Needed Bold Visionary Leadership On Energy
America and the world need bold and visionary leadership in the area of energy, unfortunately we’re not getting it from our political leaders.
The looming energy shortage especially the exhaustion of the world’s easy to get oil is perhaps the greatest problem facing the United States and human civilization today. Yet all our leaders are telling us to do is turn down the thermostat and buy more fuel efficient cars. These are half measures which will not alter or change the basic situation what is needed is bold leadership to open up new sources of energy.
Historically America has made bold steps because leaders presented us with a bold vision to live up to. Abraham Lincoln told us we could get rid of slavery, defeat the Confederacy and connect the country with a Transcontinental Railroad - we did, Theodore Roosevelt said we could build the Panama Canal -we did, Franklin Roosevelt said we could overcome the Depression and win World War II - we did, John F. Kennedy said we could land a man on the moon - we did, Martin Luther King said we could end segregation -we did and Ronald Reagan said we could win the Cold War - we did. Vacillating half measures like conservation got us no where, Jimmy Carter tried to deal with the energy crisis by turning down the thermostat and putting on a sweater the voters rightly rejected him.
What we need is a bold leader who will present us with a vision we can achieve. The best vision would be for America to use technology to become the world’s supplier of energy. This can be done by harnessing America’s three greatest resources - entrepreneurship, technology and imagination. There are three things in particular that America can do to solve energy problem, three things that could give America a booming economy and world leadership in the 21st Century.
The first thing America can do is harness a technology called Maglev which could give us the world’s fastest and most energy efficient ground transportation system. Maglev trains use magnetic levitation to float trains over a track and move at high speeds. Maglev is not science fiction it’s been tested in Germany and Japan for forty years and the world’s first operating maglev train system is up and running in China. The Chinese leaders are not fools they know the future and are preparing for it, so should America.
Suppose we Americans created a public/private partnership to build a nationwide system of Maglev rail lines in the same way that President Eisenhower proposed we create an Interstate highway system. Imagine a network of maglev trains moving passengers and freight between our cities at 200 or 300 miles an hour. This would take hundreds of passenger planes out of our sky, get millions of cars and thousands of trucks off our highways.
America would have the world’s most advanced, fastest and most efficient ground transportation system. It would also have a greatly stimulated economy, constructing Maglev would pump billions of dollars into the economy create millions of new jobs and stimulate new development and economic growth. Americans would have greater freedom to live where they want and could commute by longer distances. Imagine a future in which you could travel from Los Angeles to Las Vegas by train in just half an hour.
The second thing we need to do is look into oil shale, there is more oil locked into oil shale in the American West than in the Middle East. We have technology to turn shale into oil right now. If we develop a shale oil industry we could have a domestic source of oil capable of meeting our needs and perhaps we could become an oil exporting industry. Imagine a future in which OPEC tries to double the price of oil and America responds by simply selling oil off at a quarter of the price of OPEC. In a few weeks, OPEC will be broke and America could reap untold economic benefits. Meanwhile the Arabs could be rediscovering the joys of riding camels and the Ayatollahs could be hanging from the lampposts of Tehran or shopping for homes in Michigan. So perhaps its time to spend the money we’re wasting on ethanol to develop an oil shale industry.
The third thing we need to look into is solar power, not just solar panels but a source of energy from the sun that could provide vast amounts of cheap and clean energy. The solar power we’re talking about here is Solar Power satellites. It is technologically feasible to collect vast amounts of electricity in orbit using giant solar panels. The Japanese have actually tested the theory even though it was developed by the US government at taxpayers’ expense. These panels can operate 24 hours a day and are not obscured by weather. The power they could beam down to Earth is virtually limitless.
Imagine a future in which we can eliminate all of our coal, oil and natural gas burning power plants and the green house gases they generate. Imagine a future a future in which we no longer need to build nuclear power plants and dam rivers to get electricity. Imagine a future in which cheap electricity is available to all people in all countries. Solar power satellites could make that possible.
