Operation Sunburst-Electrify the Debate!
The Problem is OIL.
The current messy predicament had its beginning in the 1940’s when Standard Oil, GM and Firestone got rid of mass transit. In similar fashion, Chevron bought the patent to the NiMH battery from GM in 2000, and only allowed it to be used in cars that got 100% of their energy at the gas pump.
Oil company propaganda says there’s no market for electric cars, but the Nissan leaf is already sold out of the 19,000 Leafs it will manufacture for 2011. No more orders taken!
But- this is the best shot we’ll ever have to change things.
The true cost of oil is war, asthma, environmental destruction, lost tourism and global climate change. No amount of money makes up for that. There is only one solution, and the oil companies fear it- Solar Panels on our rooftops and Electric Cars to drive.
1. Nickel-Metal Hydride is the only proven EV (Electric Vehicle) battery; after 100K or 200K miles NiMH can be remelted down into new batteries without new mining.
2. Instead of “research”, we need to start making and improving plug-in cars right now, not waiting for the perfect that never comes. Lowering cost is the name of the game.
3. Solar power and plug-in cars is the only sustainable way to power individual autos.
4. Running an EV 1000 miles per month takes only 250 kilo-Watt-hours of electric, about $25 worth; about what two old refrigerators cost and about a third of the average home usage.
5. It would take only a tenth of the average home roof — 6 square yards — to make 250 kWh per month, enough electric energy to run a plug-in car 1000 miles per month.
6. Because solar power and plug-in cars would cut oil profits, Big Oil has strangled and delayed this simple alternative to oil and coal.
7. No matter how many nuke or coal plants we build, it won’t replace one drop of oil unless there are plug-in cars to use the electric.
8. America’s largest open-pit coal mine is a witches cauldron of toxic waste and caustic destruction; but if the ground were left alone, and covered with solar panels, we’d get more electric energy from the same space (28,000 acres) than from the coal.
9. Instead of coal mines, or oil rigs, the same workers could be manufacturing and installing solar panels and building and recycling electric plug-in cars and reforming their batteries.
10. Buying oil from people who hate us gives them our money and leaves only air and ground pollution, asthma and smog.
The alternative to oil-fired cars and permanent lung damage is solar and plug-in cars.
Joey Racano
“Reports on the demise of the Electric Car have been greatly exaggerated”
Telsa$$, Volt$$, Solar panels$$. Why do we always speak of the new and high tech alternatives. Sexy , new and improved….. Just take your yard water hose and lay it out on the ground. wait 1/2 and tell me what the temp. of that water is? Pretty high tech!!
What kind of water heater do you have in you house? Now get out the bill. Want to invest as little as $100 and reduce that bill by 1/3? No high tech, nothing flashy and if you (or your brother-in-law) is handy. you can build a solar water heater.
Can you imagine if 1/2 0f the homes in the US had solar water heaters how much non-renewable, carbon burning fuels would be saved.
Anyone remember when Pres. Carter put one up on the roof of the WH? And Raygun took it down as one of his first acts? I remember seeing them in the 50s on roofs in Florida. No moving parts nothing to wear out, low maintenance. NOT SEXY.
I built one when I lived in FL. I didn’t even pay for the plans. I got them free from the state.
Seriously, look into it. go to the google an see how easy it is to do.
Save you and the country some energy.
Now I’m done preaching.
Preach on! Thats good stuff!
joey racano
http://www.earthsourcemedia.com
What a great post, Joey. I’m with you all the way. We need to get radical about changing our nation’s lifestyle. We need a major paradigm shift. We need to re-do our nation with renewable energy sources.
As we all found out in Arkansas this week Big Corp has a very strong chokehold on the nation. You could also include the CA initiative that Choice Lady worked on. Sometimes I get so angry I could just stick my head out the window and say, “I’m damn mad and I am not going to take it anymore” but then I realize the people who need to hear would not listen and the people who are interested are probably spaced so far apart, I would need the Emergency Broadcast System to have anyone hear.
This week has not been a good week for the little people. If President Obama used this crisis to move us in the right direction it would be the good kind of “shock doctrine” but too many in this country are not really really ready for change. To alot of them it is only a slogan.
…and to a lot of them, Sue, some kinds of change are fine as long as someone else does the heavy lifting.
So true. I am having a frustrating week. They come and go. How are you doing?
Doing as well as possible, Sue, after the tornado tore through here last Saturday night. We’ve been taking care of some of the injured at the hospital — including an amazing couple in their mid-80s, who were airborne as the tornado completely levelled their house. They landed far out in their yard, and neither one of them had a single broken bone, nor any head injuries. Bumps and bruises and some minor lacerations. A miracle.
