In energy, too, it’s the water ... again!

About this time six years ago--ok, ok, April 7, 2009, if you want me to be specific--my newspaper column was titled "In energy, too, it's the water."  I noted there:

instead of urging countries, particularly India and China, to stop using coal, perhaps we ought to focus on how to a large extent it is all about water. Many parts of India, China and other countries have low levels per capita of available water. For instance, while the United State has about 1,600 cubic meters of water per person, the average in China is about 400 cubic meters, and even less in India. This immensely valuable resource can be put to better uses than in coal-fired power plants.
This is but another incentive for us to explore alternative energy sources that do not impose additional demands on water, which will then also mean lesser reliance on coal. Water-constrained countries such as China, India and Israel ought to encourage innovation on this urgent issue.

But, hey, when was the last time anybody ever listened to me, right?  

Today, I read this about a town in Texas:

Last week Georgetown, Texas, a town of about 50,000 about 30 miles north of Austin (and the home of Nolan Ryan) announced that the utility that it owns, Georgetown Utility Systems, would soon get 100 percent of the electricity it provides from renewables.

What is the connection to my column from six years ago?  "because it will save on electricity costs and decrease our water usage.”

creating electricity from fossil fuels doesn’t simply require lots of natural gas and coal. It requires a huge amount of water. “Production of electrical power results in one of the largest uses of water in the United States and worldwide,” the U.S. Geological Survey notes in this infographic. At power plants, water is heated to make steam and huge amounts of water are needed to cool the equipment. Producing the fuel that powers these plants—mining coal and fracking natural gas—also consumes a huge amount of water.
But creating electricity from wind turbines and photovoltaic panels requires virtually no water. 

Ahem, is it ok to say "I told you so?"

BTW, such developments via the marketplace are yet another reason why I am not a big fan of the rah-rah fanaticism about fossil fuel divestment.  Other than a few nutcases who continue to believe in coal and petroleum, most of the corporate world is fully aware of the issues, and put their money where their mouth is--after all, that bottom-line is always their guide!  (A post for another day.) 

But then, at the end of it all, nobody listens to me. I don't get no respect.  The story of my life; what a Cassandra Curse! ;)  

My old friend is back!

I did swing by the optician's.  And I did tell her about the problem with the new glasses.  And, yes, she laughed a good laugh.

"Did you have a good week?" she asked.

"More like did I have a good summer.  It is over" I said referring to the light rain that was falling outside.  "I suppose there is a time for everything."

"Yes."

We knew it would happen. That the summer would come to an end.  Our days on the porches and patios would soon become a distant memory.

When the sun shone brightly and with enormous warmth, and even when we complained about the terrible heat, we were fully aware that it was a passing phase.

Without fail, it happened.

Like that, summer is gone.

The clouds are back. The rains are here.

"I don't have to water my yard anymore" remarked the clerk at the grocery store, which was my intended destination.  "It will save me at least twenty dollars a month."

Always the party-pooper, I reminded him that it would also mean something else. "You will pay a lot more than that in heating bills" and I smiled.

"Ah, yes, any which way nature gets you to pay" he added with a nodding head.

In a way, we are glad that the seasons change when they are supposed to change.  Else, it is trouble.  To everything, "turn, turn, turn."

The gentle wind that invited me to keep the door open through the summer evenings is now cool enough for me to lock up the doors and windows.  My memory reached back into my school years in the old country and desperately tried to recall a poem about the wind. Growing old means that there is gradual fading. A word here and a word there is all I could recall.

But, I remembered the poet's name: Christina Georgina Rossetti.

Google and "transactive memory" to the rescue!  Here is that poem:

Who has seen the wind?   
By Christina Georgina Rossetti

Who has seen the wind?

Neither I nor you:

But when the leaves hang trembling,

The wind is passing through.

Who has seen the wind?

Neither you nor I:

But when the trees bow down their heads,

The wind is passing by. 
   

Wind turbines kill ducks. So, ban 'em. Cuz, we want to hunt 'em :)

In pretty much every course I teach, I devote a week to environmental aspects.  The bottom line that I hope students get from that one week, and from elsewhere too, is that most environmental issues require tradeoffs.  And, therefore, it often comes down to political power. Examples abound--including this satirical piece on the ecologically sensitive Florida Everglades and wind turbines.

The Daily Show - Fowl Wind
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This is, of course, not the first time that the Daily Show has pointed out the craziness with which those at either ends of issues launch their arguments.

In the following classic, the same Mandvi pokes fun of asbestos exports from Canada, which seems to otherwise walk around with some kind of a environmental smug attitude

The Daily Show - Ored to Death
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Equally hilarious, and tragic, is the following one by Wyatt Cenac about residents in Turkey Creek fighting to protect their land.  In this case, only the environmentalists could help them--and that too by fighting to protect the birds!

The Daily Show
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Wind turbines could blow earth off its orbit. Obama's energy policy?

Why are such scoops always only from America's Finest News Source?


In The Know: Coal Lobby Warns Wind Farms May Blow Earth Off Orbit

Meanwhile, a soon-to-be-released blockbuster in the making "describes a small town being poisoned with wind":

Ok, that was all from the Onion.

But, seriously, the carbon in the coal?  Not to worry:

So, what does President Obama have to say about our energy policy?