the 24/32 MPG BARELY exceeds the MPG in the LS and LT1 versions (22/30) and is actually NO better than the LT2 and LTZ (22/33). Clearly the basis for the 'compared to MPG' needs to be changed.
3. They figure out an Miles Per 'energy cost equivalent' for comparison so we can see if it is really saving energy, both fossil and green.

 

The money needs to come from SUV sales. The gas guzzler fee needs to be increased. And when they say "The gas guzzler tax applies only to cars (not trucks)," are SUV's taxed? Frequently Asked Questions

 

Directly, that is. We have been doing it indirectly since the advent of the hydrocarbon-burning era, albeit with of time-shift of several 100 million years when ancient solar energy created life forms since baked into the the Earth's crust. We have lately been extracting it in concentrated form as coal, oil and natural gas.

Whether we will be able to figure out how to capture today's real-time solar energy flux to cater to our current energy intensive life-style is a key question. If we can somehow replicate here on Earth that nuclear powerplant 93 million miles away, we'll really have it made!

 

We already have nuclear power. If massive cloud cover covered the earth and the sun was blocked out, we could couple nuclear power plants to "grow lights" to grow crops. Instead of dissipating the nuclear power plants' heat into the oceans, we could forward that heat to heat homes and schools and businesses.

Addressing the world in it's current state, if we can rapidly accelerate renewable resources (wind, solar, hydroelectric, geothermal, and so forth), we could even REVERSE the combustion of hydrocarbons by growing massive forests of trees, burying the trees or using them for building materials, and then replanting. (effectively removing CO2 from the air) Sure, we wouldn't be able to replicate (efficiently, anyhow) how oil and coal were formed over millions of years, but at least we could remove CO2 and bury or utilize it for building materials.