Mickey Walker - May 16, 2010
The unplugged Armageddon oil spill off the coast of New
Orleans, Louisiana is just what we needed. Planet earth just did not have enough tribulations and on
its plate so Mr. Fate (nee Weltgeist) asks: “How do you like me now, mother earth?” Greece’s financial future is in a
sovereign shambles. Without the
stronger countries in Europe to bail Greece out, it would burn up like the
Phoenix. And show little promise
of ever rising from the ashes. So
here comes Germany to the rescue with plans to stave off the self-induced
implosion of Greece. Will the
European Union countries with cash and capital succeed in shoring up the
integrity of its own? Well, maybe,
but don’t look to Italy for help. Or Ireland, or Portugal, or Spain, or any of the other members of the EU
who are standing in line like dominoes, awaiting their turn to fall down the
financial hole of no return. They
all borrowed and borrowed and “derivatived” themselves to the world financial
ER and are waiting for rigor mortis to set in. Well maybe it’s not quite that bad. Greece was only the first domino to
fall. But perhaps there are ways
for Greece to buy more time before the financial hatchet falls. Germany promises to help out, and they
got money and means, so maybe.
Our own beloved Goldman-Sachs helped Greece buy a few more
years of false security not too long ago. Goldman arranged for Greece to borrow over a billion dollars set up in
derivatives to prolong the inevitable and not show the loan on its own
sovereign balance sheet as debt. It was classified as a currency exchange, zowiee! Greece got a temporary stay on paying
the piper on the debt it was about to default on. And of course, Goldman Sachs shorted the derivatives they
sold Greece just like they shorted the credit default swaps on mortgages here
in America and abroad. It’s good
to be Goldman; you always win, coming and going. Goldman Sachs helps Greece
mask debt and postpone bankruptcy
So now the planet must deal with technology gone ape shit in
the Gulf of Mexico. Cement plugs
failed when a blowout preventer a mile deep below an offshore drilling rig
exploded. There are 11 missing and
dead. The drilling rig collapsed
and sank. The Oil Spill Explained in
Illustrations
So the oil spreads out into the Gulf of Mexico at the rate
of 60,000 barrels a day. LA Times worst case scenario
Oil prices are rising, prices at the pump lurch upward. Just what we needed. I hope I am wrong, but this could
become the last nail for a planet in financial and ecological turmoil coupled
with an energy crisis in the making. But let us continue to hope with this unique human gift of ours to be
optimistic and moving forward to better the agenda of humankind. And for openers we could stop our total
dependence on oil, the whims of the Middle East countries with our hand out for
oil at an affordable price, and all the expense of maintaining a military might
to secure the oil overseas. The
price is just too high.
So what’s the solution? What could keep us from opening Pandora’s Box at the bottom
of the sea and spilling crude oil all over the planet and fish and wildlife
habitats? Many times I have
written about how we need to develop green energy sources right here at
home. That we need to become the
world leader in solar, wind, and even micro-hydro power. In so doing we could in my view, pay off
the horrid multi-trillion dollar debt by selling electric power to all the
countries in the world. But here’s
the hitch: the United States is a
country ruled by greed, power, and money. Those who have the money want to keep it. They don’t want to share. To wit, Big Brown (the electric companies) and Big Oil (we
know who they are, for sure) do not want to share. They want to keep all the electricity generated (no matter
if you produce 100kw per day EXTRA from your wind or solar devices) and pay you
nothing for it. That’s right,
contrary to popular belief, they do not and will not pay a small producer for
excess electricity generated and put back onto the Grid. Pause a minute to digest that.
