Okay
This post is designed for me to get all my projects planned out and done so that I don't wind up with a bunch of half finished piles of crap when I leave Denmark. So here's the plan:
Complete Foosball Table within one week.
Fix all (5) bikes and get rid of 'em.
Bar atop container P (Within the next two weeks - I'm really stoked about this one)
Welding project (Top secret - more info later)
Pangea Day (If you don't know what this is, check it out for sure)
Hydroponics? (Probably not, just because I don't want to buy anything else in Denmark
Anyways, I'll fill you in on the haps in the coming days because the projects should be a whole lot of fun.... although I don't think I have any readers yet. O well for future people's enjoyment.
ENJOY!
Saturday, 12 April 2008
Monday, 7 April 2008
Energy... as usual
So as you can probably can see from my blog, I care a lot about energy and (more importantly) the planet. How cliche that's becoming, sadly, but happily (because it means it's finally being said). Or maybe it's just because I hear/talk about energy so much, I think it's cliche. Annnnnd then again maybe I'm just off topic.
The point of this post is to talk about the sun. The grand-daddy of all life as we know it.
More specifically, the energy from the sun. Plants do amazing things with this energy. (I'm totally envious but thats a side note.... I don't think I'll ever photosynthesize...). BUT (back to topic again), there are ways we can use some of the energy the sun is throwing at us.
SOLAR THERMAL.... IT'S SO BEAUTIFUL....
And better yet, it doesn't involve making a whole bunch of silicon wafers, it doesn't involve doping, and (thank goodness) it doesn't cost 6.7 dollars a watt (like PVs).
It's super cheap....
We have everything we need to make them....
It's CLEAN....
So whats all this talk about (we'll be using FFs for at least another 50 years?!)
Heck, with a few adjustments to the grid we could have this baby up and running all across the sunbelt in no time.
Even better, this grad from MIT has started building these solar thermal generators out of old car parts and plumbing supplies. Now imagine: using things that are waste (parts) and using them to make energy....
What doesn't make sense?
Who gives a shit if PVs become super efficient in the future? What about the here and now??? Let PVs continue to grow and expand, but until then how about we make things a little better?
The longer we don't, the longer renewables stay expensive and the longer politicians shy away from them (cycle repeats, add nausea).
About every week, China produces a coal fired power plant producing about 500 megawatts and *you wouldn't believe me if I told you* tons of CO2. Each of these power plants will be in operation for 50 years. That's a fact. As long as the plants are functioning, they will run. Every week China makes a 50 year resolution to keep using coal. Now I'm not saying that China should try to make a 500 megawatt solar farm.... but you have to crawl before you can walk...
The point of this post is to talk about the sun. The grand-daddy of all life as we know it.
More specifically, the energy from the sun. Plants do amazing things with this energy. (I'm totally envious but thats a side note.... I don't think I'll ever photosynthesize...). BUT (back to topic again), there are ways we can use some of the energy the sun is throwing at us.
SOLAR THERMAL.... IT'S SO BEAUTIFUL....
And better yet, it doesn't involve making a whole bunch of silicon wafers, it doesn't involve doping, and (thank goodness) it doesn't cost 6.7 dollars a watt (like PVs).
It's super cheap....
We have everything we need to make them....
It's CLEAN....
So whats all this talk about (we'll be using FFs for at least another 50 years?!)
Heck, with a few adjustments to the grid we could have this baby up and running all across the sunbelt in no time.
Even better, this grad from MIT has started building these solar thermal generators out of old car parts and plumbing supplies. Now imagine: using things that are waste (parts) and using them to make energy....
What doesn't make sense?
Who gives a shit if PVs become super efficient in the future? What about the here and now??? Let PVs continue to grow and expand, but until then how about we make things a little better?
The longer we don't, the longer renewables stay expensive and the longer politicians shy away from them (cycle repeats, add nausea).
About every week, China produces a coal fired power plant producing about 500 megawatts and *you wouldn't believe me if I told you* tons of CO2. Each of these power plants will be in operation for 50 years. That's a fact. As long as the plants are functioning, they will run. Every week China makes a 50 year resolution to keep using coal. Now I'm not saying that China should try to make a 500 megawatt solar farm.... but you have to crawl before you can walk...
Wednesday, 2 April 2008
Success
I remember when, up until only a few months ago, success seemed to the only thing I was aiming for in this life. Right now it feels like it would be such a sell out. With all I learned in the past few months about other cultures (from all the people I've met) and from all the reading I've been doing about the people who live in poverty-stricken, disease-infested, corrupted government-ruling, war-torn places. Not all the bullshit we see every day. Not the oh-so-high-prices at the gas pump. Not the guy who just spilled his Starbucks coffee on your Mac. No, none of the shit. How can we run around "filling" the meaningless voids in our lives with so much shit that we don't remember those people who could actually benefit from the help we have all the power to give. It seems like in today's age, it is almost impossible to be it all. How can you be a successful (savage) capitalist and still do anything for anyone else?
I just want to say fuck it. Fuck this higher education that I've been throwing my money at for the last two years. Fuck the bullshit, dead-end job that's at the end of these "best years of our lives". The only things I care about I haven't heard a whisper about in any of my classes. What I want (and hope) to do with my life is sure as hell not something that can be learned in a classroom. I want dirty hands. I want a sweaty shirt. I want to help the people who need help.
Getting up and going to my Computer Aided Design class in 6 hours is going to be harder then I can say with words. But I'm still going to go. And I'm going to hate myself for it. I guess I just don't have the balls to get up and walk out. Yet.
I just want to say fuck it. Fuck this higher education that I've been throwing my money at for the last two years. Fuck the bullshit, dead-end job that's at the end of these "best years of our lives". The only things I care about I haven't heard a whisper about in any of my classes. What I want (and hope) to do with my life is sure as hell not something that can be learned in a classroom. I want dirty hands. I want a sweaty shirt. I want to help the people who need help.
Getting up and going to my Computer Aided Design class in 6 hours is going to be harder then I can say with words. But I'm still going to go. And I'm going to hate myself for it. I guess I just don't have the balls to get up and walk out. Yet.
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