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Political Hurdles Abound, Shortage of Resources a Core Problem
-- Design News, August 21, 2008
Are you thinking? If 95% of industrial hydrogen comes from natural gas, how in the world would we ever get enough to power a significant number of vehicles? We are currently using nearly all of the natural gas available - the price of this is going up also. As long as you try to convert anything into hydrogen, it is a losing deal, whether you use gas, coal, crude oil or whatever. It takes a lot of energy to make hydrogen!!! As one MIT engineering professor said, this whole hydrogen think is insane.
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We engineers tend to be molded into thinking in primary technical terms. That can be a mistake when confronting complex issues that are equally religious, political, social, etc. Nothing wrong with taking a ride in a fuel cell powered car - and enjoying every second of it. Very cool. Yet, there is much more to this problem of energy.
The core of the problem is resources. Not oil. Not nuke plants. Not automobiles. Not even, energy. For instance, if we somehow magically increased our electrical supply by 50%, that would have little impact on keeping most of our cars and trucks on the road. Yes, we might manage to have a few more electric cars, but that is limited by the availability of lead. (lead has already increased from $500/ton to $3000/ton) If you go to Lithium batteries, you still are very limited by availability and cost of that resource. All of these options are resource limited in one way or another. Obviously, converting present oil or gas supplies to hydrogen doesn't increase resources at all. It just adds another step into the process of getting the wheels to turn. Doing a combination of things might keep the wheels running a wee bit longer, but in the long haul, you are still faced with huge supply / demand / cost issues.
The political problems are even bigger than the technical ones. The Democrats say no to drilling. No to nuke power. No to coal. Some of them don't even want wind or tidal power (kills birds or fish). The Republicans just want to drill. No one wants to tap into the vast amounts of US oil sands that contain billions of barrels of oil that would last decades because of environmental concerns by a small minority of very vocal folks. Congress is totally nonfunctional. Their approval rating of 18% shows that the public is not altogether ignorant of this. This has to be one of the most tragic facts in the history of our country. The failure of our government to prioritize and act on this issue is the biggest failure in the history of our country. No, that is not an over stated fact. And it will prove to be fatal us and our children if this doesn't change. Millions will die.
Historically, almost all wars are fought over "something". It might be a piece of land, or a water hole. There have been thousands of these wars, not just WWI and WWII. Limited resources ALWAYS results in fighting. The resources of oil, and natural gas, are just two of many that have evolved into fighting. This time, the weapons are more deadly. The battle ground is global, not regional. These facts will not stop the start of the next war.
Before all wars start, there is always a climate of denial. "It won't start." "They wouldn't dare start something." "Life will go on as it always has." "Today's climate won't allow anyone to do something stupid." Yet, after the fighting starts, 20-20 hindsight always shows the obvious. Then we ask how we could of missed all the clues. Pearl Harbor is a classic example of this. Even as the Japanese pilots were flying to Pearl, they were listening to us, playing our songs on the radio, oblivious to what was coming. I met and talked to the Japanese pilot who led that raid. He was the only officer pilot in that initial raid who survived the war. After the war, he became a Christian, led to Jesus by an American who had been tortured in a Japanese prison camp. Quite a story.
Point is, we are in a lose, lose situation. Even as Russia invades Georgia, Europe won't do anything because they are dependent upon Russian oil and gas. NATO is hesitant to start a fight, knowing Putan is of the old KGB school. The UN is a toothless joke. We are already over extended and headed to financial meltdown, so we also are limited.
As one head of state recently said, "Our cumulative wisdom is unable to meet the daunting challenges of our time." Such tacit admission only reinforces my own conclusions. This is too big for mere men to solve. This world needs to get on it's knees and admit that there is a God who has allowed us freedom to blunder our way into this situation; only to show us our own limitations - if we are humble enough to admit that.
Don't mean to be all doom and gloom, but I am just stating the facts as they are. This resource issue is a much more serious thing than most people realize. It goes far beyond our keeping our SUVs on the road or "developing energy alternatives." The stakes are huge and we are running out of time.
Yet, I am optimistic. I am a Christian and I know that only trials bring man back to Him. On Fox news today, I noticed a great story of a son of a Hamas leader on how he sorted this out. It is titled, "Son of Hamas leader embraces Christianity." It says a lot. Take a look at it.
Regards,
Eugene
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