Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Why all our problems are so small.

In the midst of an energy crisis, an economic implosion, an increasingly interconnected global economy, terrorist war and the return of the Russian military powers would I say that our problems are all so small. It's because when looking to fix all these problems, we are looking for smaller and smaller ways to fix them, as we really only can go so small.

In the world of microelectronics small is a real problem. As soon as you start placing things next to each other, the particles start reacting and heat develops, which slows down the reactions of all the other processes because they start bouncing around with one another. So, even though the level of processes could in some time be on the particle level, there are trillions of interferences that need to be overcome, most of them are dealing with each other.

And even solutions to channeling these processes so that the heat of each one adds to the productivity of the other, there is the problem of building it. Right now, we have solar panels that can produce energy and thereby qualify as "green". (Although with the level of chemicals it takes to produce them, they really aren't green anymore, but they do a pretty good job or recycling the chemicals to use again.) But even more of a problem is that the can't make the cells fit any closer together. There have been some break-thoroughs with nano-technology, but a lot it has to do with building the builders, and even that is several years off.

But we deal with energy every day, and another large problem is how to fit it into things. Where do we store energy in a way that is useful, convenient and quickly accessed. If it were inexpensive, every home could have a basement full of batteries, with a wind turbine and solar panel charger, but the cost of those kinds of projects, as well as the space required run into more trouble than before. No, to really be able to make solar technology viable, it would require a way to have very small batteries that save as much energy to work for a whole 24 hour period. At present, the size of batteries in addition to the size of the solar panels, well let's just say that 12 acre home lots just aren't available for the common consumer.

As of now, for cars, power plants, metal refiners and all those instruments of the modern industrial and technological age, the smallest, most compact, easiest containment of energy is still the poly-carbon bond molecule, i.e. fossil fuel. It's has huge energy release upon detonation or burning, the energy to mass ratio is reasonable and it's relatively safe in every day uses. But that's just the problem, the areas that are available in the past, have dried up, and ones that are known are even harder to get to, whether it is through hard granite ground rock, or through insurmountable "red tape" which is much harder to combat than the ground.

No, it's small that this world has decided it needs go. Smaller cell phones, smaller engines, smaller footprints. But if we wish to continue with our way of life, we need to decide on which way we would like to go, use the larger, less efficient energy producers that seem so great, but take up lots of room. Or we go back to our small, compact organic carbon, that is oh so small, and which everyone has made such a great big deal.

Sunday, August 31, 2008

First Posting

I have long been thinking about writing a blog although I have not been sure why. I suppose that it is in some ways a desire to have myself heard, and to give a place of residence for my eternal inner monologue. You know that voice, the one that is saying the things that you wish that you had room to say, or someone that would get into a discussion with you so you could spew out all those things that you wished someone would give you credit for and understand that you know what you are talking about. Maybe it's just me.

I'm also writing this because of my brother Scott, who has a fabulous blog that I admire. He's funny, he's witty and he has cool pictures that I am jealous of. I'm a big fan of his and I hope that he gets big and famous, because of the people I know that are doing things that will make them famous one day, he desires it least, and is therefore the most deserving.

I'm also writing this blog because I have a terrible time writing in my journal. I should write more and give openness and understand to myself, so that others who follow me will learn of my successes and will learn and avoid my failures.

I'm also writing this for all the people that I have lost contact with, or am not in enough contact with because of the unavoidable happens of growing older. And that is, we aren't in contact enough because my time and your time do not overlap. This is not to say that it isn't tried, or it's not something that I'm constantly working against, but it is simply part of life that there are those that you don't always get a chance to say hi to them everyday, or even once a month and sometimes all of those days and months turn into years and you wonder, "Where did everyone go?"

So this is for every one that I want to say something to, everyone that needs to hear and all of those people that I would love to hug and greet again.

Hi