Energy Consumption And The Dot Com Bubble

Remember back in the 90's when internet stocks were way up, much higher than they should have been? There was a Dot Com Bubble. Remember in 2000 when it burst? Well, that got me thinking...

Right now, we're in the midst of an Energy Consumption Bubble. We're using a lot more energy than we need. I'll bet 10 years from now technology will have reached a point where we can be far more productive using far less energy. But first comes the correction.

When the Dot Com Bubble burst, things looked bleak. For many, things were bad. If something like that were to happen with energy -- a sharp decline in the amount of available power -- things again would look bad, seem bleak. But then after a while we'd have adjusted and prepared ourselves to soar to newer and greater heights, on energy-efficient wings. That will be fantastic.

But for us here in the present, the days of energy restructuring are still looming. When will the Bubble burst?

Could An End-Times Mentality Prevent A Solution To Global Warming?

It occurs to me that we could plan for the future, and for our children sure, but we could also engineer our own demise out of a desire for meaning. The Greatest Generation had meaning because they defeated the Nazis. Deep down, we all want to be special. What if some of us so want to be special that we're willing to have the world end, just so we can say, "I was there when it happened?"

What if so many of us think, "If the world ends, then I'll finally get an answer. My life will finally mean something! Jesus will come back and save us all!" If enough people thought that, could they then also think, "Sure, I could try to fix things on my own, but it would be so much cooler to get a bailout from Jesus!"

Is an End Times mentality all it takes to engineer the End Times? "It's all over, so why bother?" Maybe it's not all over, but if we believe that it really is, we ourselves will cause it to happen...

I hope we get our act together, environmentally speaking.

A Head Start On Saving Ourselves

Since I've never had to live through a major situation in which the powers that be deemed it necessary to ration water and electricity, one of my main memories of such an event is from an episode of, "The Twilight Zone." In it, the earth is moving closer and closer to the sun. I'm not sure if it was water or energy or both, but the government definitely had to ration its resources, because things were getting hot. In the end, the earth was actually moving away from the sun, and the opposite scenario had only been a dream. Still, it got me thinking: If the worst-case scenario entails rationing, could we start rationing early and prevent the worst-case scenario?

It's like when you had a huge project way back when you were still in school. You could have started studying and working like crazy from Day 1. Or you could have started a leisurely study schedule from Day 1. Both of those approaches would have likely set you up nicely, with a project to turn in when the time finally came. But what about Option 3? The one where you figure you've got all the time in the world, and keep putting your project off until the night before it's due. At that point, you've got no choice but to dig in and focus on doing what has to be done. You ration your "fun time" so severely that you just barely manage to crank out the project overnight. Although it's not perfect, it's good enough to get you by.

I feel like right now, we're all procrastinating because we "know" the time will eventually come when we'll wish we had acted sooner, but we feel that time is still far off. So what if we start rationing all our resources right now, when it's supremely "unnecessary?" The only way to make that work would be to have the rationing occur worldwide. Otherwise we'd handicap ourselves. But I believe a worldwide rationing system would be deemed "wholly impractical at this juncture." But if 10 years from now that's no longer the case, would our future selves think, "If only we had taken the opportunity to ration things sooner..."?

I hope not, because I just don't see us taking any kind of potentially useful, but "unnecessary" action.

Technology Can Save Us

I think even if we cross the point of no return, and get into a feedback loop in which things get worse and worse, there's always the hope that some monumental breakthrough can turn things around. Like John Connor, our saving grace will bring us back from the brink of destruction. Let's just hope we never reach the point where a miracle is necessary.

Nanotechnology can provide us with tiny air and water purification systems that self replicate and clean the oceans and atmosphere. Solar energy and hydrogen fuel cell technology can help us run our cars and machines on water and sunlight, as opposed to fossil fuels and even organic alternatives. I for one think biofuel is just a half-measure that itself will beg correction in a few years (or decades). What about cold fusion? A breakthrough in that would be fantastic!

