[ale] Intelligent Power (was global warming) [OT]

[tom]

On Mon, 3 Mar 2008, JK wrote:

> George Allen wrote:
>> Still off topic but contains oblig. Linux ref.
>>
>> Just remembered an idea I had... that's tangentailly related to global
>> warming.
>>
>> Say - as a spin-off to 'The Matrix,' to fulfill our renewable power needs...
>> we used solar panels....
>>
>> Say - layout a grid-array of solar panels over say... most of Nevada...
>
> I read somewhere a while back that at current photovoltaic efficiency
> levels, a 50x50 mile block of panels would supply the US's electricity
> demand.  So there'd be plenty of headroom with a block the size of
> Nevada :-)  And there's tons of empty space out here in TX...
>
> OTOH I think that scheme comes under the heading of "solving the wrong
> problem".  Our *use* of energy tends to be pretty inefficient, partially
> because of the way our society is organized. Someone recently mentioned
> spending $500/month on gasoline for a 20-mile commute in metro Atlanta,
> for example; we expend huge amounts of energy just moving stuff around,
> often for silly reasons.  I work in the transportation industry,
> incidentally, and I spend a lot of my time trying to make moving-stuff-
> around more efficient.  But that, too, feels like the wrong problem.
>

I think you have gotten ahold of a major item, although I'm not quite sure 
what the "right" problem would be. 8-/. After all, organic fossel fuels 
not only supply large portions of our energy supply, but also a large 
portion of the clothes that we wear, and the other products of our lives. 
Plus, our ideas/habits of personal transportation are not only energy 
consumers, but consume other resources, eg. breathing air & land. And so 
forth.

Over all, not just an efficiency engineering problem, but a problem of 
social organization also.

And with that, I should drop out of this fascinating, highly off topic 
subjet.