{"id":97,"date":"2013-02-21T11:27:19","date_gmt":"2013-02-21T16:27:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2013\/02\/let-the-sun-shine-fact-versus-fiction-michael-g-noll.html"},"modified":"2013-02-21T11:27:19","modified_gmt":"2013-02-21T16:27:19","slug":"let-the-sun-shine-fact-versus-fiction-michael-g-noll","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2013\/02\/let-the-sun-shine-fact-versus-fiction-michael-g-noll.html","title":{"rendered":"Let the Sun Shine: Fact versus Fiction &mdash;Michael G. Noll"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\nLTE in the VDT today. I&#8217;ve added a few links. -jsq\n<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/ww2.valdosta.edu\/~mgnoll\/\">\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"float:right;border:none;\" class=\"at-xid-6a0120a58214e4970b017ee8a6b8a5970d\" src=\"\/blog\/images\/6a0120a58214e4970b017ee8a6b8a5970d-pi.gif\"    \/><\/a>\nFox News recently claimed that &#8220;solar won&#8217;t work in America because\nit&#8217;s not as sunny as Germany&#8221;. Such statements are common for a\nnetwork that has long lost its credibility. Unfortunately too many\ntake such gibberish at face value. Thus columns like\n<a href=\"\/blog\/2013\/02\/return-of-water-misinformation.html\">\n\u201cenvironmentalism or obstructionism?\u201d<\/a> are not\nsurprising, but in the end it&#8217;s the facts that matter:\n<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\nGlobal warming is real. For years we have been experiencing record\nheat waves, droughts, wild fires, etc., and while seawater levels\nare rising, storms like hurricane Sandy become major threats\n<a href=\"\/blog\/2012\/11\/savannah-and-jacksonville-most-vulnerable-to-rising-sea-level.html\">\nto low lying areas along coast lines<\/a>.\n<\/li>\n<li>\nThe main culprit for global warming are greenhouse gases like\ncarbon dioxide, resulting from the burning of fossil fuels,\nespecially coal and oil.\n<\/li>\n<li>\nWhile China overall emits more than we do, the US leads in per\ncapita emissions. The average US citizen produces three times more\ncarbon dioxide than the average Chinese citizen.\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<!--more-->\n<blockquote>\n<ul>\n<li>\nNuclear power is too expensive, wastes too much water, and bears\ntoo many risks. Thus\n<a href=\"\/blog\/2013\/02\/renewable-energy-much-needed-in-georgia-john-s-quarterman.html\">\nthe number of shutdown nuclear plants is rising<\/a>,\nand most energy companies are investing in other forms of\nenergy production to meet demands.\n<li>\nFracking (used to extract natural gas from shale) wastes enormous\namounts of water and bears significant risks for people and the\nenvironment. To quote\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.economist.com\/debate\/days\/view\/934\/print\">\nMichael Brune, Executive Director of the Sierra Club:<\/a>\n<blockquote>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.economist.com\/debate\/days\/view\/934\/print\">\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"float:right;border:none;\" class=\"at-xid-6a0120a58214e4970b017ee8a6b8b3970d\" src=\"\/blog\/images\/6a0120a58214e4970b017ee8a6b8b3970d-pi.jpg\"    \/><\/a>\n\u201cFracking enjoys exemptions from parts of &#8230; the\nClean Air Act, Clean Water Act and Safe Drinking Water Act. If\nfracking is so safe, why can&#8217;t the industry be held to the same\nstandards as everyone else?\u201d\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<a href=\"\/blog\/2012\/07\/will-electricity-demand-increase.html\">\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"float:right;border:none;\" class=\"at-xid-6a0120a58214e4970b017ee8a6b8b8970d\" src=\"\/blog\/images\/6a0120a58214e4970b017ee8a6b8b8970d-pi.jpg\"    \/><\/a>\nAn immediately available source of energy is energy conservation\nand efficiency (up to 30 percent). We are not only one of the\nworld&#8217;s largest polluters, we are also one of its most wasteful\nsocieties.\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\n<a href=\"\/blog\/2012\/11\/solar-up-50-over-last-year-in-germany.html\">\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"float:right;border:none;\" class=\"at-xid-6a0120a58214e4970b017ee8a6b8bf970d\" src=\"\/blog\/images\/6a0120a58214e4970b017ee8a6b8bf970d-pi.jpg\"    \/><\/a>\nRenewable forms of energy like wind and solar don&#8217;t pollute, don&#8217;t\nneed water, are cheaper than nuclear, and work. Germany already\ncovers 20 percent of its electricity needs via wind and solar. That\nnumber is projected to rise to 35 percent by 2020 and 65 percent by\n2040. Perhaps Germany&#8217;s goals are too ambitious, but just imagine\nwhat we could do as we receive 70 percent more solar radiation. Add\nto that recent developments in the solar industry that allow us to\nstore energy for times \u201cwhen the sun don&#8217;t shine\u201d, and\n<a href=\"\/blog\/2012\/07\/torresol-energy-provides-solar-energy-night-and-day.html\">\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"float:right;border:none;\" class=\"at-xid-6a0120a58214e4970b017616da65ea970c\" src=\"\/blog\/images\/6a0120a58214e4970b017616da65ea970c-pi.jpg\" width=\"268\" height=\"166\"    \/><\/a>\nthe future looks bright, even at night (see Gemasolar in Spain).\n<\/p>\n<p>\nMichael G. Noll, President\n<\/p>\n<p>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.wiregrass-ace.org\/\">\nWiregrass Activists for Clean Energy<\/a>\n<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LTE in the VDT today. I&#8217;ve added a few links. -jsq Fox News recently claimed that &#8220;solar won&#8217;t work in America because it&#8217;s not as sunny as Germany&#8221;. Such statements are common for a network that has long lost its credibility. Unfortunately too many take such gibberish at face value. Thus columns like \u201cenvironmentalism or [&hellip;]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[97,556,141,216,557,14,264,265,16,8,558,2,104,559,21,22,32,23,289,24,133,55,36],"tags":[8736,8779,398,8745,8753,8780,8704,8754,8755,8706,308,563,8701,8781,8699,560,8702,12,7,561,562,8737,8782,8711,8712,8715,8713,8758,309,8714,564,6,8742,8727,8716],"class_list":["post-97","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-activism","category-air","category-co2","category-coal","category-colquitt-emc","category-economy","category-energy-conservation","category-energy-efficiency","category-environment","category-georgia","category-germany","category-government","category-nuclear","category-oil","category-planning","category-politics","category-pollution","category-renewable-energy","category-science","category-solar","category-vdt","category-water","category-wind","tag-activism","tag-air","tag-china","tag-co2","tag-coal","tag-colquitt-emc","tag-economy","tag-energy-conservation","tag-energy-efficiency","tag-environment","tag-fracking","tag-gemasolar","tag-georgia","tag-germany","tag-government","tag-hurricane-sandy","tag-lake","tag-lowndes-area-knowledge-exchange","tag-lowndes-county","tag-michael-g-noll","tag-natural-gas","tag-nuclear","tag-oil","tag-planning","tag-politics","tag-pollution","tag-renewable-energy","tag-science","tag-shale-oil","tag-solar","tag-spain","tag-valdosta","tag-vdt","tag-water","tag-wind"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p585fK-1z","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}