[XCSSA] Man Made Global Warming Consensus A Farce?

[X-otic Computer Systems of San Antonio]

On Jan 6, 2009, at 6:28 AM, X-otic Computer Systems of San Antonio  
wrote:

>
> On Jan 5, 2009, at 5:54 PM, X-otic Computer Systems of San Antonio
> wrote:
>
>> Well, not really. Wind power is unreliable, it can't meet the
>> spikes in demand that exist as people use electricity. The only
>> plants that can come online quick enough to supply those spikes are
>> natural gas plants. Those aren't terribly efficient. If we really
>> wanted to provide a substantial amount of cheap power, we'd build
>> nuclear plants. Nuclear plants are safe, terribly efficient, and
>> produce huge amounts of power.
>
> Micro-nukes could be a really good thing... small, sealed,
> maintenance-free power plants located near the consumers of power.
> Can you imagine running a large data center off of one of those --
> completely off the grid? It's the ultimate UPS. (Want redundancy? Get
> two of them and sell the power from the second when both are
> running.) The only problem in San Antonio would be that they are
> normally buried in a 30 foot deep hole, and much of the city has
> limestone just a foot or two down, which is why there are so many
> quarries. However, the plants themselves cost enough that digging
> that big of a hole in the rock might be only a minor expense.


I'm generally pro-nuclear power. A friend of mine is in the Navy and  
does tours on a nuclear sub. He says the same thing (that Nuclear  
power is safe and wildly efficient). These days it would basically  
take pre-meditated wrong-doing to cause harm to a modern built power  
plant. There is still the problem of storage, but, according to my  
friend, at least for the sub he is own, there is only a very small  
amount (less than a barrel full or something?) of waste that has a  
huge half-life. Most half-lives are around 20 years. If I remember all  
the correctly, anyway.

I did recently read and article saying we only have about a 60 year  
supply of Uranium (world-wide). I'm not sure I believe that, though,  
since the article didn't elaborate on that whatsoever. It's hard for  
someone to convince me without providing additional facts for  
something like this.

I'm also all about solar and wind. These solutions are free. Perhaps  
not truly so (since the cost of manufacturing and maintenance), but  
we're using what the is already there for the taking.

Having said all that, back to Global Warming. I'm not sure it is man- 
made and tend to think that, at least some of it, isn't. There's a  
huge but I'm about to drop though: *BUT* that doesn't mean we  
shouldn't be responsible about it. I'd rather assume we are causing  
global warming so we stop doing naughty things - or at least try to  
change our ways by adopting nuclear, solar, wind, and, most  
importantly, making a green economy. All the pieces are there for a  
"green bubble" and it seems like a perfect coupling to the recession  
and something that can get us out of it. Obama is already behind that  
idea so I figure, why not? Why not help companies that are trying to  
install solar panels on houses on the cheap. Upgrade our power grid,  
bust out electric cars. I'm all for that.

And if having people worry about global warming gets us there, despite  
my personal opinion on the matter, I'm all for that too.

Tim S.