Carson Sasser

Is the Evironmental Impact of Solar Power Less Than Coal?

Carson — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 17:23:31 +0000

Several months ago I posted an article titled, Relative Negative Effects of Energy Sources. In that article I postulated that the negative effects of various energy sources are about the same on the whole and in the long-term. I said this about the generation of electricity using solar panels:

The impact on the environment appears to be about zero, until you account for the manufacture and transportation of the panels. Think about the magnitude of an operation to keep all the homes and businesses in the world supplied with enough solar panels to supply their total power needs. And what about the batteries and their disposal issues?

I’ve reconsidered the first sentence above. There could be significant negative effects aside from the manufacture and transportation of the panels.

The glowarmists (yes, I believe it is an “ism”) insist that the amount of “greenhouse” gases in the atmosphere must be significantly reduced if we are to avert a disaster in the next few decades. They base their claim on the fact that gases in the atmosphere trap heat from the sun’s rays that are reflected from the earth’s surface, much like greenhouses trap heat from the sun’s rays.

(Most people agree that the greenhouse effect exists, but many disagree that human activity is a significant contributor or that it deserves the level of attention that the glowarmists want.)

My question is: If any increase in trapped heat from the sun is undesirable, and for some a pending crisis, why do we want to trap more of the sun’s heat in solar panels? Eliminating the coal-fired and oil-fired power plants might indeed reduce the greenhouse effect, but replacing those plants with enough solar panels to generate the same amount of energy will likely trap the same amount of heat. The point of solar panels is to not reflect the sun’s rays, but to absorb them and convert the sunlight into electricity. Unfortunately, the process of converting light into electricity wastes most of the energy as heat and that heat can raise the global average temperature.

How much? Who knows? I’m just saying that we should gather more data and gain more knowledge before we depress the world economy and slow the progress of developing nations as the glowarmists apparently want. Their agenda is rife with the potential for unintended consequences. Or are they unintended?

Why Government Spending Does Not Stimulate Economic Growth

Carson — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 23:03:01 +0000

I recommend this Heritage Foundation paper: Why Government Spending Does Not Stimulate Economic Growth: Answering the Critics, by Brian M. Riedl

Can Government Force You to Buy a Chevy?

Carson — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 18:09:03 +0000

I saw a cartoon depicting two bureaucrats considering the government’s role in saving General Motors. One of them asked the other: “If we can make people buy health insurance, why can’t we make them buy a Chevy?”

Global Warming Man-Made After All

Carson — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 14:13:18 +0000

Well, it turns out that global warming is man-made. It was made (up) by those scientists in England and their colleagues who were exposed by the e-mail hacker.

Global Warming Science Not Settled

Carson — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 17:33:10 +0000

Can you think of anything more absurd than the assertion that the science of man-made global warming is settled? Your president believes that. The science is not settled on anything, much less the effect of human activity on the global average temperature 100 years from now.

Ft Hood Attack Both Terrorism and a Crime

Carson — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 17:03:01 +0000

The media are still debating whether the Fort Hood attack was an act of terrorism or a crime. It seems obvious to me that it was both.

Obama and the Losing Coach

Carson — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:42:09 +0000

Have you ever heard of a coach calling a press conference to boast that his team would have lost by a wider margin without his clever game plan? Well, that’s essentially what Obama is doing when he claims that his stimulus policy is saving jobs while the jobless ranks keep growing. Both claims might be true but just shut up about it until you start winning.

500 Million Dollar Round-Off Errors

Carson — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 19:01:31 +0000

An article on the federal budget for the next decade includes this item: Additional discretionary spending, $1,545 billion. Rounding to the nearest billion means the real amount could be 500 million more or 500 million less. If we’re talking about discretionary spending I suppose it’s not supposed to matter if $500 million is lost in the noise.

Chicago, the New Afghanistan

Carson — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 12:51:32 +0000

It’s looking like being a student in Chicago is almost as dangerous as being a soldier in Afghanistan. 22 fatalities so far this year. And this is where our president got his start as a “community organizer” — and where many of his closest advisors are from.

Al Gore and Algorithms

Carson — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 18:17:47 +0000

It is well known that Al Gore claimed that he invented the internet. Does he also think the term “algorithm” honors his work in mathematics? Or in music?