There are many things to write about today, and its hard to pick a topic. American elections, Ottawa mayor getting finger printed, Federal report calling for a carbon tax, Consumer Electronics Expo in Las Vegas, Storms in California. I might as well write about it all.
American Elections. My favorite candidate is the Democrat Bill Richardson. He believes in strong action on climate change, is a supporter of free trade, and is a proponent of more money for education and health care. Unfortunately he is pretty much out of the running now. Maybe he will make someone's running mate. Some of the other Democrat candidates use too much protectionist rhetoric for my taste. As for the Republicans, Huckabee is a train wreck. The guy should be a county commissioner in some backwater swamp, not a serious contender for the republican nomination. I suppose John McCain and Rudy Giuliani don't make me feel queasy, but do nothing to inspire me about the future. I get a bad feeling from Romney, not like he is evil, just that he has no real substance. He also some historical allegations of receiving bribes and influence peddling, which leads to...
Ottawa Mayor getting fingerprinted for influence peddling charges. The Mayor of Ottawa, Larry O'Brien, is charged with promising a previous mayoral competitor, Terry Kilrea, a cushy position with the National Parole Board of Canada if Terry were to drop out of the Mayorlty race. But it goes further than the municipality, as the Mayor of Ottawa can't promise a position like that, no no no, it would have had to be delivered by the then Chairman of the Treasury Board.....My buddy John Baird.....
Who just received the the Federal Report from the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy, which recommends a Carbon Tax or an immediate cap and trade system. John Baird's response was the usual blame Stephane Dion. I swear this guy blames Dion for the ring around his bath tub. The fact is a year ago the Dion and the Liberals were calling for a Carbon Tax. As written in a previous post, Baird is not a good choice for the position of Minister of the Environment. He only knows how to blame and evade. What we need is a luminary.....
Like this new TV from Sony just announced at the CES show in Vegas! I don't watch TV, and don't own one, but this things is so geek sexy, I might have to consider it. Organic LED lighting, only 3 mm thick, super bright, super efficient, super sleek. It's going to be super expensive, but somethings are worth it.
As California understands with their lawsuit against the EPA. Since their federal government is full of the same neo-conservative blockheads, California has been trying to impose their own CO2 restraints on cars and industry as they are seeing the direct results of climate change with their crazy summer of fires last year and the crazy winter of snow and rain right now. The EPA ruled that carbon emissions are federal jurisdiction, so the state is suing the EPA for not following their own mandate.
At least the issue is now big enough and public enough that it is showing up in the rhetoric of the presidential candidates.
Monday, January 7, 2008
Monday, December 24, 2007
Merry Christmas!
Tonight I am back at home, enjoying the roar of the fire and the cacophony of family. I hope everybody has the same. Merry Christmas to those who celebrate it and Happy Holidays to everyone.
Jake
Jake
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Tokamak, Polywell, and focused IEC
Completely unrelated to usual posts, but I have found some exciting material as of late.
I had believed that fusion power was at least a hundred years away. In BC we have great hydroelectric power production, and capacity for many more dams. While there are many problems with large scale hydro electric, it is still the best utility scale method for environmental performance. But what about Ontario? What about Israel? What about Australia? What about France?
These places do not have the natural surroundings for dams, and are relying on coal or nuclear fission for electricity. Fusion is the sort of holy grail of clean electricity production.
Up until last week, I had thought the only real alternative for fusion was the upcoming ITER, a massive multi billion dollar international collaboration to build a Deuterium Tritium Tokamak Fusion reactor. It turns out there are people working on a few different, much cheaper, and maybe just feasible designs. Its got me excited that I may see fusion power in my lifetime.
If you are a clean energy geek like me, you may find the following rather interesting.
Bussard's Polywell
Focus Fusion
PS - I love everything Google.
I had believed that fusion power was at least a hundred years away. In BC we have great hydroelectric power production, and capacity for many more dams. While there are many problems with large scale hydro electric, it is still the best utility scale method for environmental performance. But what about Ontario? What about Israel? What about Australia? What about France?
These places do not have the natural surroundings for dams, and are relying on coal or nuclear fission for electricity. Fusion is the sort of holy grail of clean electricity production.
Up until last week, I had thought the only real alternative for fusion was the upcoming ITER, a massive multi billion dollar international collaboration to build a Deuterium Tritium Tokamak Fusion reactor. It turns out there are people working on a few different, much cheaper, and maybe just feasible designs. Its got me excited that I may see fusion power in my lifetime.
If you are a clean energy geek like me, you may find the following rather interesting.
Bussard's Polywell
Focus Fusion
PS - I love everything Google.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Why I hate politics
Today there is an article in the Globe about Michael Burns and Atomic Energy of Canada Limited. It looks like Michael Burns was appointed as chair of AECL for purely partisan reasons, and in a similar fashion to Michael Brown of FEMA fame, was probably not the most appropriate choice for this position.
No political party that has been in power in Canada has not committed this error to one degree or another. The question I ask, is why are there so often people appointed to important positions in government that are not qualified to be there, and what can we do about it.