It seems like we could forsake technology altogether, and get "back to nature," or we could hold out for a little while longer, and finally develop something amazing that proves we belong in the 21st century.

UN To Humanity: "Our Natural Resources Are Almost Gone"

This page reveals the details behind the UN's new report on our environment. It doesn't describe a very abundant future. According to the United Nations, we as a world society are almost past the point of no return. Recovery is possible, if we act now, but it seems we are too "in the moment" to take the necessary action.

With less than 1/6th of the world being industrialized we are already using 1/3 more of our natural resources than is sustainable. By 2050, we should have 150% as many people as we do now. That's a global population of 9 billion people. China and India are racing to catch up to the U.S.'s standard of living, but the report points out that there simply aren't enough natural resources to get them to where they want to be.

Farmers' runoff is changing the water in many areas, deoxygenating it and killing all the normal life. Deoxygenation is exactly what happened when the dinosaurs died. The water, devoid of oxygen, became a habitat for bacteria that produced hydrogen sulfide, which then killed the sea's portion of the food chain. That, in turn, caused a chain reaction that worked its way up to the very top.

Overfishing has already gone past the point of no return in some areas, destroying fish populations and creating an unfixable situation. And fresh water is badly polluted in many areas, as well.

But what is this report, really? Just more facts, just another warning. What we need is action, but we're dangerously short on supply of that, as well.

Mass Extinctions By 2100, According To Science

This article explains how scientists working at the University of York have found that four of the five previous mass extinction events, including the one that killed the dinosaurs, coincided with a phase of increasing greenhouse gases. This led to less global biodiversity, which could be on the horizon for us.

The predicted global temperatures for the next 100 years match levels required by this new evidence to eliminate more than 50% of all life on earth.

There's already been news on some species teetering on the brink of extinction. It looks like the threat of global warming is gaining definition and visibility.

Global Warming Solution: Use What Killed The Dinosaurs

A couple of theories on why dinosaurs are now extinct involve the dimming of the sky by massive amounts of dust or ash, provided either by an impacted space object or huge volcanic eruption. With less sunlight, the plants died, then the herbivores, then the carnivores. Less sunlight also would have cooled the earth somewhat. Maybe we can use this.

If we put a little bit of material in the air, which would technically be a lot, but little in comparison with the amount necessary for an extinction even, we could theoretically cool the earth. Sunlight would come into the atmosphere, and bounce off the dust, going back into space. We'd only need enough to adjust the average global temperature a few degrees.

How would we accomplish this? We could use factories that spew the specially-formulated dust mixture into the air, 24/7. Lots of dust would end up coming down in rain and snow, effectively creating muddy rain, but perhaps the natural cycles of nature would continue to filter our main water reservoirs at ground level. And the amount of new dust in each drop of water might not even be that much at all.

Crazy talk, or worth looking into?

Global Warming Is The Reason California Is On Fire

The hotter it is, the more moist the air will be, and the drier the ground will be. The drier the ground, the easier it is for a fire to start and quickly spread. With more extremes in weather, like droughts and floods, the easier it will be for forests to quickly dry out and become major fire hazards.

We are already seeing the effects of Global Warming fires in California, but any dry place with fuel for a fire is at risk. Now this old, somewhat rare breed of natural disaster is gaining new strength, and will likely become far more common in the hot years ahead. How do we stop it?

Higher Temperatures Mean More Humidity. That's More Water In The Air, And Less To Drink

For those of you who haven't read my previous post on how Global Warming is contributing to wetter air, allow me to fill you in.

Air that is warmer is capable of containing more water. By 2100, humidity worldwide may have increased by between 12 and 24 percent. Even the tiniest amount of greenhouse gas helps keep temperatures rising, and every time they go up 1 degree Celsius, the air can hold between 6 and 7 percent more moisture, overall.

What it comes down to is this: The hotter it is, the more humid it will be. The more water that's tied up in humid air, the less there'll be on the ground, to be used for plants, bathing, and drinking.

Can you imagine a world with dried oceans but nonstop rain? Hot rain. Scary.