Suppose that America makes a commitment to build such a network of solar power satellites in conjunction with our Chinese, European, Japanese, Indian and Russian friends.
Perhaps we could construct a multinational base on the Moon where these satellites could be constructed and helium three which could be a key ingredient in fusion could be mined. That vision is no more crazy than Teddy Roosevelt’s Panama Canal or John F. Kennedy’s man on the moon. Or for that matter the Internet, home satellite dishes, private automobiles and personal computers.
There are other things we can do as well research into hydrogen, earth based solar power, fusion, nuclear power, electrification of the railroads, mass transit, hydrogen, etc. Of course all these things like the three big steps I just proposed wold require bold vision. The kind of bold vision our great leaders have always had and the kind of vision that the pack of moral and intellectual pygmies running for president seem to lack completely.
For information on Maglev see...
http://www.transrapid.com/
For Solar Satellites check out
http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/solar_power_sats_011017-1.html
For Oil Shale
http/money.cnn.com/2007/10/30/magazines/fortune/Oil_from_stone.fortune/index2.html
The looming energy shortage especially the exhaustion of the world’s easy to get oil is perhaps the greatest problem facing the United States and human civilization today. Yet all our leaders are telling us to do is turn down the thermostat and buy more fuel efficient cars. These are half measures which will not alter or change the basic situation what is needed is bold leadership to open up new sources of energy.
Historically America has made bold steps because leaders presented us with a bold vision to live up to. Abraham Lincoln told us we could get rid of slavery, defeat the Confederacy and connect the country with a Transcontinental Railroad - we did, Theodore Roosevelt said we could build the Panama Canal -we did, Franklin Roosevelt said we could overcome the Depression and win World War II - we did, John F. Kennedy said we could land a man on the moon - we did, Martin Luther King said we could end segregation -we did and Ronald Reagan said we could win the Cold War - we did. Vacillating half measures like conservation got us no where, Jimmy Carter tried to deal with the energy crisis by turning down the thermostat and putting on a sweater the voters rightly rejected him.
What we need is a bold leader who will present us with a vision we can achieve. The best vision would be for America to use technology to become the world’s supplier of energy. This can be done by harnessing America’s three greatest resources - entrepreneurship, technology and imagination. There are three things in particular that America can do to solve energy problem, three things that could give America a booming economy and world leadership in the 21st Century.
The first thing America can do is harness a technology called Maglev which could give us the world’s fastest and most energy efficient ground transportation system. Maglev trains use magnetic levitation to float trains over a track and move at high speeds. Maglev is not science fiction it’s been tested in Germany and Japan for forty years and the world’s first operating maglev train system is up and running in China. The Chinese leaders are not fools they know the future and are preparing for it, so should America.
Suppose we Americans created a public/private partnership to build a nationwide system of Maglev rail lines in the same way that President Eisenhower proposed we create an Interstate highway system. Imagine a network of maglev trains moving passengers and freight between our cities at 200 or 300 miles an hour. This would take hundreds of passenger planes out of our sky, get millions of cars and thousands of trucks off our highways.
America would have the world’s most advanced, fastest and most efficient ground transportation system. It would also have a greatly stimulated economy, constructing Maglev would pump billions of dollars into the economy create millions of new jobs and stimulate new development and economic growth. Americans would have greater freedom to live where they want and could commute by longer distances. Imagine a future in which you could travel from Los Angeles to Las Vegas by train in just half an hour.
The second thing we need to do is look into oil shale, there is more oil locked into oil shale in the American West than in the Middle East. We have technology to turn shale into oil right now. If we develop a shale oil industry we could have a domestic source of oil capable of meeting our needs and perhaps we could become an oil exporting industry. Imagine a future in which OPEC tries to double the price of oil and America responds by simply selling oil off at a quarter of the price of OPEC. In a few weeks, OPEC will be broke and America could reap untold economic benefits. Meanwhile the Arabs could be rediscovering the joys of riding camels and the Ayatollahs could be hanging from the lampposts of Tehran or shopping for homes in Michigan. So perhaps its time to spend the money we’re wasting on ethanol to develop an oil shale industry.
