---

CANDLELIGHTING

---

THE JEWISH VIEW

---

HOLIDAYS

---

JUDAISM 101

---

{weblog_name} - the best things in life are free
Comments (2)

Dr. Mark Jacobson, a Stanford University professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, has recently published a paper that shows that many of our most politically fair-haired energy solutions (clean coal, ethanol, biomass, nuclear, etc) are actually the most expensive and the most destructive to use. Rather, he argues, wind and concentrated solar power are the best options before us today and can go a long way to supplying the doubling of the power demand that is expected by 2030. Even transportation energy, if most of our fleet goes electric. He tells us that at any moment, the sun (directly and indirectly) produces more energy in a second than the earth can consume in a year. Specifically: the various energy capacities that hit or are generated around the world per second are as follows: The Sun: 31,000,000 GW (gigawatts) Wind:… read more

Geothermal is indeed free - in that the earth makes it -  we don’t. It is a by-product of the earth’s inner workings and is there with or without us. Using it to heat and cool our buildings through heat transfer, and potentially to create energy, is an exciting idea. However, as far as i know, accessing it is more invasive than accessing and harnessing solar and wind and even tidal and wave. And therefore also more expensive. Also, I mentioned the four types of energy that were referenced in the article. It is a good question as to why Dr. Jacobson selected only the five he did.

As for something for/from the kids, tell me what you have in mind.

I just hope low gas prices doesn’t stop people from doing what we need to do with alternative energy. And what ever happened to geothermal energy? That’s free, too.

I like that the Jewish Times has an environmentalist blog. How about setting one up with ideas from kids?