Halt Global Warming by Stopping Fossil Fuel Combustion
- Author Klaus H Hemsath
- Published September 4, 2008
- Word count 814
After years of warning the world about global warming and its dire consequences, Al Gore, the Nobel Prize winner, has finally taken the next, logical step. He is proposing a solution.
Mr. Gore has realized that conservation measures and "Cap and Trade" measures do not work. The world can be saved only, if we completely eliminate all carbon dioxide emissions during the next forty years.
Converting the electric power generating sector first, does make the most sense. All major technologies for generating electric power from renewable energy sources are in various stages of development. Installations using wind power, solar energy, geothermal heat, and marine power have been started up and are slowly gaining a measurable foothold.
At present, coal fired power plants generate the least expensive electricity. Therefore, market forces will never lead to the shutdown of the most egregious greenhouse gas emitters. Only legislative action can prevent the construction of any new, coal fired power plants.
We must also be aware that it will be very difficult to satisfy our growing electricity demand by building only windmill farms, solar plantations, and geothermal power plants. For many years to come, there will not be enough manufacturing capacity to build an adequate number of electric power plants using renewable energies. Initially, the capital costs of these plants will be high, risks for meeting rated output will be well above average, and elevated maintenance costs will be a common experience.
We also need to address a few unresolved technical issues. The most pressing one is the fact that both wind power and solar power can supply energy only on an interruptible basis. Electric power is a fleeting commodity and we have not yet developed technologies that are capable of storing large amounts of electric energy.
It seems unavoidable that nuclear power generation must assume a more substantial role during the next decades. Nuclear power has become safer and public resistance to nuclear power plants is slowly receding. Nuclear power plants can be installed faster once we begin to rely more on standardized reactor designs.
Nuclear reactors with smaller capacities need to be built as replacements for coal fired plant boilers. Huge amounts of capital and much time can be saved if existing coal plants can be retrofitted with steam produced in nuclear reactors to replace coal fired boilers. Steam turbines, generators, substations, administrative buildings, and cooling towers can continue their operation with only minor performance reductions.
This new type of reactor must be designed to be absolutely safe by installing both passive and redundant safety systems. Retrofit reactors should become available in a very few, standardized designs and in sizes that fit up with the predominant sizes of coal fired boilers in use.
While the US will be replacing, retrofitting, or shutting down its fossil fuel fired plants, it is an opportune time to prepare the US to regain its independence from foreign oil imports.
Very soon, such activity can save the US more than one trillion dollars annually. Past experience shows that petroleum prices and consumption of transportation fuels will maintain their unstoppable growths.
Ideally, the world will continue using its fleets of cars, trucks, trains, ships, and airplanes. Ideally, the world will keep its oil refineries operating and will preserve the huge distribution systems that deliver high quality liquid fuels to all corners of the world. Replacement of transportation fleets, oil refineries, and liquid fuel distribution systems will cost too much and may break the economies of even the richest countries.
We must realize that the world cannot live for more than a few weeks without transportation of foods, goods, and commodities. Famines, riots, and economic upheavals will become unavoidable consequences of the lack of plentiful and affordable transportation fuels.
To protect against such looming, economic disasters, the US must take the lead and learn how to produce petroleum substitutes from biomass. Recent events have taught us that we must never again abuse arable lands to make ethanol or diesel from food crops.
Instead, we must find plant species with very high energy contents and must grow these plants on arid and infertile lands. By using desalinated water and novel industrial farming techniques one can grow enough biomass to supply the entire world with transportation fuels for several centuries. Arid lands are abundant. Best of all, making petroleum substitutes from renewable biomass sources will not have to cost more than $50 per barrel.
Building plants for the domestic production of electric power and of transportation fuels from renewable energies will make the US strategically more secure, will make us economically stronger, will reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by one quarter, will create a huge number of jobs, and will pay for itself by producing large, domestic revenues for many decades to come.
The US must lead the world by example. No other country has the capabilities and the resources to rebuild its energy supply systems.
Dr. Hemsath recently published the book: CLIMATE CHANGE - GOLD RUSH OR DISASTER? For 50 years he has worked as scientist, process engineer, Corporate Vice President of R&D, Company President, CEO, and Inventor. He holds more than 60 US Patents. He is working on a new book: "THE SOLUTION FOR ENDING GLOBAL WARMING AND CLIMATE CHANGE". Go to http://www.thermalexpert.com
Article source: https://articlebiz.comRate article
Article comments
There are no posted comments.
Related articles
- Out with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael: 230,000 Irish Children Living in Poverty
- Why Women of Color Need to Support Kamala Harris
- Equipping the Youth With the Skills to Survive
- The Dark Reality of Forced Prison Labor: Why I Stand Behind Proposition 6
- Analyzing the Leadership Qualities of Abraham Lincoln during Crisis Situations and Racial Legal Issues: Studies
- Exploring the System of Checks and Balances Among the Three Branches of Government Machinery
- An Analysis of the Political Landscape in Guatemala and Its Impact on Regional Stability
- Gossip! How Caryma Sa'd convinced Jeremy Mackenzie to work for the RCMP
- Analyzing the Cultural and Historical Significance of Mongolia in Relation to Its Socio-Political Context
- Left, Right, and Ridiculous
- The Effect of Brexit on the UK Fishing Tackle Industry
- A Visionary Leader for Somalia's Future: Mohamed Said Deni's Path to the Presidency in 2026
- Potential 2024 Padang Pariaman Regent Candidates Form Three Axes: High Chances of Fierce Competition
- Russia Gate-How It Happened
- How the Manhattan D.A. is changing Politics in America
- How Corruption is Destroying Development in Africa
- What Happens if Houthi vs US Led Operations takes another turn involving Russia and China? Regional wide impact.
- Why America Needs More Moderate Republicans
- From Importer To Exporter: The Shifting Geopolitics Of U.S. Energy Policy
- The Dark Side of Globalization: Inequality, Conflict, and the Struggle for Resources
- Escalation in the Israel-Palestine Conflict: Unpacking the Recent Hamas Attack
- What Frosts My Nuts: The End Time Has Come
- What Frosts My Nuts: Nixon had Big Balls but not P.B.J.
- The 2024 presidential election is already over.
- The Clown King of East Africa
- The Concerning Power Play of New York's Attorney General: A Threat to Its Politician and New Yorkers
- Who has the Right to Control another Adult's Life Without their Consent?
- Can the Charter of Democracy Save Pakistan’s Imperiled Democracy?
- Is Iran in a revolutionary situation?
- Why We Must Be Masters of Our Counter Culture