US Energy Secretary Resigns 141
An anonymous reader writes "Today Steven Chu, U.S. Secretary of Energy, released a letter indicating he won't continue to hold the job for President Obama's second term. He'll continue until the ARPA-E Summit at the end of February, and then perhaps a bit longer until a replacement is found. MIT's Technology Review sums up his contributions thus: 'Under his leadership, the U.S. Department of Energy has changed the way it does energy research and development. He leaves behind new research organizations that are intently focused on solving specific energy problems, particularly the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Energy as well as several Innovation Hubs. The latter were modeled closely on Chu's experience working at the legendary Bell labs, where researchers solving basic problems rubbed shoulders with engineers who knew how to build things. At one Innovation Hub, for example, researchers who are inventing new materials that can absorb sunlight or split water are working together with engineers who are building prototypes that could use those materials to generate fuel from sunlight. Chu also brought an intense focus on addressing climate change through technical innovation, speaking clearly and optimistically about the potential for breakthroughs to change what's possible.'"
And So (Score:5, Funny)
The President got Chu'd out.
Contribution from a geek ... (Score:2)
Unfortunately, geeks will remain as geeks, and geeks, to the critters on Congressional Hill, are like disposable diapers, and Dr. Chu is no exception.
No matter how much geeks have contributed to the society, the politicians will end up getting all the glory
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Unfortunately, geeks will remain as geeks, and geeks, to the critters on Congressional Hill, are like disposable diapers, and Dr. Chu is no exception.
No matter how much geeks have contributed to the society, the politicians will end up getting all the glory
The issues to look at are bankster accounts and regulation interpretation by the out going regulator. Is he leaving before anyone finds out just what he did in office or is he leaving for a corporate job with all kinds of federal loopholes in his back pocket? Either way, the American taxpayer will end up paying for it in the years to come.
And thus... (Score:2)
At one Innovation Hub, for example, researchers who are inventing new materials that can absorb sunlight or split water are working together with engineers who are building prototypes that could use those materials to generate fuel from sunlight.
And thus became the driving force for ridiculing the current administrations energy policy as it doesn't revolve around "Drill, baby, drill!"
Plants do it, why can't we devise mechanisms and processes to use sunlight to create fuel from water, rather than keep pull
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Because plants don't do it very efficiently. If they did, we could just generate all our power from burning wood, and the forests would be able to regenerate faster than we could burn them up. Something like this won't be useful (in the sense of being able to replace most of the fossil fuels we use) unless it can be a lot more efficient than chlorophyll. And doing better than a billion years of evolution isn't that easy. People have been researching this stuff for at least 20 years (that I can remember,
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Actually, even plants don't do it efficiently enough to replace the stored energy in oil, gas and coal. At least, they couldn't replace it without horrendous ecological consequences. We can't "grow, baby, grow" our way out of our energy trap any more than we can "drill, baby, drill." We either go nuclear and hope for at least adequate battery technology, or we forget about industrial scale civilization and starve and die on a massive scale come 2100 or thereabouts.
Cheers!
Re:And thus... (Score:4, Interesting)
Nonsense. Plants don't do it efficiently because they occupy only a small area and must chemically store energy for an extended period of time, because they might not get much sunlight for six months out of the year.
Most of our power needs as a society don't require such long-term storage. The power that lights up a city is largely transient. It does not need to be stored except to provide a temporary reserve for when energy production is not available, and even then, only to the extent that we don't have enough of a superconducting power grid to bring in power from other areas that are capable of producing power. Similarly, our production capacity need not be self-contained within a single small area; we are capable of moving energy from place to place with relative ease.
We should have no difficulty powering the future with solar power. We just have to spend the money to build superconducting grids, solar towers, and other similar systems. The only reason we're not doing it on a large scale is that the folks designing the hardware haven't gotten the cost down to a point where it is cheaper than burning quarter-billion-year-old dead plants and animals yet.
Better battery technology would be useful for certain things, such as laptops, cars, etc., but it isn't essential. Given a superconducting power grid and ultracapacitors, it would not be catastrophic if you had to stop your car and plug in for ten seconds to recharge every couple of hours of driving. And that's possible with the power storage technology we have today, although the cost is still prohibitive.
The only thing we're really missing is infrastructure and capacity. There is no huge gaping hole in our energy tech picture. There is only a lack of resources to build what needs to be built.
