By Mickey Walker - August
23, 2009
It’s always about the money. We cannot seem to stop polluting our home, planet earth,
because somebody, some corporation, is making more money by dumping phenols
into our rivers, belching hydrocarbons and acid into the air, and by burying
toxic waste in the places we live and breathe. The money these deep pockets make, instead of going into
measures to reduce air pollution, go into the pockets of legislators who take
money for their votes in Congress, and the unspoken rule is that they will not
bite the hand that feeds them. But
wait. This is a short term outlook
on money and profits which does not benefit the common man, nor his lakes and
rivers and the very fish he catches and eats. Why almost every square inch of land and every cc of water
in America has dangerous concentrations of Mercury. It got there by coal-burning electric generating
plants. And Big Electric and Big
Coal has managed to grease the palms of a majority of senators and congressmen
so that they will vote to favor the easement of contamination controls, which
means that the polluting companies will not have to spend big and extra bucks
to clean up their act. The losers? Humans. Let’s talk
awareness. Do you know that all
states have consumption advisories that limit how much fish you can eat taken
from ALL the waters in America? In
Texas the vast majority of species of fish taken most anywhere in fresh water
lakes, rivers and in salt water, is laden with Mercury so that the State Fish
and Game says we should not eat more than 8 ounces per month. Period! Pregnant women and kids should not eat much fish, if any,
Texas tells us. The scope and
limits are similar in all other states, too. And there are places where the ingestion of fish, crabs, or
oysters, is forbidden. Forbidden Seafood
Consumption Zones
But this piece is not about fish and Mercury. It is about the destruction of planet
earth. In one of my recent columns
I discussed how the state of Texas, in its infinite wisdom, shut out any
possibilities of an individual who generates more green energy such as solar or
wind, than he consumes, that he cannot smoothly net meter the excess
electricity he generates from his solar panels back to the grid. Translated this means that he cannot
readily sell the excess electricity he generates back to the power companies
for compensation or a reduction on his bill. Not so with Spain and Germany. These innovative countries saw it coming. They knew that the planet was being
polluted with each kilowatt of electricity generated by burning fossil fuels so
they made it lucrative, years ago, for the private individual to produce his
own energy by wind and solar means. If the rate per kwh was say, the equivalent of 15 cents US currency,
Spain and Germany saw to it that the electric companies buying power back would
pay the individual who had the guts and gumption to create his own power from
the sun and wind a price of over 50 cents per kwh! Even though they were selling power for 15 cents per kwh,
the electric companies had to pay over 50 cents to an individual who generated
and put his excess power back onto the grid. Do you love it? That would create a lot of alternative green energy fast, wouldn’t
it? Yes, it would. And it did. As time passed, the high payment would gradually subside to
a more normal rate. But by then
much of the micro grid (private homeowner power generation) would be in
place. The result? Cleaner air. More electricity. Less chance of brown outs. The people can now get energy at reduced prices without polluting the
streams and lakes and adjacent seas with harmful chemicals, namely
Mercury. Amazing stuff. Contrast that human endeavor to that of
Texas where lobbyists pay out big bucks to foil and squelch private electricity
production. At present, the state
of Texas has no significant tax rebates for private production of electricity
off the grid. Until the
legislature reconvenes, another vote on net metering (the right of an
individual to sell back excess energy produced back to the grid) will not be
taken. For another two years! Think of the money the utility
companies will skim off the backs of the people for another two years. Big Electric is alive and well. And filthy rich. And polluting our air and water with
coal smoke and Mercury. Think
maybe they just don’t care?
Last week I spent a few days in New Mexico. Rapidly it is becoming the solar
capital of America. Several solar
cell manufacturers have plants there. Many homes use solar panels for their energy needs. They dot the rooftops of home after
home. Schott Solar, Inc, in
business for over 100 years in glass, and over 50 years in solar products to
produce electricity, is alive and well and continuing to construct a 500
million dollar manufacturing facility just outside of Albuquerque. They will make 6-inch square
photovoltaic cells and multi-cellular panels and a glass solar generator tube
for big energy production from the sun. They will make the long glass hollow tube that houses a liquid salt
solution, the length of which is enveloped by concave mirrors that follow the
sun. The liquid heats up, steam is
produced, and the steam propels turbines which produce massive amounts of
electricity. I asked a Schott
engineer if I could buy such a solar generator device, and he chuckled. “No.” he said. These
start out at 5 megawatts. Enough
to power a small city. Further he
told me that Schott only produced the hollow glass rod, that other companies
produced the concave mirror arrays and computers to drive the rotation of the
panels. The tour took my breath
away. Here there were humans who
cared about the preservation of the planet as well as massive energy generation
from the sun through innovation, ingenuity, and science. I shook my head in wonder as I thought
about fossil fuels and why we continue to shoot ourselves in the foot when the
technology is there to propel the planet toward zero pollution.
More electricity from out of thin air fits hand in hand with
more electric cars. That means
less CO2 and air pollution. But
“Who Killed the Electric Car”, the movie, is significant. Over a decade ago GM produced the EV1,
a successful fully-electric vehicle. Over 400 of them were leased to California residents. The cars would do over 80 mph and go
over 150 miles between charges. Forget that they tell us we need better batteries. It’s all
baloney. We had the vehicles and
the technology years ago. We
continue to rape planet earth because something, some force with powerful lots
of money wants it that way. And we
are its victims. Something there
is that does not want us to be free of foreign oil and carbon burning
vehicles. Guess who? Big oil? Big Auto? Short History of GM's EV1 Electric Car
Just think. For
us to be free of foreign oil, all we need do is to go green, go electric. States need to encourage green energy
instead of trying to strangle it with regulations that retard its growth. We need to tell our representatives to
knock it off. While there is still
time. In going green we would be
free of the strife of policing the Middle East and borrowing and spending
ourselves into third world status as a debtor nation. Schott proves that many, many megawatts of energy can be
produce from the sun and sent to homes as AC electricity. We know it can be done. Will we sit here silently as the CO2 from
carbon-burning smokestacks and the gasoline engines continue to engulf and warm
our planet? Will we not have to
endure endless hardships as gas at the pump approaches $10 a gallon and goes
even beyond? Other than big money
that wants to see us stay hooked on fossil fuels that rape planet earth in more
ways than one, is there any rational reason for us not to go green now? 