Lights Our America, March 29, 2008

Mark your calendars, friends! On March 29, 2008, "Lights Out America" is recommending that we all turn off nonessential lights for one hour.

Why not the full day you ask? Good question! My guess is that LOA feels that one hour without extra lighting is a widely-accepted "sacrifice" that a lot of people will put up with. Then, once we "test the waters" and find out that everything's ok, even without the extra lights, we'll probably feel more comfortable leaving them off for longer and longer periods. Thus, we are paving the way to a world in which nonessential electric consumption is kept to a minimum.

This is of course far better than waiting until the government has to step in and ration all of our resources. "Attention citizens, between the hours of 4 and 5 pm, Eastern Standard Time, you will have access to electricity. And maybe water. That is all." Yikes!

Houses That Consume 0 Energy By 2020

I read somewhere that some country has decided to embark on an ambitious quest to make all new homes by 2020 capable of creating and producing as much energy as they use. It is theorized that developing solar technologies will greatly aid in this endeavor, as they will soon become small and flexible enough to coat most outer layers of a person's home. That would mean that every available square inch of the outer walls of a house would be set to harness sunlight energy at all possible moments.

Sounds great. I wonder what other sources of energy a house could utilize? Maybe go Matrix-style and find a way to harness excess heat produced by humans. In the summer, when it's hot, I wonder if the thermal energy could be converted into electricity? If we had the technology to convert heat into electricity, thereby reducing local temperatures, we'd pretty much have a cure to global warming, don't you think?

Tonight Google Goes Dark

From 8pm to 9pm Pacific Time, San Francisco is advising its residents to turn off unnecessary lights in honor of "Lights Out San Francisco," an event focused on improving efficient energy usage.

Google will contribute by dimming its web page for a full hour, though I'm not sure if it will be the same hour. If it does so happen that way, between 11pm and 12 midnight Easter Time, Google will appear to mimic "Blackle."

For those of you who've never heard, Blackle is basically Google with a black background. The white background Google's pages usually have produces more light and therefore requires more energy consumption by computer monitors. Blackle was started to dramatically reduce monitor energy consumption when searching the web. Now Google will try doing the same. I wonder if it will stick? If it does, these could be the final hours that we get to surf Bright Google before the evil Dark Google takes over! So go search!

To Improve The World, First Improve Yourself

So many people look to a vague solution that is, "Out there, somewhere," which will fix global warming and put an end to our energy woes. But Human Energy is the most important energy of all. And if we don't focus on it at an individual level, the world will be the worse of globally.

What this comes down to is: Take care of yourself. Yes, of course, staying alive is half the battle. But there are also ways in which you can shape and alter your life to give yourself more energy, and thus, more power.

People with the most power can do practically anything. The more power you have, the more you can do. So you want the most power you can get, right? Don't worry, it's highly unlikely you'll ever be in a position such that your absolute power corrupts you absolutely. And we could all use a boost!

Ok. The easiest and simplest way to increase your power is to improve your health. Maybe you already work out. That's great. Maybe you don't exercise, but you're "naturally" fit. Good too. Maybe you don't work out, and you eat a little bit more junk food than you should, but aside from a few extra pounds you could easily drop, you're fine. The point here is that wherever you are health wise, there is always something you can do to give yourself a powerful boost. You just have to find out what that is.

Ideally, we should:

• eat right,
  
• get daily exercise,
  
• drink a lot of water,
  
• drink very little alcohol,
  
• not rely on caffeine,
  
• not use drugs or cigarettes,
  
• get off any medications,
  
• take vitamins,
  
• use sunscreen,
  
• get enough rest every night,
  
• think positive,
  
• and stay calm and stress free.

It's a pretty simple lifestyle, but achieving it can be so complex that most of us have strayed from the ideal path.

With all those details available, even if you just pick one area and focus on improving that aspect of your life, you'll be better off. And so will the rest of the world, because not only will your energy and mood increase, but you'll also become more productive, and set an example for others to follow. So get to it!

