{"id":913,"date":"2012-10-14T09:43:27","date_gmt":"2012-10-14T13:43:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/energyrealist.com\/?p=913"},"modified":"2012-10-14T10:24:45","modified_gmt":"2012-10-14T14:24:45","slug":"energy-realities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/energyrealist.com\/?p=913","title":{"rendered":"Energy Realities"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/energyrealist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/energyrealities1.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-915\" title=\"energyrealities\" src=\"https:\/\/energyrealist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/energyrealities1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"557\" height=\"227\" srcset=\"https:\/\/energyrealist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/energyrealities1.png 995w, https:\/\/energyrealist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/energyrealities1-300x122.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 557px) 100vw, 557px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>This popped up on my screen \u2013 and, man, am I jealous!\u00a0 This is the site I would have liked to build.\u00a0 But then I don\u2019t quite have the resources of Statoil, The Economist, New Scientist, Slate and National Geographic.\u00a0 Anyhow, nice of them to adopt the realist\u2019s realistic approach.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a mouthwatering web site.\u00a0 Have a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.energyrealities.org\/chapter\/energys-future\/item\/smart-technologies\/erpB249EB2333C82EEA5\">look at this<\/a>:\u00a0 <span style=\"color: #999999;\">(I seem to have a formatting problem embedding the graphic &#8211; will try to fix)<\/span><\/p>\n\r\n<iframe frameborder=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/www.geostories.org\/storyplayer\/smart-technologies\/ges205352419DC7B63A3\/black\/arial\/geoplay\" width=\"940\" height=\"652\" style=\"overflow:hidden\" scrolling=\"no\" ><\/iframe>\r\n\n<p>Here is another image from the site:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/energyrealist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/tide-generator.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-916\" title=\"tide generator\" src=\"https:\/\/energyrealist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/tide-generator.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"605\" height=\"419\" srcset=\"https:\/\/energyrealist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/tide-generator.png 605w, https:\/\/energyrealist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/tide-generator-300x207.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 605px) 100vw, 605px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Although not yet widely exploited, the kinetic energy in tidal currents has huge potential for generating electricity. SeaGen, the world\u2019s first commercial-scale tidal turbine, has been operational in the waters of Strangford Lough (Northern Ireland) since 2008, producing enough power for 1,500 homes. Further installations of SeaGen systems are planned for Scottish and Canadian waters between now and 2020&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>How, you ask, can the realist take time to surf the web and stumble on other web sites, when he should be out saving the world by selling insulation and boilers?\u00a0 Good question.\u00a0 Mea culpa.\u00a0 I thought maybe, over an early Sunday cup of coffee, I might be permitted\u2026.<\/p>\n<p>Then I ponder <a href=\"http:\/\/goodideas.statoil.com\/\">Statoil<\/a> at the head of the list and it gives me pause.\u00a0 Who is <a href=\"http:\/\/goodideas.statoil.com\/\">Statoil<\/a>?<\/p>\n<p>\u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/goodideas.statoil.com\/\">Statoil<\/a> is an international energy company with operations in 36 countries. Building on 40 years of experience from oil and gas production on the Norwegian continental shelf, we are committed to accommodating the world&#8217;s energy needs in a responsible manner, applying technology and creating innovative business solutions. We are headquartered in Norway with approx. 21,000 employees worldwide, and are listed on the New York and Oslo stock exchanges.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>OK, so it\u2019s an oil company.\u00a0 A Norwegian oil company; which counts for something in terms of ethics etc.\u00a0 If I read the reports at the time correctly Norwegian practices in blow-out preventers would not have allowed a spill like the BP Gulf of Mexico event.\u00a0 (Please note that I do not use the words disaster, fiasco or calamity \u2013 I am being cool and calm).<\/p>\n<p>Statoil also has a web site to drool over.\u00a0 Lovely photography and videos, concern for the environment, support for the achievers of the next generation.\u00a0 It\u2019s all good.\u00a0 The data on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.energyrealities.org\/\">energyrealities<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.energyrealities.org\/\"><\/a> should oslo be good given the fact checking prestige of the other sponsors.<\/p>\n<p>Here is<a href=\"http:\/\/www.energyrealities.org\/chapter\/the-right-balance\/item\/national-energy-mix\/erp1CD07973873C13C6F\"> just one chart<\/a>, and honestly, it is depressing.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/energyrealist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/energy-mix.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-917\" title=\"energy mix\" src=\"https:\/\/energyrealist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/energy-mix.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"676\" height=\"358\" srcset=\"https:\/\/energyrealist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/energy-mix.png 845w, https:\/\/energyrealist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/energy-mix-300x158.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 676px) 100vw, 676px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Why depressing?\u00a0 Look at Australia; almost all fossil fuel.\u00a0 Look at France; looks great, but note it is \u201cAlternative AND Nuclear\u201d.\u00a0 France of course has the world\u2019s highest percentage of nuclear energy.\u00a0 Look at Germany; despite their world lead in solar, and a strong push in wind power, they are still overwhelmingly fossil fuel dependent.\u00a0 (I think there is a problem with the site and I can&#8217;t scroll to any other countries)<\/p>\n<p>So now I have spoilt my Sunday morning may as well go all the way:<a href=\"http:\/\/www.slate.com\/articles\/health_and_science\/project_syndicate\/2012\/10\/gm_crops_and_global_warming_two_studies_use_scare_tactics_that_could_backfire.html#comments\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.slate.com\/articles\/health_and_science\/project_syndicate\/2012\/10\/gm_crops_and_global_warming_two_studies_use_scare_tactics_that_could_backfire.html#comments\">Article in Slate Magazine<\/a> about how alarmists, using suspect data, undermine legitimate concerns about genetically modified crops and global warming.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/technology-19923200\">Article on the BBC<\/a> about the uncertainties of predicting world population.\u00a0 Is the fertility reduction in economically advanced countries just a temporary blip?\u00a0 Evolutionary biology suggests that the more resources you have (i.e. the wealthier you are) the more fertile offspring you produce.<\/p>\n<p>Could we really have 30 billion people on the earth?<\/p>\n<p>\u201c\u2026forecasting population will always be a highly uncertain science.\u00a0 In 2004 the UN&#8217;s department of economic and social affairs tried to guess what the global population could be in 2300.\u00a0 It said the population would stabilise at around nine billion by 2050 and then remain at that level for the rest of the period.\u00a0 But that was just its medium estimate. Its high estimate was 36.4bn, and its low estimate just 2.3bn\u201d<\/p>\n<p>OK guys, time to stop reproducing!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>the web page I would have liked to produce<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/energyrealist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/energyrealist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/energyrealist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/energyrealist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/energyrealist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=913"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/energyrealist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/913\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":920,"href":"https:\/\/energyrealist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/913\/revisions\/920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/energyrealist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/energyrealist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/energyrealist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}