When climate change became a bigger concern in the last few years, and especially when gasoline prices soared during the summer of 2008, we began to hear more in the news about a willingness to invest in energy solutions so as to avoid high prices and declining availability. Then came the financial crisis. All of a sudden vast amounts of money are unleashed -- $700 billion one week in a congressional bill, $250 billion the next week from the Treasury to major US banks. Makes you wish that kind of money were available to invest in energy solutions!
There is a danger that we will adopt a mentality of "we need to take a break from solving the energy crisis so that we can solve the financial crisis first." Sure, in the immediate future some steps are necessary to make sure the movement of money in our current system does not freeze up. But this approach can go too far: the government might back off regulations to ensure higher efficiency standards, or investing in energy research. Much better to couple the two things together: let's use the economic opportunity created by the need for new sustainable energy systems to promote economic growth.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Friday, October 10, 2008
Welcome to my new blog
Hello and welcome to my blog!
My name is Francis Vanek and I am an educator, researcher, consultant, writer, speaker, and tinkerer in the area of energy systems -- both large and small.
I chose the name "truthful energy" because, as an educator and writer, my goal is to present good and bad points about energy options as truthfully and accurately as I can (and also because someone else got to my first pick, "honest energy", before I did!). A blog could easily be used to sing the praises of such-and-such technology, and maybe even put down its competitors, but that is not what I am trying to do here.
So let me see if I can put my truthful approach into practice: in my house, I have a solar PV system, a solar water heating system for domestic hot water (DHW), a solar oven, and the house has lots of south-facing windows for passive solar gain. I do not have a compact nuclear or combined-cycle power plant in my backyard for electricity -- although I do have natural gas backup heat for the passive solar with hot water radiators, and an indirect-fire water heater. Plus, I am very curious about the up and coming home-sized combined heat and power (CHP) systems that delivery both electricity and steam or hot water for home use. In any case, from experience I won't exaggerate the position of solar PV and other new renewable technologies (meaning sources besides large hydroelectric dams). These technologies are vital for our future, but they are only a small fraction of the energy at present, many of them are relatively expensive, and it will take years of hard work to make them into major contributors to our overall energy supply. Good work, but hard work nonetheless.
One of my biggest projects in the energy field has been the publication of a book entitled "Energy Systems Engineering: Evaluation and Implementation". My colleague Lou Albright is the coauthor. The book covers advanced fossil, nuclear, renewable, and transportation energy options, with the goal of putting each technology in the context of the big energy problems of our time (climate change, a changing resource base, and sustainable development). I hope you'll check it out at Amazon or at the publisher's, McGraw-Hill.
More coming soon!
Yours in sustainability,
Francis
My name is Francis Vanek and I am an educator, researcher, consultant, writer, speaker, and tinkerer in the area of energy systems -- both large and small.
I chose the name "truthful energy" because, as an educator and writer, my goal is to present good and bad points about energy options as truthfully and accurately as I can (and also because someone else got to my first pick, "honest energy", before I did!). A blog could easily be used to sing the praises of such-and-such technology, and maybe even put down its competitors, but that is not what I am trying to do here.
So let me see if I can put my truthful approach into practice: in my house, I have a solar PV system, a solar water heating system for domestic hot water (DHW), a solar oven, and the house has lots of south-facing windows for passive solar gain. I do not have a compact nuclear or combined-cycle power plant in my backyard for electricity -- although I do have natural gas backup heat for the passive solar with hot water radiators, and an indirect-fire water heater. Plus, I am very curious about the up and coming home-sized combined heat and power (CHP) systems that delivery both electricity and steam or hot water for home use. In any case, from experience I won't exaggerate the position of solar PV and other new renewable technologies (meaning sources besides large hydroelectric dams). These technologies are vital for our future, but they are only a small fraction of the energy at present, many of them are relatively expensive, and it will take years of hard work to make them into major contributors to our overall energy supply. Good work, but hard work nonetheless.
One of my biggest projects in the energy field has been the publication of a book entitled "Energy Systems Engineering: Evaluation and Implementation". My colleague Lou Albright is the coauthor. The book covers advanced fossil, nuclear, renewable, and transportation energy options, with the goal of putting each technology in the context of the big energy problems of our time (climate change, a changing resource base, and sustainable development). I hope you'll check it out at Amazon or at the publisher's, McGraw-Hill.
More coming soon!
Yours in sustainability,
Francis
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