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Sun Volt

Sun Volt Solar

earth, the final frontier

Clean Energy, Clean Environment

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)

Is this coal clean?

27 Dec 08 | Environment

The dam around a retaining pond a TVA’s coal fired Kingston power plant burst and an estimated billion (B) gallons of coal ash and sludge flowed out covering more than 300 acres of adjacent land.  Several neighbors had to be evacuated from there homes as fears of water and airborne contamination spread.

There is no technology that can get rid of coal ash, also known as fly ash, which is a byproduct of coal combustion.   The TVA insists that fly ash is non toxic, however the EPA is of a different mind, from the New York Times:

A draft report last year by the federal Environmental Protection Agency found that fly ash, a byproduct of the burning of coal to produce electricity, does contain significant amounts of carcinogens and retains the heavy metal present in coal in far higher concentrations. The report found that the concentrations of arsenic to which people might be exposed through drinking water contaminated by fly ash could increase cancer risks several hundredfold.

The post industrial revolution development scheme tends to use the strategy of building super regulated subdivisions miles away from power plants or other industrial activities.  After all, who want there back yards to look like this:

This merely pushes the problem further away, which allows the problem to grow bigger and bigger and bigger until it takes over and ruins the entire area. Our coal use should be getting smaller with an eye toward phasing it out all together. Soon.

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27 Dec 08 | Environment | Comments (0)

Greenwashing Coal

16 Oct 08 | Commentary, Environment

We have a serious energy problem our hands.  I fear it will get worse before it gets better.  We may need to build more coal fired electric plants to meet future demands for energy, especially if we migrate to electric vehicles.  Hey, that electricity has to come from somewhere.  Unfortunately, solar electric, either by harnessing heat to make steam or photovoltaics, is still a long way from being able to fill that demand.

To bridge that gap, we have but two choices, nuclear or coal.  I am not sure what the lesser of those two evils are.  That being said, please don’t tell me that coal is clean.

Coal is anything but clean; from its extraction to its final use, coal is dirty.  From the mountain top removal sites in West Virgina, where environmental damage is almost indescribable, to the electric generation station billowing out not just CO2, but Sulfur Dioxide, Nitric oxides, Mercury, Uranium, Cesium and other heavy metals, the damage to the environment is nearly incalculable.

Ask the residents of the West Virgina coal region whether they are prospering along with the companies that mine the coal.  Ask anyone living down wind from a coal fired power plant how they feel on a day to day basis.  Look at the environmental record of both the coal producers and the power producers.  Is this the kind of behavior we want to reward?

Somewhere along the line, somebody decided that all business was about greed.  Being the good consumers that we are, we happy citizens followed right along and made our personal lives about money.  After all, coal is cheap, the energy produced by coal is cheap, therefore it must be good.

There are, indeed, new technologies that greatly reduce the emissions of coal fired electrical power plants.  These include things like scrubbers to remove nitric and sulfur compounds, CO2 capture and sequestration.  These newer technologies are not normally retrofitted to older facilities.  The average life span of a coal fired power plant is anywhere from 30 to 50 years.  The plants that were previously built will continue to spew pollutants for years to come.

Not everything is about money.  There are quality of life issues as well.  Even if you live hundreds of miles away from any coal mines or power plants, eventually, the environmental damage will be so great that you will be effected.

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16 Oct 08 | Commentary, Environment | Comments (0)