Thursday, December 29, 2022

LOOKING FORWARD TO 2023

 

As I look forward to another new year, I’m reflecting back on what I have accomplished not only in the past year but in my 60+ years advocating for a clean sustainable environment.  There have been so many battles confronting an enormous range of ignorance, greed, and stupidity, but in the end, I feel I have achieved a lot of what I struggled to do.  I have continued to learn so much and have always pushed to educate and inform a great variety of people. My main goal over the past 30+ years has been to increase awareness that Hydrogen is the key element in our renewable energy future, and that nuclear power is ethically, morally, and economically wrong.

I have reached a point where I no longer have to fight for the acceptance of many of my ideas, so for now I am going to step back a bit from my manic and frenzied daily reading and research, and trying to keep up with what is going on around the world right now.  Mainly, I am overwhelmed by the exponential amounts of information forthcoming on the development and commercialization of Hydrogen all over the world, which is still in its infancy, and the growth of renewables in all sectors of our economy.  So here are a few predictions for the future that I stand by, and probably comment on in the future.

Hydrogen will eventually surpass fossil fuels as the major energy carrier, in all aspects of our technology and economy.  The majority of Hydrogen will be “green” and come from a variety of renewable energy technologies. Other technologies will also play an appropriate role.

Nuclear power will continue its amazing hoax, sucking up billions of dollars for the development and supposed deployment of a wide range of reactors, which will not compete in the Hydrogen economy.  Fusion is now the latest buzz, and though we may eventually build a fusion power plant, its infrastructure cost will be untenable. What people don’t realize is that a fusion reactor does not create electricity.  The tremendous amount of heat produced will be used to boil water for steam-turbine generation.  Again, it’s like using a chainsaw to cut butter.  There is a lot of money to be made in this hugely complex and inappropriate technology, and it plays on the ignorant fact that it promises a simple solution to our energy problems.  People are ignorant and gullible and want to hear that.

Solar energy will continue to mature on many fronts, and new developments and improvements will provide us with a cleaner, affordable, and sustainable energy future.  The biggest issue is not producing enough electricity, but relying on a massive antiquated grid to move that electricity to where it is needed. Microgrids and minigrids will blossom, offering more use of local renewables and a range of storage options that are cheaper and environmentally sensitive.

With climate change now visibly upon us, we will be forced to take more serious actions to slow down its mind-boggling impacts.  The changes we see today will only continue and will get worse.  Water quality will be one of the next major challenges, as well as food production, social injustice, migration, massive infrastructure repair and upgrade, and a degrading of the quality of life for many.

The escalating cost of paying for the damages from climate change, and preparing for the necessary improvements and protections for our infrastructure will only compound all issues. Greed, inequality, power plays, wars, lies and misinformation, and basically what I’ve said all along, ignorance and stupidity, do not portray a very optimistic future.  I have talked with a lot of people, some of who I consider to be intelligent and in position to understand what is really going on, who have in general disappointed me with their ignorance, shallowness, and apathy.  The world and its issues are so complex that it is easy to just let “them…the experts” take care of things. 

So, I am stepping down a bit from trying to change the world, and do what I can in my community; but I pass the torch on to the younger generation and hope they will take positive and sane actions.  We are not doomed; we are not destroying the environment; but the changes we have created will continue to threaten all aspects of civilization as we know it today.  Does the butterfly in the Amazon (forest) really have any impact on the migration of millions of refugees?

I am grateful for who I am and for all the things I have done.  This may be my last blog for a while (I know that sounds easy) and I will continue to play the fiddle while the world burns (much harder), and acknowledge that my life’s work has been on the right side of history.

Happy New Year!!!!

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