ENERGY

i labeled this posting ENERGY. As we wind down ths Summer with the dog days Mary and I could use some ENERGY. However the title does not refer to personal energy but is related to the notes on the book "The end of oil" wich I will include.
The computer lab is not active during the month of August--time to get some things caught up etc however. I have made a couple of power point presentations but need some improvement. I have used the library tech center's machne to transfer VHS tape to a DVD. I have transferred some old family movies and some family reunions which I will try to duplicate and then share with the family. I have more that I want to get done. Mary is reading "1776" by David McCullough and likes it very much. we are looking forward to the coming Theater and Symphony seansons.
It is impressive how the British have rounded up the terrorists and in a very short time. I think that their secret service is probably better than ours.
Trust that this finds you hale and hearty and COOL AF AKA HAPPY DOC
BOOK NOTES 12:46 PM 8/2/2005
"THE END OF OIL" by PAUL ROBERTS
Energy and power are inexorably intertwined and

since the industrial revolution energy translates

into hydrocarbons (oil, gas, coal). One of the

striking statistics in book is that for every one

gallon of gas used--5 pounds of carbon are

released!!! The carbon dioxide can not be

cleansed as fast as it is produced, so there is a

global warming and it can not continue especially

as the worlds' energy need will increase

dramatically as the "third" world progresses to

develop and thereby use more energy.
...the warming trend in less than a century has

shown 15 percent shrinking of the polar ice caps, a

ten inch rise in the sea level and widespread

retreat of glaciers, ...longer, more severe droughts,

warmer winters, more floods and hurricanes, the

spread of tropical diseases.
...climate change is not an equal opportunity

disaster....a half-degree change in temperature will

alter the monsoon patterns that now provide much

of Asia with critical rainfall and will reduce crop

yields and displace tens of millions. With even a

small temperture change, more than twenty six

million Bangladeshis would become refugees. As

many as twelve million people would flee Egypt,

while more than twenty million Indians would be

force to migate.
Given the anticipated growth in worldwide

population and economic acivity, most

climatologists believe that even 550 ppm carbon

dioxide is impossible ceiling to impose on an

energy economy that is still even partly reliant on

fossil fuels. If were to have any chance in

stabilizing at that level, it means divesting

ourselves of fossil fuel sometime during the next 4

decades....we must begin developing new energy

technologies and deploying them on a massive

scale in the next twenty years.
Gas being a cleaner source may be a stop-gap to

buy a little time while cleaner and renewable

forms can be developed, Wind -- hydrogen -- clean

nuclear, solar.
The other major factor will be for a change in

life style and conservation of energy use. This

may be a hard sell ("after they have seen Paree!")

but will be important. I listened to a BBC program

where they made an inventory of the energy use of

an English middle class family and compared with

an Indian probably upper class family and the

English one would have to reduce their energy

consumption by two thirds to equal the Indian

Family.