Let’s review. Over a decade ago, Germany lit the match that started the fire that made
them the leading producer of solar power in the world. Now they have a new and updated grid
more efficient than any other country in the world. How did they pull it off? Well, they courted private citizens and villages and towns
to build their own electric-powered solar panels. They all hooked onto the German national grid, and now
Germans enjoy a world position in green energy production second to none. How did they do it? They paid the individuals, the villages
and the towns 55 cents per kilowatt hour that the citizens generated above
their own needs that went back onto the German National Grid (the process is
called net-metering). Germany
happens to own the national electric company and was charging and still is
charging the equivalent of about 15 cents per kilowatt hour. So Germany, all along, was paying
private generators of electricity from solar panels 55 cents while charging its
citizens only 15 cents. That made
for rapid growth of a wonderful natural grid. As time passed, Germany gradually reduced the incentive rate
of 55 cents per kWh back down to a little above the going rate they charged for
electricity. But what a wonderful
idea that worked wonders. Since
then German electric companies got into wind and hydro and other green energy
inventions. Schott Solar, one of
the largest solar and solar furnace companies in the world just opened a half
billion dollar manufacturing facility in Albuquerque, New Mexico. And German electric companies own and
operate more windmills in West Texas than American utility companies. See what a little incentive to do the
right thing will get you?
I used to teach basic nuclear physics in the Navy at
Albuquerque, New Mexico. No
kidding. Solar power is easy. It is abundant. It is free. And if we Americans would make the incentives work so that
we could be paid for our efforts and contributions toward this new field of
energy that might just solve the environmental and the energy-dependent
problems of the world. We might
just cast off our debt, our dependency on foreign oil, and survive and show the
rest of the world the way. With
our technology we could sell all the power the planet could ever use. No if ands or buts.
Look. Solar
panels are collectors of electricity. Everyone knows how atoms are composed of protons and neutrons in the
atom nucleus and one or more electrons orbiting the nucleus, right? Okay, atoms are stable, having a
neutral charge because the positive charged particles and the negative charged
particles are equal in number. Hydrogen =1 proton (positive charge + 1) and 1 electron (negative charge
-1) so the overall atom charge is neutral. Helium =2 protons and 2 electrons. Okay, so some elements when hit by the sun’s rays will give
up an orbital electron very easy. These are called semiconductors. Silicon is such an element and it is therefore used widely for solar
panels. When the sun is shining,
the sun’s rays are knocking hell out of silicon atoms, causing the disruption
of the orbital electrons (negatively charged) and kicking them out of orbit as
free electrons.
You collect these free electrons on a wire, an anode. They get stored in a battery as
electrons, and when they are released they come out as electric current. Solar panel arrays need batteries for
storage when the sun is not shining. The electrons made from the sun striking the silicon is called the
photovoltaic process. And they are
stored typically as a 12-volt current, just like the battery in your car. To make the electrons stored in your
battery usable in household current you need an inverter. This device converts the Direct Current
to Alternating Current which will run your TV or you microwave. That’s all there is to it. You place the silicon cells on solar
panels, fasten them to your roof or affix them to a stand in your backyard,
face them to the south so the sun will strike them each day, and you’re
set. Free power for at least 40
years. No moving parts. Hose off the dust every 2 or 3
months. Practical applications of solar power
But Big Brown doesn’t like the German model. Big Brown wants to keep on spewing
coal. They don’t want John Q.
Public putting electricity on their giant inefficient Grid. They are one of the biggest lobbies in
Washington, the power companies. BB lobbies state legislatures, too, to continue to gum up the laws so
that individuals cannot get paid more than a pittance for generating private
energy from solar panels or any other green energy engines like windmills and
micro-hydro generators. This needs
to change. There are a handful of
states a little friendly toward those producing green energy. But for the most part, zilch. No sympathy for the common man trying
to generate clean electricity for himself and maybe to help save the planet
from air pollutants such as mercury and acid rain from coal-powered electric
companies. The world can’t wait
while greed tries to hold its breath until we wake up to the ongoing and
imminent disasters ahead.
In Part II I will tell of some of the incentives to go
green, beginning with the stunning federal 30% federal tax credit on your solar
panel array construction for your house. Also, in fairness, there are a minute few utility companies who give tax
rebates. There was one in my area
in Southeast Texas who paid you $2.50 per kilowatt if you constructed solar
panels at home. For a 10 KW array,
that lucrative tax credit meant they would write you a check for $25,000 on the
front end. But alas, not all electric
companies are the same.