Did I Read That A Proposed Solution To Global Warming Is To Drop A Few Nuclear Bombs Somewhere?

The other day, I could have sworn I read something somewhere about George Bush holding onto a last-ditch effort to "fix" global warming by detonating nuclear weapons at precise locations. Maybe out in the ocean somewhere? Where did I read this? I can't find it on the net... Maybe someone knows where this story is, or if it even exists?

If we bombed the ocean, what would that do? Nuclear weapons are hot, so it would release energy that would heat up the immediate area. More global warming?

Maybe the idea was to disrupt some ocean currents so that instead of moving in a "heating" pattern, they adjust to a "cooling" pattern. That could work -- maybe.

I don't know...Maybe I made the story up and forgot that its roots were in the Land of Imagination. But I could have sworn I read it somewhere! Any help would be greatly appreciated!

New "Biowall" Provides Cleaner Air The Natural Way

This article introduces the world to a wall that uses loosely-woven plastic to hold a variety of plants, which clean the air naturally. A pump waters the plants automatically, and a filter extracts the moisture from the air after the plants have finished with it. This prevents the building from becoming damp.

Once the Biowall is in place, the only maintenance required is to dust, prune, and wet the plants, while adding nutrients to the system from time to time.

The biggest benefit to having a Biowall is its ability to suck out air pollutants and generate clean oxygen. A lot of ordinary household items like paints, cleaning agents, and glue, can give off harmful airborne particles that over time have the potential to build up and make you sick. Having a wall made of plants is an excellent way to prevent this. Plus, it looks great, and is a unique conversation piece!

Solution To Global Warming: Nuclear Winter

Vladimir Putin said the U.S. is not to invade Iran. But given our track record of getting involved in the Middle East, it's difficult to imagine us backing down from Russia, especially when Iran seems to be developing potential to acquire nuclear weapons.

What if we don't acquiesce to Putin's recommendation? What if we enter Iran and somehow set off a chain reaction that escalates until an all out war breaks out? A Total War. World War III...

Then I guess it would end quickly. Abruptly. Brutally even, if we use the weapons at our disposal, and Russia does the same. Winter will last a while longer -- for the rest of the decade. At least Global Warming will be taken care of...

Terabytes in 2009, A Step Towards No More Pollution

This article explains how Hitachi is focusing on a hard drive technology that will allow them to store and read data in areas 2,000 times smaller than the width of a single strand of hair. This "new" technology is really a spin on an old version of hard drive tech that was abandoned due to size limitations. But the replacement has limitations of its own, which, when reached, will force major data storage companies back to the "new" take on an "old" technology.

Giant Magnetoresistance, or GMR, uses a disc that spins with an arm over it, like a record player. At the tip of the arm is an electromagnetic head which reads magnetic variations on the surface of the disc. GMR hit a ceiling a few years ago and new technology was the alternative. Now Hitachi has developed a way to use GMR at an incredibly small scale, which will change the way we talk about our iPods.

Today it's all about the Gigs - Gigabytes. But in 2009, we'll all be talking Terabytes.

If they can develop tiny hard drive technology, pretty soon we'll have tiny water- and air-purification technology, that can self-replicate and clean up the planet!

Fluorescent Light Bulbs Are Cool And All, But They Contain Mercury

Mercury is bad for you. You shouldn't touch it. If you breathe it in, that's even worse. So it's surprising that it's used in the new energy-efficient fluorescent light bulbs. They're brighter and last longer than ordinary light bulbs, but the mercury means they're also potentially more harmful. It seems like this is evidence of a growing "half-measure" trend in the fight to combat energy inefficiency.

There are a lot of steps we've been taking as a society to clean up our act, environmentally speaking. These include moving from gas-powered vehicles to gas-electric hybrids, gas-electric-hydrogen tribrids, and cars that run on ethanol. Many of these measures have faults of their own.

We place so much emphasis on doing clean, environmentally-friendly work, and as of yet there is still no clear-cut technology that is pure and widely available. To save energy, we risk our own safety with things like mercury-infused light bulbs. Oh well. I guess we're just taking baby steps toward a cleaner, safer tomorrow.