Why - During an election, those wishing to get elected have to build a team of volunteers and staff to run the campaign. The politicians are truly in the hands of those working on your campaign, and so you have to trust those in important campaign positions. If the politician is elected and forms government, they are now in the hands of the public service. The politicians rely on the public service to get the things done that they were elected to do. So what do the politicians do? They get rid of the people the people they don't trust, and hire the people that helped them win, people they already trust.
So what is the outcome? Every time we change governments, we end up with a bunch of people in key positions that are really not qualified to be in those positions. While these people may be great people, they are put in over their heads until they can learn how to fill the role properly. As citizens we like to ignore this learning processes unless it is a key position that really needs to have a qualified person, such as Chair of the Bank of Canada, or Chair of AECL.
So what do we do about it? I'm not sure there is much we can do about, outside of getting involved. This is what I have done. I'm not willing to let some dough heads make the important decisions for our riding. I am supporting a party I believe has the right values, and will do everything within my capability to make sure they don't commit the same patronage mistakes that seem to plague our governmental system.
If anyone has a better idea on how to fix the system, please let me know.
No political party that has been in power in Canada has not committed this error to one degree or another. The question I ask, is why are there so often people appointed to important positions in government that are not qualified to be there, and what can we do about it.
Why - During an election, those wishing to get elected have to build a team of volunteers and staff to run the campaign. The politicians are truly in the hands of those working on your campaign, and so you have to trust those in important campaign positions. If the politician is elected and forms government, they are now in the hands of the public service. The politicians rely on the public service to get the things done that they were elected to do. So what do the politicians do? They get rid of the people the people they don't trust, and hire the people that helped them win, people they already trust.
So what is the outcome? Every time we change governments, we end up with a bunch of people in key positions that are really not qualified to be in those positions. While these people may be great people, they are put in over their heads until they can learn how to fill the role properly. As citizens we like to ignore this learning processes unless it is a key position that really needs to have a qualified person, such as Chair of the Bank of Canada, or Chair of AECL.
So what do we do about it? I'm not sure there is much we can do about, outside of getting involved. This is what I have done. I'm not willing to let some dough heads make the important decisions for our riding. I am supporting a party I believe has the right values, and will do everything within my capability to make sure they don't commit the same patronage mistakes that seem to plague our governmental system.
If anyone has a better idea on how to fix the system, please let me know.
Monday, December 17, 2007
Article on the Importance of Market Forces and Innovation
A friend of mine recently sent me an article that outlines some good economic principles when looking at the challenge of fighting climate change, including explaining why large companies are do not have an incentive to invest in major energy R & D.
http://www.voxeu.org/index.php?q=node/803
This is why I really like BC's intent to monitor the governments emissions and buy "virtual offsets" which go into a research fund for clean energy. Its a bit misleading as they are not buying actual offsets and so won't be offsetting their emissions, but may in the long run be creating a more important outcome: clean technology.
I'd like to see a national carbon tax replacing the lowest bracket of the income tax. However, this tax must NOT go into general revenue. It should be used for education and research, preferably run like a large venture capital fund. This also creates a challenge, as we do not want the government to crowd out people doing good work in the Venture Capital field. It would have to be structured to only fund the technology that is too risky or too early for Venture Capital funds to be involved with.
This is good for the environment and good for the economy. Mr. Baird, Mr. Prentice, Mr. Flaherty, could you please get together and propose this to Mr. Harper? Or can you not find time in your busy schedules to deal with the most important issue of our life times?
http://www.voxeu.org/index.php?q=node/803
This is why I really like BC's intent to monitor the governments emissions and buy "virtual offsets" which go into a research fund for clean energy. Its a bit misleading as they are not buying actual offsets and so won't be offsetting their emissions, but may in the long run be creating a more important outcome: clean technology.
I'd like to see a national carbon tax replacing the lowest bracket of the income tax. However, this tax must NOT go into general revenue. It should be used for education and research, preferably run like a large venture capital fund. This also creates a challenge, as we do not want the government to crowd out people doing good work in the Venture Capital field. It would have to be structured to only fund the technology that is too risky or too early for Venture Capital funds to be involved with.
This is good for the environment and good for the economy. Mr. Baird, Mr. Prentice, Mr. Flaherty, could you please get together and propose this to Mr. Harper? Or can you not find time in your busy schedules to deal with the most important issue of our life times?
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Google Goofiness
I put a google adsense ad on this sight down a bit on the right hand side, really just so I can use their excellent tracking information. I was quite surprised to find an ad for a Taser.
Friday, December 14, 2007
One more item before I get back to work,
If you get a chance, check out Jordan Bateman's Langley2020 site. Jordan and I disagree on some issues, but we both agree that Langley, really the whole area south of the Fraser, is woefully under served by public transit. Please check out his ideas and leave some comments if you like them, don't like them, have questions, or have some more ideas of your own.
Unfortunately, (or fortunately) all of the comments, including mine, are very supportive. In order to make really cogent presentations and arguments, us pro-transit folks need to be aware of the counterarguments and be able to address them. So please, be critical!
Merry Christmas for those who celebrate it, and Happy Holidays for all,
Jake
Unfortunately, (or fortunately) all of the comments, including mine, are very supportive. In order to make really cogent presentations and arguments, us pro-transit folks need to be aware of the counterarguments and be able to address them. So please, be critical!
Merry Christmas for those who celebrate it, and Happy Holidays for all,
Jake
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