Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter Here

The hoopola of the election is finally over and as my dad observed in his blog [?!], "it's time to either calm down or buck up, depending on your persuasion." While I prefer to keep politics out of my blog I would like to say that I am extremely excited about the possibilities that lie in store for future President Obama and also for our country and the world on a whole.

Right now, economically, there isn't a plethora of things to smile about, but I have great hope that there is a lot of potential to be mined, especially within the energy fields, pun intended. When the belts are tightened, humanity has to look for alternate sources to supplement all sorts of things and our dependence on oil, foreign or not, is an issue that can no longer be brushed under the rug.

But I am excited by all the untapped resources we are discovering that have applications as fuel and energy. I had mentioned earlier in my blog that I had discovered a magazine that focused on the possibilities of adapting sun, solar, and wind power for home use. Unfortunately, at this time I rent, from a landowner who is reticent to even fix our back fence, so to bring up converting our home to solar energy is probably not super high on his priority list.

This is no excuse not for me to be informed of alternate energy sources, period and I have found another interesting publication that focuses on the subject in great detail from the publishers of Scientific American called, Scientific American Earth 3.0. http://www.sciamearth3.com/

To paraphrase an ad from Shell gas in this new magazine,"we'll need fuels from lots of different sources to meet growing demand [from something else than petroleum]." Whether this is an astute PR firm banking on the environmental trend, a savvy corporate marketing move, or an enlightened decision by an eco-conscious company is irrelevant. What matters is that they are moving in the right decision. To whom much has been given, much will be expected, no?

For more information on Shell's commitment to fuel improvement check out www.shell.com/us/realenergy

BP and notably its group chief executive, Tony Hayward, are also committed to investigating alternate energy sources. Putting their money where their mouth is, BP is investing $8 billion in new renewable-energy technologies over the next ten years, including $1.8 billion in 2008 alone. They also have staff who is looking to harness technology to bring affordable fuel to the world's poor and wind and solar energy in the US. (information from Esquire, October 2008, article by Amy Meyers Jaffe, (director of the Energy Forum at the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy), 140)

It excites me to no end that we can tap energy from such disparate sources as methane/ cow pies, vegetable oil, sugar (-based ethanol), hydrogen, wheat, sulfur, algae, and corn! For more information on algae as a potential energy source and as cooking oil* see Scientific American Earth 3.0's article, "Dark Horse: Oil from Algae" by David Biello http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=biofuel-of-the-future (*= According to Harrison Dillon, microbiologist and co-founder of Solazyme in San Francisco, "My birthday cake was made with oil from algae: no butter, no oil, no eggs, and it was delicious." If you say so. . .

In other news, in their October 2008 issue, Esquire lauded General Electric's (GE) CEO, Jeffrey Immelt, for his decision to start GE's environmental division. OK, so he's not Jack Welch or Lee Iaocca, but each contribution helps. It's nice to know that the call for change is reverberating even into the hallowed chambers of the world's top CEO's.

Also, be sure to check out wecansolveit.org

"The We Campaign is a project of The Alliance for Climate Protection -- a nonprofit, nonpartisan effort founded by Nobel laureate and former Vice President Al Gore. The goal of the Alliance is to build a movement that creates the political will to solve the climate crisis -- in part through repowering America with 100 percent of its electricity from clean energy sources within 10 years. Our economy, national security, and climate can’t afford to wait." -from their About Us Web page.

And while you're out on the Net, read "A World Without Oil Amen" by Benjamin Kunkel in GQ
http://men.style.com/gq/features/full?id=content_7211 Hopefully, like everything else I recommend, it's well-written and informative. And it provides an insightful, if not vaguely depressing, reminder of our dependence on all kinds of oil, not just to fuel our cars.

Unlike my quote for this blog, which was taken from Dante' s Inferno, [the sign that is purportedly nailed above the entrance to Hell,] we do not have to abandon hope, but have much of which to be hopeful. As Oscar Wilde once said, "They say that the age of miracles is past, but I say that it has not yet begun."

Here's to new beginnings! Wishing you all a safe and happy holiday season and exciting new year.