Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Blue Revolution.3

Today I read most of the book's fourth chapter, which tells the story of Duke Energy in the Carolinas. The following quotes say a lot to me:

  • "[E]nergy production now requires more water than any other sector..." in the United States, including agriculture (63). 
  • "By 1930, Americans consumed more electricity than anyone else on the planet combined" (68). I didn't realize this had happened so early.
  • "At this point, every single alternative fuel source being considered for large scale power generation is projected to further hike fresh water demand" (73; originally cited in the 2009 issue of Ground Water). This does not include individual photovoltaic cells, which are fairly efficient, but it does include multiple PV cells used together to create steam power. It also doesn't include wind power, which is also pretty low on water use but isn't a huge part of the market in the U.S. at all.
  • Saul Griffith [check him out on wikipedia and youtube/TED] has a doctorate in engineering from MIT and received a MacArthur "genius grant" a few years ago. He "has come to believe the most urgent environmental need 'is not for some miraculous-seeming scientific breakthrough but for a vast, unprecedented transformation of human behavior'" (74). 
Please opine in the comments or by bugging me directly. <3 div="">