Harold Squared

In 2008, Obama predicted that his environmental policy of shutting down roughly ninety gigawatts of fossil fueled electricity would cause costs to consumers to skyrocket. Joke's on him if we are past the Tipping Point, heheheh. But he will probably be a better sport about it than those freezing in the dark.

Soon robots will program robots. They will do physics and everything better, faster, and cheaper. As a matter of fact, the more time it takes to "educate"(program) you, the greater the incentive to replace you with a machine is. You are obsolete, minimum wage or not. No coincidence, just fact. If you were in corporate management you would optimize profits as is your sole responsibility, until you got replaced by a robot too. None of them exhale the carbon dioxide, obfuscate that. They are even greener than thou. Little mechanical humor there, take it or leave it. "Irrelevant"? How so? We have robot pharmacists, robot surgeons, robot pilots, all immune to fatigue and capable of being upgraded to nearly error proof in performance.What human can you say that of?

Thank you for a most illuminating post.I must sign off now but be sure I will carefully consider all of your points before responding, gentlemen. It is a pleasure conversing with each of you.

Typically it is the little guy who is left holding the bag on these sorts of deals. Remember the savings and loan bailout? But I hope you are right. Thank you for your interest. I hope your evenings are pleasant, gentlemen and we can speak again tomorrow.

We are off topic but you asked the question and I have answered to the best of my ability, sir. Typically, when this sort of arrangement is in place the government underwrites the cost of installation for the property owner, through tax credits or similar means. As far as I know, the utility provider receives no such incentive- typically, in fact, they are cursed with a fluctuating supply as well as the preexisting fluctuating load. This is hard on the equipment and the poor devils who are trying to match generated power to load. Typically also the electricity produced by the variable source is sold back to the utility at the same rates(retail) as the householder pays for baseload or dispatchable power. This process is pretty much the same in Texas, Ontario, or Saxony. If I have made erroneous assumptions perhaps you would be kind enough to correct them. The automobile analogy is not a good one, though there are certain similarities. For one thing, the infrastructure vehicles operate on is generally government owned and maintained, usually via some fuel tax, and even hybrid vehicles purchase some fuel. The roads themselves are completely unaffected by the means of power driving the vehicles which drive upon them, the rate at which they travel, etc. The principal financial and physical stress upon road networks is vehicle weight, though weather conditions can be significant, of course. An electrical distribution grid must match supply to demand instantaneously and within rigid requirements as to supplied voltage and frequency, e.g. 60 Hertz. And yes, if the game isn't worth the candle, companies will cease to invest in such distribution networks and the price of batteries will skyrocket. Thank you for your observations and I hope you are in good health and spirits today. Solar panels are of course not free, just subsidized preferentially to yuppies by various states. Utilities can in fact be expected to point out the flaws in such schemes, perhaps in court. Returning to the topic, German utilities are spending quite a bit on lawyers, which in turn will pass on the costs to ratepayers if they lose, and taxpayers if they win. A dreary prospect others might wish to avoid. Finally a note about automobiles. In general they have become lighter and we can expect them to become more so in pursuit of ever greater fuel economy. Probably at some point road taxes will no longer depend on fuel sales per se, but will be assessed on the number of miles driven annually. These are all good things and should not affect drivers or auto manufacturers adversely.

The system is subsidized by either the provincial or national government, to answer your last question first sir. So that expense is borne by their fellow taxpayers.By selling surplus electricity to the distribution grid at retail rates, they degrade the performance of that grid at the expense of their fellow ratepayers. If enough people follow suit, reliable power sources and the means to distribute any power at all become unprofitable, at no cost to those who have undermined the system, until a blizzard hits one day and nothing happens when they flip the switch.

LAWYERS IN SPACE! Sounds like a good place for them, but seriously, if the junk came from a particular nation could not that nation be held liable? Apologies for coming late to the discussion if this has been asked before.

It will happen, count on it. Robots work cheap and do not complain, let alone organize into unions. They react faster and do only what their program specifies, no deviation, no fatigue, no human frailty. No discrimination, no sexual harassment, no maternity leave or substance abuse on or off the job. You are already obsolete, have a nice day.

China cannot sell what USA will not buy. China is not alone in this boat, either. Japan and Germany both got big economic benefits from exports to USA which continue, now Korea and China follow this example. Wall Street has no allegiance to any country or any God but Mammon and Mammon is loving cheap wages.

Very well, make that "snowy days" since that is probably the cause of the nearly nil production in the early months of the year. The output varies widely and when it vanishes, it is SOMEBODY ELSE'S PROBLEM. So your Canadian customers benefit at everyone else's expense, and the government pays them to do so. How long is that going to go on? Your chances of being in an auto accident are better than that. Do you drive? Furthermore, the RBMK "toaster" associated with Chernobyl(currently a wildlife refuge and tourist attraction of sorts) is no longer being manufactured, and the tsunami which damaged the Fukushima "toaster" some years back is not a threat to me or our good friends in Germany. Correct, sir. Steel can be produced without coal only with difficulty. Oddly, Germany imports a large volume of coal in addition to the domestic lignite production. About a third of imported coal goes to steel production, but imports are declining this year due to falling demand.

