1) No discussion of global warming would be complete without mentioning the wimps who support utterly foolish measures "against" it out of pure stupidity, servility and irresponsible drive to suicide of their corporations. William J. Donlon, CEO of Niagara Mohawk (a large N.Y. power utility), takes a salary of several hundred thousand dollars, if not more than $1 million, to produce a 12-page "Greenhouse Warming Action Program" in which he and his environmental VP promises to "meet or surpass the requirements" of Party and Government excuse me, "of environmental laws and regulations," agreeing with the attitude that one cannot wait to take countermeasures until all details are known. One such detail is whether the Greenhouse Effect raise or lower global temperatures, or simply do nothing. By the time we do know, this twerp may well be punished by the Green Police for not putting enough CO
2 in the air. I certainly hope so.2) What are the "environmental laws and regulations" that Dummy Donlon wants to "meet and surpass?" The rule, for example, which Bush left untouched in spite of Quayle's prodding, that anything where water stands for 7 days or more is "wetlands." It was used in 1990 to sentence John Pozsgai to 3 years in jail for putting top soil on property he bought and that contained 7,000 used tires; against Ocie Mills and his son Carie in 1990 with a 21 month prison term for dumping sand on a lot with the state of Florida's permission; and now against William Ellen, manager of a wildlife preserve, who got 6 months in prison for converting some land into pools for water fowl which the EPA wetlands manual forbids because the ducks defecate into the water; this EPA "rule" was here applied retroactively. (WSJ 11/18, p. Al6.) Heil Reilly! Heil Donlon! Heil den Grunen!
3) "When I first became a subscriber, I wondered why you called this publication Access to Energy. Now, as an engineer for an aluminum company, I'm watching the bureaucrats and Greens tighten the noose around the neck of my pay check and my employer via controlling our power supply. I am sure we will be closing the plant by 2000; I don't see how we can survive the regulations, interference, and resulting costs. Of course, like most typical corporations, the people managing it are continually shooting the company's future in the foot."
CL., Seattle, Wash.
4) "I expect that many residents of the sun belt will find themselves faced with difficult financial decisions when faced with buying a new refrigerator, because Freon 22 is no longer available. The Freon sold in auto stores is only available in 20 lb containers coming from China and France. The US will be savagely unpacted because we utilize frozen and refrigerated food more than any other nation..."
T.H.E., Cortaro, Ariz.
5) "What about hydrogen-powered cars? I understand the conversion from gas to hydrogen in a car is simple, quick and the exhaust is water. The hydrogen can be produced by electrolysis of water that produces oxygen as a by product."
KP., Ft. Worth, Tex.
It takes more energy to electrolyze the water than is contained in the resulting hydrogen (or you could use it to drive a generator and have a perpetuum mobile). Even so, to give the car the same range as gasoline, you would need an enormous tank; hydrogen (plus oxygen of the air) is a very explosive gas, and efforts to make hydrogen bound in metals practical have failed. At present hydrogen is obtained as a by product of natural gas, which can be used directly in cars, though not as easily as gasoline.
6) French volcanologist Haroun Tazieff presented the Copenhagen Conference to outlaw CFCs (11/23/92) with "seven good reasons why to repeal the Montreal Protocol," reports Notre vie (France, 11/23): 1) The chlorine of natural origin cannot be neglected; 2) there is no long-term depletion of the ozone layer; 3) there are sinks for CFCs in the atmosphere [and on the earth, such as rice paddies, P.B.]; 4) "ozone holes" had been observed long before the use of CFCs; 5) the danger from UV radiation increase has been greatly over estimated; 6) the Montreal Protocol will be costly for the West and will cost lives in the Third World; 7) the Montreal Protocol was signed in haste for essentially political reasons.
7) Perhaps this belongs in the "Stark Raving Mad" column, but a group at Battelle Memorial Inst. in Seattle, led by a "biopsychologist" found a high correlation between leukemia and using an electric razor for more than 2.5 minutes per day. The "study" involved all of 131 men, including the control group (used no electric razors), a ridiculously low and statistically worthless number (WSJ 11/13). Contrast this with the following letter from a subscriber in South Africa:
"We split salt water with electricity in one set of cells to make chlorine, caustic and hydrogen, and in another to make hydrogen and sodium chlorate, from which then make chlorine dioxide for paper bleaching. In each set of cells we use a current of 85.000 amps [about 1.2 million times more than in a shaver, P.B.]. When you stand between the two rows of cells, the magnetic field will make your keys stand up on end and it will twist a spanner [wrench] in your hand. Now I suppose the people predicting health hazards of transmission lines would predict disaster for us working with these cells. I can't say that I have noticed the slightest problem (except that the field keeps wiping clean the magnetic strip on my money card)."
8) The biggest solar power plant in Europe went on ling in September on an island off NW Germany. Its area is 37 km^2 (14 sq. mi.) for a peak power of all of 1 MW, one thousandth of what a single nuclear unit will produce on 25 acres or less. I am looking forward to Gaga Gore-Gore's ignorance of the terrestrial insolation, 500 W/m^2, and his inability to use a pocket calculator.
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Vol. 20, No. 5
Newsletter: Access to Energy Newsletter Archive Volume: Volume 20 Issue/No.: Vol. 20, No. 5 Date: January 01, 1993 11:03 AM (For actual publication date see newsletter.) Title: To the stars
Copyright © 2004 - Access to Energy Newsletter Archive
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