[ale] Intelligent Power (was global warming) [OT]

[JK]

George Allen wrote:
> Still off topic but contains oblig. Linux ref.
> 
> Just remembered an idea I had... that's tangentailly related to global 
> warming.
> 
> Say - as a spin-off to 'The Matrix,' to fulfill our renewable power needs... 
> we used solar panels....
> 
> Say - layout a grid-array of solar panels over say... most of Nevada...

I read somewhere a while back that at current photovoltaic efficiency
levels, a 50x50 mile block of panels would supply the US's electricity
demand.  So there'd be plenty of headroom with a block the size of
Nevada :-)  And there's tons of empty space out here in TX...

OTOH I think that scheme comes under the heading of "solving the wrong
problem".  Our *use* of energy tends to be pretty inefficient, partially
because of the way our society is organized. Someone recently mentioned
spending $500/month on gasoline for a 20-mile commute in metro Atlanta,
for example; we expend huge amounts of energy just moving stuff around,
often for silly reasons.  I work in the transportation industry,
incidentally, and I spend a lot of my time trying to make moving-stuff-
around more efficient.  But that, too, feels like the wrong problem.

-- JK

-- 
"What can be asserted without evidence can also be
dismissed without evidence." -- Christopher Hitchens