New Water Technology Can Power A Cell Phone, Maybe Someday The World

There was a movie in the 80's about a futuristic motorcycle that could run on ordinary gasoline, or, with a Power Cell the size of a Game Boy, it could run on Hydrogen gleaned from moisture in the air.

We are one step closer to living that dream.

Samsung has created the first "micro-fuel cell and hydrogen generator that runs on H2O." Pretty soon, everyone's going to get in on the action, and that means better technology at low low prices.

How does it work, you ask? Water in the phone interacts with some metal, producing hydrogen which is sent to the fuel cell. There, the hydrogen interacts with oxygen and produce 3 watts of power.

First-generation cartridges will need to be replaced after only two uses, a shortcoming that will hopefully not last too long once the technology develops. But two uses at 3 watts a pop is about 20 hours of battery life. Not too shabby, for water power.

You can read more and see a picture here.

Ethanol Is Bad For The Environment

This article explains that Ethanol, the bio-fuel that is supposed to help ease our growing climate crisis, is just as bad for the environment as current fuel sources. Why you ask? The procurement of Ethanol has a huge impact on our water supply.

In the U.S., we can use corn-based Ethanol instead of petroleum and gasoline. First, we need corn. Quality-control dictates that we use pesticides to safeguard the corn, pesticides which runoff into the water supply and could potentially contribute harmful elements to our drinking water. There's a way around that, through timed-release fertilizers injected beneath the soil surface, but our water supply is also being messed with in other ways.

Essentially, the corn needs an incredible amount of water just to grow. Irrigation can be used, but pulling that water in can damage surrounding areas that themselves need a lot of water too.

What's the solution to this aqueous problem? Using other stuff instead of corn to make Ethanol, like grass, wood, and sawdust.

It's surprising that many of the proposed solutions to global warming and polution are themselves problematic, and end up being only half-measures that will ultimately need solving once they become the standard. Oh well.

Global Warming As A Means To A Political End

This article from a few weeks ago explains why global warming and climate change are really tools being used by politicians and groups to further their own interests. Those interests include higher taxes on things like gas and houses. It makes perfect sense that threats to our way of life can be manipulated in such a way as to shock us into action in one direction or another. However, the actions we are taking are, according to the article, not directed toward solving global warming.

The main idea is that cars are to blame, and that if the threat is as great as everybody's saying it is, then why allow us to drive cars? Why even allow hybrids, as they'll only postpone the inevitable? My take on it was just that the leaders and policy makers were taking their time, using it wisely to gauge the levels of public interest and potential before seeking to persuade any major changes. I think we're all interested in "fixing" this problem (now, anyway), but I'm wondering if some politicians still think that huge shifts are a ways away, and need to be worked towards, instead of implemented immediately.

During a Total War, major sweeping changes are necessary because they complement the major threat that can be seen and felt by everybody. The threat of global warming, however, is a bit more vague and distant. It might be hard to sell the public on doing some difficult rearranging in a time when doing nothing instead seems like it won't make that much of a negative impact.

Before we can start taking the drastic steps like eliminating cars altogether, as suggested in the article, we need to see some dramatic impact of the "wrong" we're doing already, and not just on a movie screen. It has to be real, it has to be devastating, and it has to be proven beyond the shadow of a doubt that our ordinary everyday habits are going to kill us all. Then rapid change will be easy. But as things stand today, I don't think that change really needs to be so rapid.

In the recent past, I've expected us to slowly ramp our efforts up toward going greener. That's what seems to be happening. A gradual shift. And that seems appropriate, for now.

We Made The Air Wet

Global warming has contributed to many different problematic issues, including widlfires, shifting water runoff, and rising ocean warmth. Now there's a new finding for yet another effect that is caused by global warming: Increasing Humidity.

Hotter air can hold more water, and by 2100, overall humidity could increase between 12 and 24%. Sure, it's not deadly (for everyone) but it will definitely be annoying and painful to bear.