Re:And thus... (Score:5, Informative)
Methinks there's far more to it than you imply... Reaching the tech to do what you're describing here takes more than just resources; it takes some significant changes in our understanding of Physics.
Let's look at your idea: you want something that can charge an electric car's battery in 10 seconds. Ok; a typical Prius battery [wikipedia.org] is rated at about 4 kWh. That's roughly 15 million Joules of energy. To deliver that much energy in 10 s, you need a power supply that provides 1.5 million watts of power. At the battery voltage (~275 V), that's a current of over 5000 A, or only an order of magnitude less than a typical lightning strike [wikipedia.org].
Even assuming it's technically feasible to have a superconducting grid (unlikely without high, as in ambient, temperature superconductors), the cable from your power supply to the car battery probably won't be made of the same stuff if it's necessary for a person to manipulate it (eg. connect it to the car that is parked anywhere within a few 10s of centimeters from the supply). If copper wire is used, there is no standard size of wire made [wikipedia.org] that can handle 5 kA for a period of 10 s, and even if you made one it would no longer qualify as "possible for a person to manipulate it".
So: building your superconducting grid itself requires new physics that we don't have yet, not just adequate resources. Even with said grid, charging a battery in the amount of time you suggest deals with extremely high currents that are likely unsafe to use.
I'm not saying your idea is impossible, just pointing out that there is much more to this problem than just a lack of resources.
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We already have superconducting power grid segments. They are underground, so temperature is mostly a non-issue. I wasn't suggesting using superconductive power grids for the last few feet to charge a car. I was suggesting using them around the world so that sunlight in parts of North America, Australia, and Asia could power Europe at night and vice versa.
You're right that the power storage demands for cars are problematic. It might be possible to run power into the car at a much higher voltage and prov
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It seems to be easier and faster to switch the battery, load it in sufficient time, and switch it into another car ...
Of course there are some things that need to be adressed (who "owns" the battery, standardisation and safety issues), but if it's technically doable the finance folks and lawyers usually come up with a design to cover the rest.
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Let's look at your idea: you want something that can charge an electric car's battery in 10 seconds. Ok; a typical Prius battery [wikipedia.org] is rated at about 4 kWh. That's roughly 15 million Joules of energy. To deliver that much energy in 10 s, you need a power supply that provides 1.5 million watts of power. At the battery voltage (~275 V), that's a current of over 5000 A, or only an order of magnitude less than a typical lightning strike [wikipedia.org].
So... you're saying that we should work on powering our cars with lightning strikes?
The mad scientist in me approves! Igor? Igor! Clear that lump of meat off the table and plug the Prius in: we've got science to do!
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> We just have to spend the money to build superconducting grids, solar towers, and other similar systems. The only reason we're not doing it on a large scale is that the folks designing the hardware haven't gotten the cost down to a point where it is cheaper than burning quarter-billion-year-old dead plants and animals yet.
Right. *Other than technology that doesn't exist yet*, there's no reason we shouldn't be on a solar-based power grid. :p
Gas has 40x the energy density of lithium-ion batteries, and "c
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I'd argue that we should do geoengineering until we can switch entirely to CO2-neutral tech (or close enough).
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To be fair, -2AC actually makes sense to me, both as a D&D nerd, and in the context of global warming.
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Most of our power needs as a society don't require such long-term storage.
This is so wrong, it's actually impressive. Hydrocarbons and even nuclear supplies are limited. Transient energy is what we have *now* and that transience is the problem. If we could store it in significant quantities, we could even use things like solar and wind. These are trivial sources at this point because their output can't be stored.
It's interesting to wave your hand and say, "Build superconducting grids." It's got that nifty
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What are you talking about? We already have [wikipedia.org] superconducting power tr
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We have built toy systems. Had they been economically viable, they'd be growing like topsy. They're not. A half a gigawatt is the largest extant system. Other systems are "proposed." Perhaps they will be built for specialized situations. Or not.
Regardless, the point is this. Hydrocarbons, uranium, thorium, etc. represent substances with incredibly high energy densities. They are in effect, batteries - the best we have, but they are finite and not reusable. Eventually, finite resources end. Even if we had ro
Fossil fuel (Score:4, Informative)
Actually, even plants don't do it efficiently enough to replace the stored energy in oil, gas and coal. At least, they couldn't replace it without horrendous ecological consequences. We can't "grow, baby, grow" our way out of our energy trap any more than we can "drill, baby, drill." We either go nuclear and hope for at least adequate battery technology, or we forget about industrial scale civilization and starve and die on a massive scale come 2100 or thereabouts.