Those of you who have been kind enough to take an interest in my posts may have noticed that I am acutely aware of the limitations of renewable energy projects. In the past, however, I was quite a champion of these and in some ways maybe I still am. For example, wind energy would be better harnessed by the blade hub driving a crankshaft connected to an air compressor rather than a generator, particularly in an offshore application, where wave energy could be stored by the same means in submerged air tanks. This source of compressed air could be tapped at will to drive a turbine and render the power stored as dispatchable as hydroelectricity, helping the grid meet periods of peak demand. Unfortunately such an installation would be vulnerable to storms except perhaps for the submerged tanks but at the moment that is the principal drawback as far as I can see and applies to wind energy generally. Your thoughts and comments are most welcome as usual and I thank you in advance for the feedback.

A bizzare assertion to make when the capacity factors of each source are compared. Usually the only time nuclear facilities require "backup" is during scheduled maintenance and refueling periods. Sheer volume of power produced is not always a plus, either, counterintuively. There are cases on record of Denmark having to GIVE its wind power away or even pay to get rid of it in 2007 and in 2009. Renewables are by their very nature flaky and unreliable, with the exception of hydroelectricity. In the parlance of system operators they are not "dispatchable". It should be mentioned that the partnership between Norway(hydroelectricity) and Denmark(wind power) is probably the best possible symbiosis of renewable sources but that in general thermal(coal) power accounts for a third of the electricity consumed in Denmark, particularly in drier years. Oh, guys we are really off topic here. Dragging it back a little, it would be fair to say that geothermal energy in volcanically active regions might be of some limited use in curbing atmospheric emissions of an artificial nature. Agreed?

If the Apocalypse is no more serious than an overflowing bathtub then I think it is quite literally a tempest in a teacup. But you are not mixing your metaphors as dreadfully as you have been known to, so, progress. Good show!

Gratuitous ad hominem there, what, did you run out of cartoons? And if we are already DOOMED, then we will adapt in the traditional manner, I suppose. It has worked out okay so far. If the dreaded tipping point has come and gone I am underwhelmed and still looking for overtone's millions of refugees to show up. I quite sincerely want to know. Why is everyone being so evasive? If your millions of Chinese internal refugees are "physical reality" perhaps you will indicate the provinces they are to be found in. Or give me a date when they will show up. Reflecting further on "single study" phenomena, might such a study recently produced(manufactured?) by Karl, et al, supposedly erasing the well documented "hiatus" in temperature rise globally, meet the criteria? Why or why not?

I am much indebted to you for this most informative post. Thanks.

It would appear that I am not the only one so misled.

I like it. You sound like a sensible fellow.

Nope, not me. I have lived through 2012, Y2K, and 1984, so fake apocalypses are nothing new to me. If the science is so definite why is there so much uncertainty about the date, anyway?

Really, the subject of how much uranium exists on the planet and what use it would best be put to is a separate topic.

Yes, but a simple reflector correctly placed would be all we needed. The idea is a "statite", so called because instead of orbiting in the customary fashion it hovers over the pole, where light pressure balances gravitational attraction. An induced wobble would cause the reflected rays to illuminate the poles in any pattern desired. The poles of the Moon appear to be relatively rich in water ice, another good reason to select this region. Thank you for the feedback. This is an interesting thought experiment and the question of isotopes immediately becomes relevant. Obviously the mass of carbon isotopes should be minimized.

I had that coming. What I SHOULD have asked was "what quantity would you consider significant?" Since we are going to establish life on a barren world, one could argue that a few grams of pond scum are tremendously significant. What I have in mind is more sort of a kitchen garden crossed with a park. The Moon's proximity means that it is likely to be a major destination for space tourism and this could be a contributing attraction, plus a welcome amenity for Lunar workers.

Ouch, that would cut into the subsidy budget. I understand that the Spanish will resume uranium mining.

Actually your rights come from God. That way no temporary secular authority can take them away. Even the atheists have God given rights, the pack of ingrates. GENERAL GEORGE ARMSTRONG CUSTER'S NOTES ON THE BEHAVIOR OF THE ENEMY 1.) The enemy will arrive in suitable numbers and as well equipped as possible to secure his objective. 2.) The enemy will fail to notify you of his plans. 3.) This is gonna hurt...

You don't have anything worth stealing? How the hell should I know? I haven't been robbed either lately, though crimes did occur at several places I have worked in the past. But one thing is for sure, criminals have no scruples when it comes to violating the law. Laws which deprive citizens of legitimate weaponry therefore have no effect upon the criminal element. Let's just be glad that your country's economy can't go into the dumpster, and some fringe political party can't come to power, and that party cannot take issue with your politics or religion or you picking the wrong goddam ancestors and ship you off to a camp someplace, shall we?

Hey, at least we are smart enough to stay out of land wars in Asia. Someday... You guys are really great company for the most part, God bless you all.