Are Americans losing their energy prowess (amoung other things)? In previous blogs, I’ve pointed out the evidence clearly shows there is no global warming due to CO2 (we now know the slight amount still happening is sun driven). We know this conclusively now because during the huge built up in emissions, 80% increase since 1970, that US temperature trends as evidenced by our only national weather station constantly sampling jet steam air year round (Mt. Washington) did not budge in their straight-line trends. Some opposed to this reasoning say the weather station is just a point measurement, when in fact, in function it makes no difference if the thermometer was mounted on the nose of an aircraft flying at the Mt. Washington elevation traveling back and forth across America nonstop 24/7 for the 70 years they have been measuring, the results would be the same, both would be measuring the same jet steam showing the temperature trends remaining unchanged despite the big CO2 emissions increase. If CO2 were a factor to causing temperature increases, these trends would have had to veer upwards, and they did not budge.
So what?
For one thing, I was shocked how little interest there was in this data and what it is saying. No one contacted me for the data, and I have the report from Mt. Washington in Pdf format (call me at 1.207.721.9949). For another, I maintain the global warming craze is what’s holding up air-blown gasification investments, which is the answer to increasing coal power efficiency and cleanliness. But not just for coal, it can double biomass power efficiency on average a well; twice as much power from the same wood burned. For another, I’m shocked that coal utilities don’t jump all over this data and raise hell. Ultimately, these data will be what convinces the average person to fully understand Al Gore and his troops are all wet. The gutter means they used to scare people about global warming is unprecedented, far worse that yelling fire in a theater. And I’m sure you are all aware that Al Gore will not come out of hiding and debate his critics.
On energy, financial leaders you can respect, like Warren Buffet, pointed out that he thinks oil is finite and will continue to go up in price because there are more users every day, but there is less oil discovered every day. He also points out that we ship $2 billion a day extra $ overseas, thus the dollar will continue to decline, thus increasing oil prices. Now gold is over $1000 per ounce, for example, and oil solidly at $100/bbl. Government policies that continue to fuel excessive imports and that do nothing to curb them, like achieving more energy independence (now we are buying foreign oil at about $600 billion a year rate), will continue to fuel our financial decline.
As an engineer and inventor, I have consistently tried to show others solid sure-fire ways to substantially reduce oil use and increase productivity. Most recently with a new aircraft design platform that no aircraft builders showed the least interest in, even though it can cut freight aircraft oil use in half and increase PMPG (passenger miles per gallon) for full aircraft over 300 (presently 100 is about tops). Another innovation is in trucking, which I’m currently trying to startup. It halves truck oil use, lowers maintenance by requiring smaller engines and due to less stress on the truck, and significantly increased productivity with possible payload increases up to 19,000 lbs a load due to empty truck weight decreases from one less axle, composite construction, and smaller engine. It also calculates to damage roads and bridges less.
I was further shocked to see that DOD showed not the slightest interest in the new aircraft design platform I turned over to them months ago, and to see they just selected a foreign aircraft company (French) with an American helper for their new tanker unit. We are not in a World War II in Europe (obviously) so we don’t have to rescue the French's Model 580 aircraft blunder (critic's call it the biggest economic disaster in aircraft history) by giving them aircraft business that should stay at home, and that also should be the R&D basis for experimenting with this new aircraft design platform that can solve the aircraft efficiency problem. One thing we could do to help change air transport fuel efficiency is to require PMPG be listed next to ticket prices in reservation systems. Then the consumer would know how their energy $ is being spent when they fly.
Incidentally, long ago I have sent all of this global warming data and opinion to our Congressional leaders. But like many things, unless you pay them money for their elections, I think they throw your mail into the wastebasket and never see it. But they need to be told in no uncertain terms that we can’t doing anything about global warming with CO2 manipulation, and that it is natural occurrence of our solar system. Thus, we may as well focus on making practical gasification islands cheap to by and operate (has high reliability potential). With my scheme, that’s possible (see
www.generalgasifier.com). And if high temperature FT catalysts really work, it’s feasible to tap the oil flow of the syngas ahead of the gas turbine with minimal loss of thermodynamic efficiency in the electricity part. We need to tap the cleanliness and extra energy from all solid fuels we burn, including trash, which gasification makes possible.
We also need to maximally curb oil use which my bullet truck and SE aircraft innovations will make maximally efficient. But we need far more efficient autos, which plug-in hybrids (or any hybrid as they are being built now) will not achieve. That takes practical engineering and technology applied to autos, which Detroit has heretofore been holding back on in order to sell style. Style will not save the day by helping stop that hissing sound of a steadily declining economy.
In closing, perhaps you think the Mortgage Crisis spells bad news our economy. I think the energy crisis and the excessive balance of payments problem ($2 billion a day, as Warren Buffet pointed out) that it is feeding is far worse as it cheapens our money and drives up oil prices (and energy prices and cost of living in general). They say when the going gets tough, the tough get going. If so, I’ve yet to see it in America these days.
A poor piece of logic overall.
No company has coal or biomass gasification IGCC systems worth writing a check out for because the coal folks who got all the R&D cash and were supposed to deliver the goods instead became diverted to CO2 sequestration and accomplished nothing. The wood (biomass) researchers got no serious gasifier R&D money. The CO2 scare also diverted huge capital into natural gas systems and has prostrated that resource as well. If folks had stuck to their knitting and invested in diverse gasification ideas (supposedly the present plan, but I don't believe it), there could (no guarantees) be a great IGCC system worth writing a check out for now, and folks would be buying them in droves, including biomass users. CO2 sequestration nonsense is a big reason nothing happened. So I'm sorry, I guess I don't get your point, my statements hold true.
America needs to shape up and start to solve problems in common sense ways because we are skating on thin ice. Consider if trucks stopped for 2 weeks, we would begin to starve. Oil enables cargo jets to transport any number of commodities that need that service. Energy, and its efficient use, dwarfs the housing crisis. And our total failure to have a top-end gasification technology that is cheap to buy and reliable by now is a huge problem, and we need to get it solved pronto. Yes, we've lost our MoJo all right, big time. Let's just hope our foreign stockholders continue to believe in us and stick it out. I think they will because when it comes to IP we are still king of the mountain, we just aren't implementing. Just the inventing is not enough, you have to do it. There's no MoJo if there's no result.
It's nice to read blogs of people who actually "get it" regarding climate fraud. Frankly I'm amazed that the EC folks allow such contrarianism, given their whole hearted sell-out to the climate fraudmongers. (An aside - Has anyone noticed that the EC folks haven't reported a single item from the recent Climate Conference in New York City? I guess a factual scientific approach to analyzing man's supposed impact on climate runs counter to what EC is selling!) Yes, America is stuck on stupid. If it wasn't for the personal impacts on me and my fellow contrarians, I'd say those who vote with their libidos instead of their brains (e.g. those who vote Democrat or RINO)frankly deserve to pay $5 a gallon and $0.20 a kwh for their energy needs. All I know is that the next four years are going to be hell for the US regardless of who wins the Presidency. The very basis of our representative democracy is in serious trouble since the idiot vote seems to be growing by leaps and bounds. It's too bad our Founding Fathers did not hard wire strict conditions for voting rights - people should have to prove a certain degree of cognitive comprehensive ability before they are allowed to pull that lever.
On a more technical note - regarding your solution to improving the efficiency of trucking in the US, it would make more sense and be more applicable if we just allowed for increases in gross vehicle weight and trailer combination length. Remember, efficiency of freight transportation is measured by net ton/miles per gallon of fuel and/or net cubic freight capacity per gallon of fuel. It is relatively opposite of how we measure automobile fuel effiency.
David Smith