Alternative Energy Pipe Dreams

 Published April 8, 2011 in the Lynchburg Ledger

When the Democrats took control of Congress in 2007, the cost of gas at the pump was around $2.15 a gallon.  By August of 2009, the cost had climbed to around $4.00 a gallon.  Then along came the financial collapse brought on by the sub-prime home loan market meltdown and the price at the pump took a nose dive.  When Barack Obama took the oath of office on January 20, 2009, the cost of gas at the pump was about $1.60 a gallon.  

Since then, the cost has steadily climbed to today’s $3.59 a gallon, more than doubling in cost.  The liberal media is totally silent and seems to be ignoring this economy-crushing increase.  If a Republican was in the White House, they would have plenty to say.

With the continuing unrest in the Middle East, the petroleum futures market has bid the price of a barrel of crude to $108.00.

The U.S. is still importing over 50 percent of our daily oil consumption.  We get 70 percent of our petroleum imports from five countries, which are:  Canada, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria and Venezuela.

Barack Obama recently visited Brazil and gave them $2 billion to explore deep water oil reserves, stating the U.S. would be a big customer.  Brazil currently is our 10^th biggest supplier of crude oil.

When Obama returned from his jaunt to South and Central America, he spoke at Georgetown University stating his goal was to reduce oil imports by one third by 2025.  

Just how does he plan to do this?  By increasing domestic production like drilling offshore and in ANWAR?  No, it is by consuming less and relying on alternate energy sources.

I believe Obama is privately thrilled with the current increases at the pump as the economy will limit gas use.  He also expects new vehicles to get better gas mileage.

One way to increase mileage is to make vehicles smaller.  A friend of mine just returned from Vietnam where he says everyone rides around on motor scooters.  Even entire families are loaded onto one motor scooter.

Obama would love that, but the rest of us would not.  We are used to the freedom a comfortable car provides.  For safety reasons, I will not buy a car that weighs less than 3,000 pounds.  In an accident, anything lighter will result in injury or death.

Obama is also looking to “alternative energy” sources to solve the problem.  However in many cases, they made the problem worse or prove to be totally impractical.

Today’s gas contains 10 percent ethanol.  This mixture and small engines like lawnmowers don’t get along very well.  The ethanol dissolves the gaskets in carburetors and the engines won’t run.  This year millions are going to break out their mowers and lawn tractors and discover they won’t start.  A trip to the small engine repair shop is going to cost big bucks.

Many boaters have already learned this lesson as ethanol and outboard engines don’t get along either.

Have you noticed the cost increases in food lately?  Much of that increase is caused by corn being diverted from animal feed and food production to ethanol production.

A gallon of ethanol has only two thirds the energy as a gallon of gasoline so with 10 percent ethanol in your gas, your mileage is decreased by 3 percent.

Then there is wind energy.  In a Letter to the Editor in the Roanoke Times on March 28, 2011, my friend Dr. Charles Battig wrote about “wind turbine syndrome.”  He wrote, “’Wind-turbine Syndrome’ was coined by Dr. Nina Pierpont in describing the medical impacts on captive neighbors. Ringing in the ears (tinnitus), headaches, insomnia and nausea are health complaints she documented. Citizens in Canada, Britain, Denmark and France have registered similar complaints to their authorities about nearby wind-turbine installations.  The low-frequency thump, thump, thump is relentless and inescapable, save by moving away.”
A lesson learned all too well by the people of Falmouth, Massachusetts. 

Looking to save money on the town’s electric bill, this liberal Cape Cod town installed a 1.65 megawatt wind turbine at a cost of $5.1 million.  But as soon as it was turned on, the sound it emitted was described as that of “an old Soviet helicopter.” 

One person who lives a quarter mile from the turbine says, “It is dangerous,” he told a Boston TV channel, “Headaches.  Loss of sleep.  And the ringing in my ears never goes away.”

It didn’t take long for the residents to file a lawsuit.  The town agreed to shut off the turbine when the wind exceeded 23 miles per hour.  Its maximum efficiency is in winds of 30 miles per hour.  Instead of saving $400,000 per year in electric costs as they anticipated, they will save only about half that.  At that rate, it will take the Town of Falmouth over 25 years just to break even on the cost of the turbine.

Then there are the various community colleges of Los Angeles which spends a little under $8 million annually on electricity.  

One “green thinking” individual came up with a plan to save money.   For only $975 million, he could take them “off the grid” using solar photovoltaic panels.  When you do the math, it takes 121 years to break even and since solar cells are only guaranteed for 20 to 30 years.  An engineering consultant estimated it at 1.9 billion, giving a break even time of 237 years. 

The City of Los Angeles actually signed off on the project but reality set in and it was scrapped, but not before spending $10 million on the project.

There are no practical alternate energy sources to replace the carbon-based fuels we have become dependent on.  Perhaps, some day hydrogen will be a practical fuel, but until that day arrives, it is “Drill Baby, Drill.”