And now– my apologies for going waaaaay OT!!
Hey Kes not at all OT like that should be allowed anywhere. Glad to hear they are doing ok. You guys have had some strange weather, huh? all that heat and now tornados? I thought tornados were rare in Ohio.
Tornadoes aren’t all that uncommon here, Sue, but this was a big one. F-4. It levelled a large high school the day before graduation. Sadly, the valedictorian’s father was one of 5 fatalities. Another was a woman who was hit by debris while driving on the same highway I drove home on — only about 20 minutes earlier.
OM word that was your town? I am so sorry. I heard about the father and it made me so sad. Thank god you are alright. I would not know what to do in the circumstance……
That was us, Sue. Thanks for your kind words.
Excellent post. The lobbying by the oil and transportation industries following World War 2 to expand the global infrastructure for fossil fuel extraction and highway construction is a perfect example of the influence of shadow elites and their networks. Politicians bought into it on the idea that they needed to avoid going back to the economic depression of the 1930’s. So the keyword for the politicians was “jobs.” But just an infinitesimal amount of foresight would have shown this to be unsustainable. The dogma of the unfettered unregulated “free market” won out. Just like the “Wizard of Oz” or “The Emporers New Clothes,” the dogma of the “free market” has now been discredited.
What now? It’s become clear that the failure of blowout preventers in the BP disaster doesn’t bother people as much as the indifference to the slow motion catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico by the upper level management at BP. One can only hope that this will shine sunlight on the rampant hypocrisy of the tea bag partiers and their shadow cult leaders on the far right.
Joey, welcome! And what a great first article you’ve written.
The one comment about the open coal mines really struck me:”…but if the ground were left alone, and covered with solar panels, we
Thanks for the quick history of oil’s interference with the public welfare. It’s a shame more people aren’t talking about the industry’s history, what with the BP spill. You mention the true cost of oil — and it also includes a lot of illness associated with pollution and carcinogens. It includes wildlife. It includes local communities and economies. It includes innovation and modernization. We’ve been poisoning our planet with this toxin for far too long.
Great post.
Welcome to PlanetPOV, Joey! Very timely piece!
There are folks lined up to buy two other plugin electric cars, the Tesla:
and the Chevy Volt:
Absolutely, the self-sustaining synergetic system would be having solar panels (and soon hopefully a Bloom Box as Patsy mentioned) at one’s home that can provide electricity for our homes and cars and get us off the grid.
The grid system represents an enormous waste of energy that is of course damaging our environment since so many coal burning power plants (and some nuclear) are generating what’s needed along with the waste.
Now is definitely the time, I think Obama knows this. Just hope that the onset of the political season doesn’t stall an environmental/clean energy bill.
Who makes the Tesla? I like the style better. The Chevy Volt is going to run around 40k, any ideas on the Tesla? Also do you know what the Nissan Leaf cost?
Here’s a link to Tesla:
http://www.teslamotors.com/
The price tag for this sportster model is sky high, $100k but they have an S model at $50k.
The Volt is supposed to be in the $40k price range.
The Tesla has far better technology, the base model can get up to 160 miles (upgrades can be made up to 300 miles) while the Volt can only travel 32 miles on electric but has a gas backup to go farther.
Tesla is also working on a less expensive model.
Tesla is a partner of Toyota, so I’ll take the Chevy, if I could afford it.
I do like the sleek lines of the Chevy and hopefully they will come down in price so that more of us can afford it.
We could easily do the solar roof panels here, but sadly, even with the government tax credits, it’s still out of our league.
On a good note though, a few of our neighbors are doing the solar panels and one neighbor that has a lot of property has an entire field set with panels and those people actually get some sort of kick-back from the electric company because they can sell it back.
We did do the panels on another house we owned back during the Carter Administration, as it was more affordable back then with both of us working.
Hey Joey Welcome to the Planet!!
You bring up a very good point about the 1940’s and mass transit.
Thats when they started building the freeways.
No market for the Leaf?
Of course thats what they say
And they make it hard because it’s 30 Grand for a compact car!
They are so dragging their heals!
Have you checked out this…
http://www.bloomenergy.com/
Cheers Patsy! Glad you mentioned Bloom Energy, I truly think they may have THE short term solution for hugely reducing our dependency on oil.
Partner a Bloom Box up with solar panels and plugin electric cars, have the feds offer big tax credits for all of them and we could make big strides.