Uranium: The other fossil fuel
Plutonium: The other renewable energy
Breeder reactors: The other recycling program
Central United States: The other location safe from tsunami
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We either go nuclear and hope
What you neatly summarise in two words would require renewable energy supplies to be in place and take 100 years to engineer properly because the current nuclear industry and fossil fuel industry are simply no longer viable, especially in the next 100 years.
It's for that reason I actually support the development of a reactor that addresses the issue of 70,000 tons of Pu-239 (and much more U-238) currently stored in reactor sites around America, simply because it's irresponsible for our generation to foist
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Plants can photosynthesize because they sit there and don't move. Photosynthesis, even as a form of solar energy, is not terribly efficient. Solar cells aren't terribly efficient either. Here's a good discussion on it. [xkcd.com]
The problem with that "problematic gunk" is that it's just so freakin' energy rich. It's kind of like telling a starving politician, "You can either eat this big, juicy burger that will probably give you a heart attack one day in the future, or you can shell these sustainable Macadamia nu
Friday as 'Take out the Trash' day (Score:4, Interesting)
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so long winded (Score:2)
It's difficult to nail down a particular point.
Is he just resigning because he doesn't want to do it anymore? Or is there a statement buried in that "novel of resignation?"
Re:so long winded (Score:5, Interesting)
It looks like he's trying to put as good a face as possible on his tenure. The real issues such as declining energy return from the world's remaining oil, what to do about the nation's vulnerable, aging, and dangerous nuclear infrastructure, the global warming consequences of frakking natural gas and increased use of coal... He can't discuss any of this without severe political and possibly personal consequences. He's bowing out while he can, and given the magnitude of the problems, I don't blame him. He can't win. He can only escape.
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Hardly knew ye... (Score:2)
Ah, Chu... we hardly knew ye.
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Ah, Chu...
Gesundheit!
Let's hope it begins a trend (Score:5, Insightful)
Stephen Chu was the first person to hold the title of Secretary of Energy who had the scientific background to understand how energy capture / extraction actually worked. It's kind of amazing when you think about it: his predecessors included Navy officers, politicians, lawyers, and a former Coca-Cola executive, but nobody who understood the nitty-gritty of what the Energy Department was supposed to be doing.
As far as why he resigned, I wouldn't read too much into it - the overall timing (shortly after re-election) is in line with wanting to get back in the lab rather than dealing with bureaucracy.
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And he also blew $80 Billion on "green energy" that mostly went to companies that went bankrupt just after getting their federal funding. Even better A123 not only went bankrupt, but then sold what was left to China.
I'd like to say he was probably one of the most corrupt cabinet members in history with how he stole $80 Billion in tax payer money to give to Obama supporters, but then I would have to ignore Geitner who did the same with nearly $1 Trillion.
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Re:Let's hope it begins a trend (Score:5, Informative)
Solendra, look it up. Just because you are lazy or stupid doesn't mean it didn't happen.
ok, lets look it up: Solyndra recieved $535M [bloomberg.com] in a federal subsidy, and in response, China put up $35 Billion [scientificamerican.com] to subsidize their own solar research and industry.
It appears that both an agressive foreign entity and a softening PV market [wordpress.com] played roles in Solyndra's demise.
what do you mean by 'look it up', exactly? i don't read publications that exist exclusively inside your political 'bubble'.
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So are you implying that we can squander any amount of money up to $35 billion and it's okay with you?
Evergreen Solar ($25 million) SpectraWatt ($500,000) Solyndra ($535 million) Beacon Power ($43 million) Nevada Geothermal ($98.5 million) SunPower ($1.2 billion) First Solar ($1.46 billion) Babcock and Brown ($178 million) EnerDel’s subsidiary Ener1 ($118.5 million) Amonix ($5.9 million) Fisker Automotive ($529 million) Abound Solar ($400 million) A123 Systems ($279 million)
oh please, this is chicken feed compared to the money that has been wasted on the existing energy industries. What do you expect an entirely new energy production method, entering a market worth trillions for dollars is not going to burn start-ups and attract people trying to get rich?
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What exactly was the "waste" on existing energy industries? That energy industry is currently powering your entire civilization.
