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Post by showmedot on Apr 12, 2014 8:14:36 GMT -6
Oh, well, as rapidly as the Oglala Aquifer is being drained by agricultural irrigation, a good deal of the food production of Plains States farms will go bye-bye anyway before we have to worry much about non-petroleum sources of energy.
Once that immense aquifer is gone or depleted to the extent that well-drilling is prohibitively costly, the Plains will become uninhabitable.
We probably are irretrievably screwed in more ways than one. Nothing like stupidity and thinking God will protect and provide, huh?
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Post by ken on Apr 15, 2014 7:19:38 GMT -6
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Post by Flitzerbiest on Apr 15, 2014 9:03:22 GMT -6
I don't know anything about it. The advantages/disadvantages are in the wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorium_fuel_cycleLooks like there are several US reactors already generating. Pretty hard to be green without nuclear, IMO.
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Post by Jim on Apr 15, 2014 10:47:21 GMT -6
I don't know anything about it. The advantages/disadvantages are in the wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorium_fuel_cycleLooks like there are several US reactors already generating. Pretty hard to be green without nuclear, IMO. I agree 100%. Do you think that the organized environmental movement will ever agree? The tidal turbine/turban idea has great potential (stylish too), although I suspect that organized environmentalists would be opposed to this technology as well. I'm just guessing though, so feel free to school me. As an aside, Linda and I will be building a solar home in the mountains next year. Entirely off-grid with a PV electrical system and solar radiant heat. It has been really fun working with the architects and solar people. Even though the house will be solar, I don't deceive myself into thinking that it is a particularly green gesture. For starters we'll have to drive quite a while to get there and a lot of energy will be spent fabricating it. Also, we will require a propane generator for back up. Even so it is really cool technology for those who live in sunny regions. (Our land is in a mountain/desert region with very little snow, great clear skies but typical crappy Colo. seeing) Maybe we can actually hold G.R.A.T.E. '16 there, but I believe I've forgotten what the acronym means! Jim
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Post by stevec on Apr 15, 2014 12:38:21 GMT -6
Jim,
How far will you have to walk to the outhouse?
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Post by Flitzerbiest on Apr 15, 2014 12:50:53 GMT -6
Jim, How far will you have to walk to the outhouse? Actually the new composting toilets that the national parks are putting in seem to work pretty well, other than a distinctively cold breeze on the buttocks (but I've been in mountains at the time). The real question is whether there will be a sun, moon or both on the door.
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Post by Flitzerbiest on Apr 15, 2014 12:52:59 GMT -6
I don't know anything about it. The advantages/disadvantages are in the wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorium_fuel_cycleLooks like there are several US reactors already generating. Pretty hard to be green without nuclear, IMO. I agree 100%. Do you think that the organized environmental movement will ever agree? The tidal turbine/turban idea has great potential (stylish too), although I suspect that organized environmentalists would be opposed to this technology as well. I'm just guessing though, so feel free to school me. As an aside, Linda and I will be building a solar home in the mountains next year. Entirely off-grid with a PV electrical system and solar radiant heat. It has been really fun working with the architects and solar people. Even though the house will be solar, I don't deceive myself into thinking that it is a particularly green gesture. For starters we'll have to drive quite a while to get there and a lot of energy will be spent fabricating it. Also, we will require a propane generator for back up. Even so it is really cool technology for those who live in sunny regions. (Our land is in a mountain/desert region with very little snow, great clear skies but typical crappy Colo. seeing) Maybe we can actually hold G.R.A.T.E. '16 there, but I believe I've forgotten what the acronym means! Jim I think the meaning of the acronym was lost within the first year or two. I think it was something like Great Religion and Telescope Event, but it doesn't jingle the bells like a direct hit.
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Post by Jim on Apr 15, 2014 13:07:05 GMT -6
Jim, How far will you have to walk to the outhouse? Actually the new composting toilets that the national parks are putting in seem to work pretty well, other than a distinctively cold breeze on the buttocks (but I've been in mountains at the time). The real question is whether there will be a sun, moon or both on the door. I'm sure you two have heard of flush toilets/septic fields! Shoot I've been on septic most of my life. As long as you don't have water loving tees like willows around things are usually ducky. J
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Post by Flitzerbiest on Apr 15, 2014 13:12:24 GMT -6
I had guessed that you would have indoor plumbing, but since you mentioned "entirely off grid" I mentioned the loos.
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Post by Jim on Apr 15, 2014 13:58:40 GMT -6
I had guessed that you would have indoor plumbing, but since you mentioned "entirely off grid" I mentioned the loos. That's the cool thing about recent advances in solar. We can be entirely off of the electrical grid and still, with a decent well and septic, point to point microwave broadband and cellular, have a home that is as modern as any other.
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Post by stevec on Apr 15, 2014 15:28:45 GMT -6
Actually the new composting toilets that the national parks are putting in seem to work pretty well, other than a distinctively cold breeze on the buttocks (but I've been in mountains at the time). The real question is whether there will be a sun, moon or both on the door. I'm sure you two have heard of flush toilets/septic fields! Shoot I've been on septic most of my life. As long as you don't have water loving tees like willows around things are usually ducky. J On a related note, how close is the nearest house of worship?
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Post by Jim on Apr 16, 2014 9:08:50 GMT -6
I'm sure you two have heard of flush toilets/septic fields! Shoot I've been on septic most of my life. As long as you don't have water loving tees like willows around things are usually ducky. J On a related note, how close is the nearest house of worship? The great outdoors is right there!
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Post by stevec on Apr 16, 2014 9:26:06 GMT -6
On a related note, how close is the nearest house of worship? The great outdoors is right there! I usually don't give out points, but you get 2 points for that answer.
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Post by Flitzerbiest on Apr 16, 2014 13:54:43 GMT -6
The great outdoors is right there! I usually don't give out points, but you get 2 points for that answer. Look to the little thumb thingie in the upper right. We can "like" posts here, so we have that working for us. Wheeeeee!
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Post by Flitzerbiest on Apr 21, 2014 20:33:16 GMT -6
That's just the thing, Ken. If you paint both sides as extremes, you can adopt some sort of climate agnosticism and feel reasonable about it. I'm not saying this is wrong, but don't you think the scientific consensus arises from something other than groupthink? With the obvious manipulation of data that we have read about, there is reason for the lack of consensus. There isn't a lack of consensus at all. There is just a consensus that you don't like. Let me put it this way: Hydrocarbon producers, whose fingerprints are all over the published opposition to anthropogenic climate change (ACG) have an a pretty clear potential motive for profit which might at least theoretically entice them to advance a weak position. What is the incentive for a research scientist unaffiliated with industry to do so?
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