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In Search of an Alternate Energy Future

By Klaus H Hemsath

Republish: EasyPublish™ Published: 08Feb2010 Word count: 932 Viewed: 380 time(s) Get Free Content For Your Site

The recent United Nations meeting in Copenhagen did not find any workable solutions for reversing ice melting, for putting a halt on climate changes, and for alleviating escalating violent and destructive weather events.

The Copenhagen Conference exposed another inconvenient truth; neither the U.S. nor any of the European countries were able to offer a solution to the emerging clash between developing and industrialized nations.

The U.S. and the EU are promoting a still undeveloped and unproven concept of reducing and rationing energy consumption. China, India, and other economically ascending countries want to make their economies fully competitive with the industrialized countries before considering any economically restrictive measures.

In the meantime, emissions of carbon dioxide are escalating and are wiping out any of the meager results of reducing destructive greenhouse emissions accomplished by Japan and the EU during a decade of trying.

What are world citizens to do? The world must continue its economic growth in view of an increasing world population. Restricting energy consumption will result in economic stagflation. Prices for energy and goods will increase and economies will contract. Increasing greenhouse gas emissions will result in escalating damages. These choices are not pretty and must be avoided.

Prospering economies need plentiful supplies of affordable energy in the form of electricity and liquid transportation fuels. Energy markets across the world must become free and balanced. Rules must be adopted that assure that all market participants adhere to an enforceable code of complete transparency without a chance of price manipulation.

Therefore, it may be helpful to introduce the elements of a simple plan that will assure the supply of clean energies for centuries:

1. The present energy supply system is based on the conversion of fossil coals into electricity and of fossil petroleum into transportation fuels. This dependency on fossil fuels must be terminated entirely.

2. All fossil fuels must be replaced with emission free energies. Candidates are solar energy in its many incarnations, nuclear energy, geothermal energy, marine energy, and biomass.

3. The changeover from fossil coal powered plants to solar and nuclear electric power generating plants will take at least fifty years. During this transition, power plants must be converted from coal firing to natural gas firing to temporarily reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

4. The conversion of coal fired power plants and the installation of new electric power plants, which are powered by nuclear, solar, and wind energies, must be achieved without increasing the cost of electricity generation significantly. Publicly funded efforts must continue for insuring this important, economic constraint.

5. Increased efforts need to be expended for developing facilities for the storage of large amounts of energy. Several technologies have the potential for delivering acceptable and affordable performance. The present concept of power generation management must be preserved.

6. Worldwide efforts have to be expended for resolving persistent issues of selecting and operating absolutely safe, nuclear reactors. Acceptable solutions must be found for storing and for reliable safekeeping of spent nuclear materials.

7. Petroleum products used for powering cars, trucks, trains, ships, and airplanes are emitting almost as much greenhouse gases as coal combustion. Additionally, petroleum reserves are being exhausted. Resulting scarcity will escalate petroleum prices and will slow world economies. Emission-free substitutes for fossil petroleum must be developed urgently. Concepts exist for replacing fossil crude oils and must be advanced. Development will be expensive but petroleum substitutes can reach markets in a couple of decades.

8. Conversion of biomass into petroleum substitutes is the most promising concept for producing future supplies of storable liquid fuels and for keeping worldwide transportation systems operating. Several concepts for converting biomass into emission-free fuels are available. Research into the most efficient and least expensive conversion processes must be carried out.

9. Huge amounts of greenhouse gases have accumulated in the Earth's atmosphere over the last two centuries. This accumulation is the source of all destructive climate changes. Technologists must invent novel processes for retrieving and permanently storing combustion generated carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

The outlook for finding and implementing new energy technologies is encouraging and the chances for saving Earth from excessive ecological damages still appear promising. However, the prognosis for preventing economic damages and arriving at widely accepted political agreements in due time is grim.

The USA is still the technologically most advanced country on Earth. Its leadership in solving the energy crisis is sorely needed. Unfortunately, the current U.S. administration is also in the process of adopting an energy bill that will retard the worldwide acceptance of an effective energy supply system for decades. The proposed Energy Bill is based on concepts, which are already failing in Europe. The bill does not deal with future economic growth, it does not provide realistic solutions for expanding energy supplies in developing countries, and it does not attempt to stop greenhouse gas emissions completely.

One of its greatest shortcomings is the complete lack of suggestions for assuring continuing supplies of transportation fuels for the giant inventories of combustion engines in cars, trucks, trains, ships, and airplanes. Once accepted, the bill will create a world that will be starved of conventional fuel supplies and will irrevocably encourage sky-high gasoline, diesel fuel, and jet fuel prices.

Economic growth will contract, the slowed but continuing emission of greenhouse gases will cause the inundation of coastal areas, and violent weather events will destroy much needed industrial and agricultural assets. World populations will continue their unstoppable growth, world economies will stagnate, energy prices will rise, and living conditions will deteriorate uncontrollably.

The destruction of civilizations will follow with some delay. World citizens deserve a better fate. The US must reconsider its ill conceived legislation

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