The ROI on our existing energy infrastructure is the difference between the agrarian 1860s and now. And the existing energy industry is far cleaner and cheaper than the pre-existing industries (cutting down entire forests for fuel in the 1600s or the 80% coal power of the late 1800s). Our primary problem right now is one of scale - we switched to an infrastructure that was so (rela
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I think it'll be instructive to look back on this program at the ten year mark and see what actually happened or didn't happen as the case may be. I think by that time, the failure rate will be so pronounced, it'll be
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I think it'll be instructive to look back on this program at the ten year mark and see what actually happened or didn't happen as the case may be. I think by that time, the failure rate will be so pronounced, it'll be highly embarrassing for defenders.
I've been entertained by how wrong your predictions were in the past. It's a remarkably vague comment for which you are sure to be right. If this is the specificity of your professional predictions then you have a quality control issue.
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I've been entertained by how wrong your predictions were in the past.
Please give an example. I'll note in my Fukushima predictions that I was correct way back at the end of March, 2011, that the worst of the disaster [slashdot.org] was over (and yet you still tried to contest it [slashdot.org]). In the thread to that second link, I also predicted [slashdot.org] that eventual human exposure would be at least two orders of magnitude less than it was for Chernobyl. Given that 20-50 times less radiation [latimes.com] was actually released onto land than was the case for Chernobyl (combination of 4-10 times less overall radiation release
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So sure, I've made a bunch of predictions, but my record there looks pretty good.
So does your capacity for self delusion as anyone actually reading those threads will discover your arguments comprehensively destroyed with facts referenced from The World Nuclear Association and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. It says a lot that you now say you are correct when back then you admitted:
Turns out I was wrong. - khallow September 24 2011 [slashdot.org]
Your consistently fumbling, clumsy arguments really reveal that you have always been way out of your depth on this issue, You were wrong ab
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You were wrong about when the reactor would be controlled, wrong about the seawall, ignorant of the operational parameters of the GE Mk1 reactor's basis design issues, wrong about the spent fuel pools, made up arguments that were refuted with *facts* from those organisations.
A reasonable person would have granted that my prediction was right and moved on. I have long given up on getting from you any sort of fair or rational discussion on the Fukushima accident. As I noted in that very post, I was correct about when the reactors would be controlled. They have all moved on to the "cold shut down" state since that post. I find it remarkable that here is this accurate prediction from only a couple weeks into the Fukushima accident. Yet it is still being contested. You long ago los
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A reasonable person would have granted that my prediction was right and moved on. Yet it is still being contested. You long ago lost this fight.
So says you, who has have already admitted you were wrong.
That you see this as win/lose demonstrates the priority for you in these discussions has always been your ego. It's the facts you've been arguing against, not me. The thread shows you present no fact, no information, demonstrate no understanding of the facts and, therefore, the ramifications. More so that the thread wasn't about your "prediction" it was showing how;
Fukushima shows that the Nuclear Industry FAILED to apply itself to learning the le
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On March 31 2001, you said "Wait a month and you'll see that we turned the corner about a week ago", whilst control of the reactor wasn't achieved until 16 December 2011 according to the Japanese Prime Minister. Yet, somehow, I'm the delusional one.
Yes, you are the delusional one. Did I say that Fukushima had achieved cold shut down way back in March, 2011? Of course not. The reactor was not out of control the day before the Prime Minister's alleged statement, but showed steady improvement for many months, all the way from the very point I noted. Hence, why my statement was correct.
As you've demonstrated, your response was entirely predictable.
So what? The point of this debate isn't to surprise you, but to enlighten you.
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On March 31 2001, you said "Wait a month and you'll see that we turned the corner about a week ago", whilst control of the reactor wasn't achieved until 16 December 2011 according to the Japanese Prime Minister. Yet, somehow, I'm the delusional one.
Did I say that Fukushima had achieved cold shut down way back in March, 2011? Of course not. The reactor was not out of control the day before the Prime Minister's alleged statement, but showed steady improvement for many months, all the way from the very point I noted. Hence, why my statement was correct.
You said nothing. You applied vague statements to maximum effect. When you said "Wait a month and you'll see that we turned the corner about a week ago" it meant nothing then and now. Like all of your purposely banal statements you attempt to mould them later saying "this is what I really meant" and then claim you were right all along. When you were asked to clarify what your statement meant, you never defined them. Attempting to claim your statement as correct highlights you are unable to accept that the o
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When you said "Wait a month and you'll see that we turned the corner about a week ago" it meant nothing then and now. Like all of your purposely banal statements you attempt to mould them later saying "this is what I really meant" and then claim you were right all along.
