Energy   - part one

In this issue Global Energy Toyota Prius - see it now Wind Farm photos - view them now Wendell Berry - poems - read now Prior KF Newsletters - view list now TIPS Read KF News at web site - click here or click the KF button at upper left Subscribe to KF News - sign up now Send KF News to a friend - send now

Global Energy

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This is the first of several efforts to profile global energy issues and relate that to similar challenges with water, climate and food.

There are serious issues with global reliance on oil for energy. Nothing new here, we have heard it before. So, why dig into it again? Consider these facts.

Oil is at the root of world insercurity. Two thirds of the world reserves reside in the most violent and repressive countries in world

World consumption is soaring and is accelerating in an upward spiral

Consumption is at its global peak and there is no spare capacity left.

Oil production has plateaued or declined in 33 of the 48 largest oil fields in the world.

Major oil companies are buying each other to obtain reserves, instead of investing in exploration.

Existing oil fields are being drained faster than new ones are being developed.

As China and India continue to expand their economies the world will have a dramatically growing dependence on the middle east.

Excerpted from a lecture by Christopher Flavin
President, WorldWatch Institute
World Affairs Conference, Boulder, Colorado
April (--), 2005

Web link - World Watch Institute

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Here are actions that make a difference:

Get on track when possible to support carbon free and fossil free resources:
    Wind power, Solar power, Biofuels, Geothermal energy

Make small changes that slowly whittle away at the fossil fuel energy base

Recognize that new energy systems will create new industries and new jobs

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back to top.

Toyota Prius

The world is adding 70,000,000 new people to the earth each year and the world automobile fleet is growing by 9,000,000 cars per year. Two million of those added cars are in the United States. This expanding fleet needs 20,000 hectares of land per 1,000,000 cars to avoid gridlock. If the reduced area is agricultural lands, the loss of grain production translates to roughly 50,000 tons of grain, enough to feed 250,000 people at Third World consumption levels. Parking the 2,000,000 annual additions to the 214,000,000 United States auto fleet requires the equivalent of 400,000 football fields.

Excerpts from Outgrowing the Earth
by Lester R. Brown
Norton Company, 2004

Web link - Earth Policy Institute
Web Link - Toyota Prius web page
Web Site - Prius Home Page - book a test drive
Web Site - Yahoo Prius E-Mail Group

Wind Power

Colorado Green Wind Power Project

When - Completed 2004

Where - in Prowers County in southeast Colorado, 20 miles south of Lamar.

What - 108 GE 1.5 megawatt wind turbines, totalling 162 MW.

Result - enough power for 52,000 average american homes.

Owner - owned 50/50 by PPM Energy Inc. and Shell WindEnergy Inc.

Initiated - in a competitive bid process by Public Service of Colorado.

Land area - Resides on an 11,000 acre working cattle ranch of which less than 2% is devoted
   to "footprint" for the wind turbines.

Turbines - GE turbines manufactured in Tehachapi, CA.

Turbines - The 1.5 MW turbines are largest type used in U.S.

Speed - Turbine rotors make one revolution every 2 to 3 seconds.

Size - The rotor diameter is 231 feet, 10% greater than a 747-440 airplane wing span.

Size - Turbines - Turbine height is 328 feet (about equal to a 32 story building).

Wind Fact - Over the last five years wind energy has been world's fastest growing energy
   source with an average annual growth rate of 35.7%.

Wind Fact - Today Denmark, Germany and Spain meet between 10% and 25% of their
   energy needs with wind. In the U.S. wind supplies 0.05% of electricity needs.

Web Site - Pawnee National Grassland

"Wind works. It's reliable. It's economical. It makes environmental sense. And it's here now. Wind machines are not tomorrow's technology. Whether it's on a giant wind farm in Minnesota, in a small village in Morocco, or in the backyard of a German farmer, wind energy works today in a variety of applications around the world. You too, can put this renewable resource to work. The following chapters explain how to go about doing just that."

This book covers the subject from soup to nuts. It includes information on turbines from the world's largest 6 megawatt to small backyard versions. There are many pictures and diagrams plus 100 pages of Appendices with facts, charts and resources.

Book Link - Wind Power by Paul Gipe

Wendell Berry

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quoted from,
A Timbered Choir - 1998 - Counterpoint

1996 - VI
"A bird the size
of a leaf fills
the whole lucid
evening with
his note, and flies."

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quoted from,
Collected Poems - 1984 - North Point Press

Returning
"I was walking in a dark valley
and above me the tops of the hills
had caught the morning light.
I heard the light singing as it went
among the grassblades and the leaves.
I waded upward through the shadow
until my head emerged,
my shoulders were mantled with the light,
and my whole body came up
out of the darkness, and stood
on the new shore of the day.
Where I had come was home,
for my own house stood white
where the dark river wore the earth.
The sheen of bounty was on the grass,
and the spring of the year had come."