The third thing we need to look into is solar power, not just solar panels but a source of energy from the sun that could provide vast amounts of cheap and clean energy. The solar power we’re talking about here is Solar Power satellites. It is technologically feasible to collect vast amounts of electricity in orbit using giant solar panels. The Japanese have actually tested the theory even though it was developed by the US government at taxpayers’ expense. These panels can operate 24 hours a day and are not obscured by weather. The power they could beam down to Earth is virtually limitless.
Imagine a future in which we can eliminate all of our coal, oil and natural gas burning power plants and the green house gases they generate. Imagine a future a future in which we no longer need to build nuclear power plants and dam rivers to get electricity. Imagine a future in which cheap electricity is available to all people in all countries. Solar power satellites could make that possible.
Suppose that America makes a commitment to build such a network of solar power satellites in conjunction with our Chinese, European, Japanese, Indian and Russian friends.
Perhaps we could construct a multinational base on the Moon where these satellites could be constructed and helium three which could be a key ingredient in fusion could be mined. That vision is no more crazy than Teddy Roosevelt’s Panama Canal or John F. Kennedy’s man on the moon. Or for that matter the Internet, home satellite dishes, private automobiles and personal computers.
There are other things we can do as well research into hydrogen, earth based solar power, fusion, nuclear power, electrification of the railroads, mass transit, hydrogen, etc. Of course all these things like the three big steps I just proposed wold require bold vision. The kind of bold vision our great leaders have always had and the kind of vision that the pack of moral and intellectual pygmies running for president seem to lack completely.
For information on Maglev see...
http://www.transrapid.com/
For Solar Satellites check out
http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/solar_power_sats_011017-1.html
For Oil Shale
http/money.cnn.com/2007/10/30/magazines/fortune/Oil_from_stone.fortune/index2.html
posted by great one at 6:51 PM
2 Comments:
Dan
I like your proposal for maglev and solar energy.Energy and transportation are vital components of the success or failure we experience today and into the future.
I do believe President Carter proposed that 20% of our energy come from solar sources and this was during his tenure in office.I understand President Regan had the solar panels removed from the White House,look in to it yourself.
I do not support extracting the shale oil out west, there is the serious problem of environmental destruction, see this article regarding mountaintop removal in West Virgina- http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/01/23/6568/
Dan do you believe burning fossil fuels is the appropriate way to power our future?
Bobhroz
Jimmy Carter was a joke and a bad one. He still is the simple minded Sunday School teacher was a lousy president. The American people saw hi for what he was. The intellectual elite loved him but that just proved what a knumbskull peanut brain was. Yes I remember what average Americans called Jimmy Carter. The solar panels he installed on the White House simply heated water and did little else. Reagan was right to scrap them. The hostage crisis was more despicable Jimmy Carter could have ended it by ordering our navy and air force to drop napalm on Iranian oil fields. One oil field torched and Ayatollah
Khomeini himself would have appeared at the embassy in Tehran apologized to the hostages and escorted them to the bus himself. He would have even asked the hostages which radical students had abused them and ordered them whipped in the street for US TV cameras. Notice the Ayatollahs didn't take the chance when a real man was elected president in 1980, the hostages came home. Carter like Herbert Hoover was a joke and afraud. By the way Jimmy Carter reminds of George W. Bush. He's a pious man who believes in what he's doing even if it's wrong. P.S. the solar power I write of is the satellites not the roof top monstrosties that have been peddled to two generations of Americans by con men. A memory of my youth encountering a solar panel salesman in the parking lot of the Safeway store in Evergreen, Colorado. This fast talking guy tried to sell me on solar by having me hit a solar panel with a baseball bat. How this was supposed to end the energy crisis I don't know. I wonder will twenty years from now the intellectuals condemning the warmonger George W. be talking about what a pious man George W. Bush is because he volunteers for Habitat for Humanity. I wouldn't be surprised.
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