Comments on: Energy http://www.overthecounterculture.com/2008/energy/ Staring at the sun Tue, 01 Jun 2010 15:17:59 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 By: Philippe Bradley http://www.overthecounterculture.com/2008/energy/comment-page-1/#comment-469 Philippe Bradley Thu, 29 May 2008 11:32:03 +0000 http://www.overthecounterculture.com/2008/energy/#comment-469 Ah, the problem of externalities. Turns out economics does have the answer, but politics is lagging. Putting taxes on tires or road users comes across as "yet another stealth tax"... when really all it's doing is forcing people to compensate society for the bad effects of their behaviour. Sadly politicians don't have the willpower to make that happen. Ah, the problem of externalities. Turns out economics does have the answer, but politics is lagging. Putting taxes on tires or road users comes across as “yet another stealth tax”… when really all it's doing is forcing people to compensate society for the bad effects of their behaviour. Sadly politicians don't have the willpower to make that happen.

]]> By: gregory http://www.overthecounterculture.com/2008/energy/comment-page-1/#comment-468 gregory Thu, 29 May 2008 10:12:37 +0000 http://www.overthecounterculture.com/2008/energy/#comment-468 another huge can of worms, measuring the external or hidden or social costs, yet the real costs, of many things .... we buy tyres, tires, never pay for the cleaning up of all the particles inhaled by city kids, or for the disposal, on and on<br><br>economics has a long way to go another huge can of worms, measuring the external or hidden or social costs, yet the real costs, of many things …. we buy tyres, tires, never pay for the cleaning up of all the particles inhaled by city kids, or for the disposal, on and on

economics has a long way to go

]]> By: gregory http://www.overthecounterculture.com/2008/energy/comment-page-1/#comment-470 gregory Thu, 29 May 2008 10:08:51 +0000 http://www.overthecounterculture.com/2008/energy/#comment-470 lovely bit about the snickers bar and the sausage .... and brings up a point about what we can so far measure .... the snickers bar has caloies, and cool, we can measure that, but it has no life-force, a completely unquantifiable concept, but one which is quite real, and why fresh juice is better than processed, though it is "the same thing" lovely bit about the snickers bar and the sausage …. and brings up a point about what we can so far measure …. the snickers bar has caloies, and cool, we can measure that, but it has no life-force, a completely unquantifiable concept, but one which is quite real, and why fresh juice is better than processed, though it is “the same thing”

]]> By: Philippe Bradley http://www.overthecounterculture.com/2008/energy/comment-page-1/#comment-333 Philippe Bradley Thu, 29 May 2008 04:32:03 +0000 http://www.overthecounterculture.com/2008/energy/#comment-333 Ah, the problem of externalities. Turns out economics does have the answer, but politics is lagging. Putting taxes on tires or road users comes across as "yet another stealth tax"... when really all it's doing is forcing people to compensate society for the bad effects of their behaviour. Sadly politicians don't have the willpower to make that happen. Ah, the problem of externalities. Turns out economics does have the answer, but politics is lagging. Putting taxes on tires or road users comes across as “yet another stealth tax”… when really all it's doing is forcing people to compensate society for the bad effects of their behaviour. Sadly politicians don't have the willpower to make that happen.

]]> By: gregory http://www.overthecounterculture.com/2008/energy/comment-page-1/#comment-332 gregory Thu, 29 May 2008 03:12:37 +0000 http://www.overthecounterculture.com/2008/energy/#comment-332 another huge can of worms, measuring the external or hidden or social costs, yet the real costs, of many things .... we buy tyres, tires, never pay for the cleaning up of all the particles inhaled by city kids, or for the disposal, on and on<br><br>economics has a long way to go another huge can of worms, measuring the external or hidden or social costs, yet the real costs, of many things …. we buy tyres, tires, never pay for the cleaning up of all the particles inhaled by city kids, or for the disposal, on and on

