ariesl

Obama 'Shines' Natural Gas

This is an excellent article. I especially like the simple do-able list of Mandates.

Nakedjaybird - very good and well organized ideas

Andy1234 - Your comment on energy conservation I hope was in jest. Otherwise, it is an incredibly stupid comment ina discussion of solutions to our energy problems. However, I applaud you and others who recognize that all the energy shortages, polution problems, etc are actually population surpluses. The effectiveness of population control has been demonstrated in China. Obviously, their methods would prove next to impossible in any democratic country. Education might help but many religeous people would object.
As far as solar collectors and wildlife, could you possibly not have noticed that most collectors are the roofs of buildings?

The Deaths of birds from Colliding with wind turbines might be solved with some sort of sonic warning in a frequency range that birds hear but most humans wouldn't. Research is needed for sure.

Anyone - name calling, for example,"carbon loon" or "Enviro-crazies" etc. block many readers from considering your ideas. The same is true for names liberals have for ultra conservatives like Rush L.

Most of the energy "consumed" in this country is wasted. Wasted in inefficient power generation and transmission, deplorably inefficient buildings (in design, construction, operation, lack of insulation and weatherization) inefficient vehicle design, powering, fueling, and poor traffic handling. In a typical american car, 6/10th of a percent of the latent energy in a gallon of gas actually is used to move the driver to his destination. The rest is wasted in the inherent inefficiencies if internal combustion engines, drive trains, excessive vehicle weight, friction, aerodynamic drag, etc.
One of the many beauties of solar collectors on the roof of a building is that no electricity is lost in transmission before it's used. Most of the electricity generated in this country becomes heat energy lost to the atmosphere while overcoming resistance in the transmission lines. This is another reason we need better conductivity in the grid. BTW, American Superconductor (Nasdaq - AMSC) has been selling super- conductive cable for several years, but it is still VERY expensive. Of course, mass production would bring down the cost. (I own 30 shares.)

BTW, PVC panel prices are dropping fast this year after polysilicon prices fell and a massive ramp up in production ran into a credit crunch coupled with a global economic recession. Look for a 30% cost savings for buyers (plus another 30% Federal tax credit plus whatever your state provides)

One great sideline to eventually having millions of PHEVs and EVs not mentioned is that they could provide a source of stored electric power in their very large capacity bateries. Electric utility companies could provide special parking spaces in urban parking garages where they could hook up to the grid. When the grid has peak draws, the vehicle's batteries would help smooth out the supply to the grid. When the demand on the grid slackens the grid would recharge the batteries for free. Currently the peak demands are met by keeping gas fired power generation plants running during daytime. During lulls in demand on the grid the energy generated by these reserve power plants is wasted because there is no easy way to store it currently. Ideally, the utility company would cover the garage roof with solar collectors, therby freeing up more Nat Gas for transportaion.

Rarely mentioned is the most practical use of solar as a source for thermal energy to heat water (20% of a typical home's energy bill). All of the previously mentioned tax credits apply.
Homes can be designed using passive solar heating principles for almost no addtional cost, saving most of the energy currently used for space heating.
These ideas make even more sense for schools and commercial buildings that are used mostly during the daytime hours.
Intelligent building design can also drastically lower air conditioning needs without sacrificing comfort.
All of the energy savings I"ve mentioned would reduce the need for more power plants to charge batteries in PHEVs and EVs, free up Nat Gas for transportation use, thereby reducing the amount of oil imported from unfriendly countries.