I think the burden of proof is on you. As I see it, if I had really been wrong about my prediction, you would have had evidence by now. The only thing you brought up [slashdot.org] this time was:
On March 31 2001, you said "Wait a month and you'll see that we turned the corner about a week ago", whilst control of the reactor wasn't achieved until 16 December 2011 according to the Japanese Prime Minister. Yet, somehow, I'm the delusional one.
I find it incredible that you can't figure out why the two facts, my prediction and the subsequent announcement by the Japanese Prime Minister are consistent. We'd expect, if we had "turned the corner" to eventually get an announcement of this sort. And we did. Further, we'd expect such an announcement to be rather long in coming
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As I said, this was my experience of the "quality" of your predictions, specifically lacking in any accuracy or precision.
Did I say that Fukushima had achieved cold shut down way back in March, 2011? Of course not. The reactor was not out of control the day before the Prime Minister's alleged statement, but showed steady improvement for many months, all the way from the very point I noted. Hence, why my statement was correct.
You said nothing all your claims revolve around rhetoric. You applied vague statements to maximum effect. When you said "Wait a month and
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I do, and that it is utterly ridiculous to claim that in 14 days it "turned a corner" - and I repeat - whatever that means.
How about you stop being an idiot and actually figure out the meaning of phrases first? Here's what turn the corner [thefreedictionary.com] means:
to pass a critical point in a process
The dictionary above gives an example of its use.
The patient turned the corner last night. She should begin to show improvement now.
It doesn't meant the process is finished, merely that it has passed a significant threshold or milestone.
Here, the process is bringing four nuclear reactors eventually to a stable point, "cold shut down". If one looks at the first two weeks, there was a lot of crazy stuff going on, including three meltdowns, at least one fire in a fuel
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tsk tsk, now, now
What accusation? I reflected on my experiences of the quality of your past predictions. I see I've been "instructive" in encouraging the improvements below and I commend your effort, would you like me to score them?
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One of the laws that some of the loans were issued under had a 30% failure rate budgeted for by the law from Congress.
Ugh, reading that reminds me why the US government should stay out of the investment business.
If what they were investing in had 100% success rates predicted, then there would be no need for the government to give loan guarantees, other investors would do that.
I guess then we need grown ups to evaluate these programs, not people who can only distinguish between perfect and not perfect. Everything is "not perfect". But some things, such as this program are a lot further from perfect than others.
Instead, the point of the program was to develop business and infrastructure that the market would not provide for initial development but would support after economy of scales kicked in
This has been tried before many times. The problem isn't economies of scale, but just that renewable power, electric cars, etc tends to be costly for what it delivers.
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Let's hope it DOES NOT begins a trend (Score:2)
Chu was for all intents a failure at DOE with no major accomplishments other than tarnishing the image of the agency. Contrary to your belief, scientists, particularly nobel winners, do not make good administrators and DOE is about as large and diverse an entity as they come. That is not to say that having a general background in math and physics would not help but that does not translate to leader must be a "scientist". Further, whomever is appointed must realize this is his/her day AND night job and
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(1) Because it is a government job with 24/7/365 demands. It is a cabinet position. If the head of DoD/Transportation/CIA was doing this you would be just as ok? "Well there's this war going on, but yeah I got some time to moonlight on stuff I used to do.... "
(2) Take a look at those scientists. I think you will find in man cases those in administrative roles are generally not the "elite" researchers/theorirsts. As I said, a background, either through schooling or work, may be helpful but should not be
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Steven Chu, Physics, and Politics. (Score:5, Interesting)
His very expertise and lifelong, professional interest were very lamely attacked by the right wing machine, typically accusing him of avocating raising oil prices [mediamatters.org] and gas prices [heritage.org].
Having Dr. Chu there did more to forward the cause of science in the US Government in generations. How many administrations could walk down a hallway and access a scientist at the top of his game? He should be held and paraded around on slashdot's shoulders for his hard work.
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Chu DID advocate for higher oil prices:
"Somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe."
- Chu, September 2008
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2012/mar/14/newt-gingrich/gingrich-said-energy-secretary-advocated-raising-g/
Then he became Secretary of Energy and it became inconvenient and he retracted it.