economics has a long way to go

]]> By: gregory http://www.overthecounterculture.com/2008/energy/comment-page-1/#comment-334 gregory Thu, 29 May 2008 03:08:51 +0000 http://www.overthecounterculture.com/2008/energy/#comment-334 lovely bit about the snickers bar and the sausage .... and brings up a point about what we can so far measure .... the snickers bar has caloies, and cool, we can measure that, but it has no life-force, a completely unquantifiable concept, but one which is quite real, and why fresh juice is better than processed, though it is "the same thing" lovely bit about the snickers bar and the sausage …. and brings up a point about what we can so far measure …. the snickers bar has caloies, and cool, we can measure that, but it has no life-force, a completely unquantifiable concept, but one which is quite real, and why fresh juice is better than processed, though it is “the same thing”

]]> By: Philippe Bradley http://www.overthecounterculture.com/2008/energy/comment-page-1/#comment-331 Philippe Bradley Mon, 26 May 2008 09:37:04 +0000 http://www.overthecounterculture.com/2008/energy/#comment-331 A problem with 'going solar' is that datacenters (perfect converters of electricity into heat, plus a bit of noise and airflow) increasingly need to be located in cold environments (Siberia, Greenland, Alaska), though solar intensity in those regions is low. Unless the energy can be transported between the two zones (by wire or as a fuel), solar may be out of the question for powering the 'net. A problem with 'going solar' is that datacenters (perfect converters of electricity into heat, plus a bit of noise and airflow) increasingly need to be located in cold environments (Siberia, Greenland, Alaska), though solar intensity in those regions is low. Unless the energy can be transported between the two zones (by wire or as a fuel), solar may be out of the question for powering the 'net.

]]> By: crosbie http://www.overthecounterculture.com/2008/energy/comment-page-1/#comment-330 crosbie Mon, 26 May 2008 07:24:30 +0000 http://www.overthecounterculture.com/2008/energy/#comment-330 I should add that the mirror won't be vastly superior to sand, and the atmosphere will still capture a fair bit of reflected sunlight (via absorption, reflection, refraction), but this calculation would still be interesting. I should add that the mirror won't be vastly superior to sand, and the atmosphere will still capture a fair bit of reflected sunlight (via absorption, reflection, refraction), but this calculation would still be interesting.

]]> By: crosbie http://www.overthecounterculture.com/2008/energy/comment-page-1/#comment-329 crosbie Mon, 26 May 2008 07:18:02 +0000 http://www.overthecounterculture.com/2008/energy/#comment-329 What might also be interesting would be to compare the cost of any product with what it's cost would have been had all the fossil fuel use been substituted with renewable fuel use (throughout its production lifecycle).<br>There isn't necessarily a problem with wasted sunrays (given that the energy reaches the earth no matter what we do with it), but with wasted fossil/nuclear fuel (or indeed, use of any fuel that produces or releases energy as opposed to harnessing solar energy).<br><br>If you're interested in saving solar energy, it might be interesting to compute how much of the surface of the Sahara desert would need to be covered by a good mirror in order to reflect back into space the world's daily production/release of energy (i.e. excluding hydro/wind/solar power). That might be a fun measure of man's impact on the planet's energy budget (thus global warming due to energy as opposed to deforestation, pollution, etc.). What might also be interesting would be to compare the cost of any product with what it's cost would have been had all the fossil fuel use been substituted with renewable fuel use (throughout its production lifecycle).
There isn't necessarily a problem with wasted sunrays (given that the energy reaches the earth no matter what we do with it), but with wasted fossil/nuclear fuel (or indeed, use of any fuel that produces or releases energy as opposed to harnessing solar energy).

If you're interested in saving solar energy, it might be interesting to compute how much of the surface of the Sahara desert would need to be covered by a good mirror in order to reflect back into space the world's daily production/release of energy (i.e. excluding hydro/wind/solar power). That might be a fun measure of man's impact on the planet's energy budget (thus global warming due to energy as opposed to deforestation, pollution, etc.).

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