Sweat helps us cool off, but only when it can evaporate and leave the skin. When it's humid, the body has a hard time cooling itself.

Every bit of greenhouse gas contributes to rising temperatures, and for every increase of 1 degree Celsius in the air, 6-7% more moisture can be absorbed. So it's not only getting hotter, it's getting wetter.

So when you think of a hotter future, don't think desert. Think jungle.

When Will It Snow?

Last year, and if I remember correctly, the year before, winter seemed to be a little late. It might have made an early appearance and then bailed for a month, though. So I'm wondering if this year we'll have snow for the holidays.

If we only get one week of snowing, I think it would be best to have it be the week encompassing December 25 and January 1. That way, two major winter holidays are covered, and all pre-holiday shopping and preparations have already been accomplished, and so will not be hindered by a concentrated dose of snow.

I wonder if a new seasonal trend will be a week's worth of expected weather, followed by a month of confusing weather, with patches of concentrated versions of the seasonal weather? So not that hot during the summer, except on some days, and not that cold during the winter, except on days where emergencies are declared.

Now that I think about it, this new weather stinks.

The Rain Is Shorter, The Thunder Is Longer

I've noticed that in our area (Northeast US) it seems like the rain is performing a scaled enactment of the global drought-flood theory for future weather. It's said that we can expect many more extremes weather-wise, as a growing replacement for our normal "softer" weather shifts. This seems to be reflected locally.

We used to get rain storms that would last at least an hour. Now we're lucky if we get rain that lasts more than fifteen minutes. The thunder used to arrive quickly and leave quickly. Now it lingers a ways away and seems to last a lot longer.

The rain shows up fast, comes down sudden and hard, and then lightens up quickly. Then it comes back with heavy-sounding droplets, and then fades.

Whenever it rains, the sense usually is, “Oh, all right, it’s raining! Good, our lawn could do with some liquid refreshment.” But it rarely lives up to expectation, with such a shortened duration.

A couple of months ago, during the summer, it rained for a week straight. I wonder if patterns of weather like that will translate to the winter? What if the weather will become more extreme when it’s colder? Maybe we’ll get a four-month blizzard…

Weird Weather

Summer was much longer than I expected, and here in October, we're still getting temperatures in the 80's. It's bizarre. There was about a week's worth of cooler, fall-like weather, but that was weeks ago, and it was quickly replaced with summeresque heat.

I saw a show a couple of months ago about a network of supercomputers that used current data to extrapolate the weather of the future -- 100 years in the future to be precise. What the data showed was a world of many tropical storms quickly developing left and right. I've heard that global warming has triggered a new "kind" of weather in which flooding and drought will take over and replace our formerly more evenly-dispersed system. Many more storms seem on the distant horizon, according to the supercomputer network.

The fact that the "normal" seasonal temperatures seem to be no longer "dependable," in that it could be cool during summer and hot during fall, shows in yet another way that global warming is now having a definite visible impact.

The scientific warnings seemed to be a little abstract and distant. But now seeing these changes, and being in a more open and aware frame of mind, brought about by the works of Al Gore and others, it seems like there's finally proof that even the most not-in-the-know citizen can latch on to.

They Said It Was A Lie

I remember between ten and fifteen years ago when the Global Warming debate was raging. Many of us became convinced it was all a lie. I remember not knowing what to believe, and feeling a bit of confusion as to why they couldn't figure it out. Why were so many people split right down the middle? Because of the divide, I couldn't take either side seriously, so I didn't worry about it (too much). I figured, "Well, maybe it could happen, but everybody says it's not real, so I guess it's not."

And now we've reached the point where we're acknowledging the threat as very real. I am thrilled that we've come to our saving realization ahead of schedule. According to some, we were supposed to wait until it was too late, and then suffer quick and blinding devastation at the hands of a hostile environment. Thankfully, we can plan ahead now and develop methods and technologies that will make that scenario pure fiction. I feel like we've just started rolling toward a greener future, and hope that once we get some major momentum going, we'll use it wisely. I have faith that we will.