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Sun Volt Solar

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We are at a cross roads in human history, we can choose to continue on as we have been, or we can make a change to improve our future and quite possibly the future for several generations to come. We are here to promote energy independence, a better environment, a secure future and a higher return on investment for your hard earned dollar. It is what I believe in, it is why I am in the solar business.

National Security: Another reason to install a solar system

13 Jun 09 | Commentary

The great majority of the energy used in the United States (and the rest of the world) is hydrocarbon based fossil fuels.  That is no big news flash.  For the sake of argument, I am going to set aside the environmental consequences of burning massive amounts of fossil fuels to sustain our society.  There is no impact climate change, no danger from emitting Nox, Sox, Mercury, U235, Thorium, etc.  There is no environmental impact from drill wells, or removing mountain tops to get at coal deposits.

There are, however, several national security issues with the continuing the current method of generating power, transporting goods, growing food, national defense,  and so on.  These are:

  1. Transportation requires mostly liquid fuels produced from crude oil.  The US crude oil production peaked in 1971.  Since that time, we have been importing more and more oil from outside sources, which often tend to be either unstable, dangerous, or repressive dictatorships.  Not the type of source that can be relied on for vital energy supplies.  Additionally, many oil industry experts feel that we have either reached peak oil production or are about to reach peak oil production.
  2. Electrical generation in the US is mainly accomplished by burning coal.  The US has vast reserves of coal buried in the mountains of Appalachia.  The issue with coal is fly ash, a byproduct of coal fired power plants.  The Department of Homeland Security has deemed fly ash storage to be too dangerous to reveal to the public, according to Senator Barbra Boxer (D, CA).
  3. Industrialized agriculture relies heavily on nitrogen based fertilizers.  Most of these fertilizers use natural gas as a raw source of nitrogen.  Natural gas is one of the few fossil fuels that cannot be easily transported long distances via shipping, rail or truck transport.  It must use a pipe line.  That in turn means that all the natural gas we use in this country is produced in North America, the majority in the US.  Eventually, this resource will be depleted like any other.
  4. Military infrastructure depends heavily on liquid fossil fuels to power aircraft, ships, fighting vehicles and transportation.  It would be extremely expensive (tax payer dollars) to retool the entire US military to run on alternative energy, therefore, fossil fuels would be better used for national defense.  Perhaps someday we will not need a huge military, but that day is not here yet.

Conservation and careful planed use of the existing reserves of fossil fuels may extend there availability while we transition from unsustainable to sustainable energy sources.  Installing alternative energy systems such as solar, small wind, microhydro decreases the amount of fossil fuels used in small increments.  Every little bit helps.  This is known as distributed generation, which is also much harder to target and or disrupt on a large scale.

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13 Jun 09 | Commentary | Comments (0)