Jorgie's Energy Page

Better Cars

2008-12-15T10:31:00.001-08:00

I don't post to this much, but lately I have heard two things that really needed to be talked about.
One was a TED talk about the Future of Cars. Larry Burns gave this talk in 2005. I first heard it in December of 2008. What a fantastic idea, but after listening to the recent Science Friday podcast I wonder how far into the future this still is.

More is available at
http://www.sciencefriday.com/program/archives/200811211

Solar for the home!

2008-08-06T10:23:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been awhile, and I am finding that I am commenting mostly on NPR. I guess it's because that's what I am listening to. Anyway this week I was listening to an podcast of Science Friday from a couple of weeks ago. They were reporting on the fact that we could generate 50% of all of our electricity needs by using just the roof space on the 15% of roofs that are suitable for Photovoltaic Solar Panels. To be completely clear. 15% of the total roof space in the U.S. could produce 50% of all U.S. Electrical needs.

The rest of the blog detailed other issues related to installing solar panels on your own home and how switching to solar can provide vast benefits. One of the most interesting throwaway comments was that the next generation Toyota Prius will actually have solar panels on the roof of the car which will increase it's range by about 15%. That sounds fantastic to me, but I am also very interested in the Chevy Volt Concept which if it had Solar panels could recharge during the day while I am at work and I could conceivably go weeks and weeks without using gasoline while still having the option of using the gasoline (or hopefully eventually, high efficiency diesel) motor to recharge the electrical system on the go.

This whole discussion of Solar for the Home though has given me a big incentive to really look at the potential for my own home. I have an unshaded south facing roof that would be ideal for Solar Panels and if I could see a net drop of $50 to $60 dollars a month in electricity it would be very worthwile. They mentioned a website that allows you to search and find local benefits, tax advantages and contractors to install the panels: http://findsolar.com/

Transportation Costs

2008-06-26T13:44:00.000-07:00

We often rave about the new hybrid cars, First of all they aren't new. Porsche (the man not the car company) invented them and Germany used them during the war. His military transport vehicles were diesel electric hybrids with hub based motors. Many of our modern locomotives for transporting goods are diesel electric hybrids. Check out this story for some interesting info.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91853780

Energy 1

2008-06-06T20:42:00.000-07:00

I decided to start a separate blog for my energy rants. I want a place to keep up my opinions and ideas about our energy issues.