Re:Steven Chu, Physics, and Politics. (Score:4, Interesting)
Then he became Secretary of Energy and it became inconvenient and he retracted it.
thanks for confirming my point.
Some of the other ideas Chu proposed were a glucose economy [aspenideas.org] as part of a progressive, diverse, alternate energy plan, and was decried for practical ideas such as smart grids [time.com] and painting house roofs and pavements white [wsj.com] to reduce heating and cooling costs.
Actually, it DID just raise (Score:2)
As such, we NEED an increase, or to better formulate it. The best thing that we can do is to raise it every 6-12 months on a % basis, with a minimum amount. In particular, the feds should be raising the tax on diesel, since that is mostly used by semi-trucks, which make heavy use of interstates. Likewise, states h
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Though I do agree we need more scientists in cabinet positions, his banner solution to global warming was painting rooftops white.
Good riddance to him.
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Right, because that one thing that press and commentards chose to fasten on to like pit bulls was his only idea.
Painting buildings and vehicles white is such a no-brainer in a hot climate that it's barely worth commenting on before implementing, let alone sardonic eye rolling.
Great idea: White rooftops (Score:2)
There is excellent paint available, for exactly that purpose.
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I've run the cost comparison on it. It's horrendously expensive for very little benefit.
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I've already already addressed [dumbscientist.com] this:
To be precise, he suggested that any roof which needs to be replaced anyway be replaced with a white roof, and that roofs on new buildings be white. The costs of this strategy are negligible. The benefits include lower air conditioning bills for homeowners, lower CO2 emissions because of the reduced electricity demand, an
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Hey, my stalker is back!
Awesome.
>Nonsense. Making a new roof white rather than black has negligible costs, and many benefits.
Yes. I thought I mentioned this in a post on here, but it appears that comment got eaten.
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So, wait.
You're linking a post from another Slashdotter that you cyberstalk... to demonstrate that you can't follow posts correctly on Slashdot anymore?
Was that the point?
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>My point was that the previously mentioned similarity deepens.
You still haven't learned to hyperlink properly.
Wall of text
Wall of text
Wall of text
ctrl-f "Shaka"...
Oh. You're accusing me of being some other person you're cyberstalking. Because both of us have accused you of cyberstalking?
Hint: maybe it is not because some paranoid fancy of yours is true, but because you make a habit of cyberstalking people.
I'm not Jane Q. Public. I'm only aware of her because you keep mislinking comments to me about her.
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>Your recent lull in attacks on scientists prompted me to ignore your accusation that I'm quite simply lying
That's... hilarious, because 1) that hyperlink doesn't have me accuse you of "quite simply lying" anywhere in it (in fact, you are nowhere in the thread), which 2) makes that a lie.
Anyone who cares to see which of us are telling the truth (which is most likely nobody), can go ahead and click on that link and see what I wrote myself.
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I won't read a wall of text. But you don't need to look far for me catching you in a lie. You just did, above.
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There's no need for you to read it, because you obviously read it (without comprehension) the first time around:
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> Defenders of Jones like to pretend he was being spamflooded by FOIA requests, but this is quite simply a lie from people unwilling to admit that "their team" could ever be in the ethical wrong. [ShakaUVM, 2011-10-30]
Which was not written in response to you.
If you think that everything on the internet is about you, you have much bigger problems than I have been giving you credit for.
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Yep. If I think you're not telling the truth, you can trust me to say it to your face. =)
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Did you look at the quotes on Slashdot, instead of your blog that aggregate everything together? Your name appears nowhere in the thread you linked to, and all my conversations were with another individual.
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^aggregates
More Ph.D. in governemnt! (Score:1)
I am sad to hear he is going.
I want all high ranking officials in my government to have doctorates.
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Maybe not, we want some actual work to get done! :)
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He's tired. (Score:3, Funny)
BECAUSE: Epic Fail (Score:4, Informative)
First the billions of taxpayer money spent on BS renewable energy companies then a failure to move nuclear power forward. Better to have hired a Finance expert.
http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/2013/0130/Georgia-nuclear-power-plant-could-be-Solyndra-redux-report-says [csmonitor.com]
Epic Genious (Score:2)
I hope they pick another genius Scientist to help save the world. People don't realize how these positions work-- politics is about eating shit for a living and being pleasant while doing it. He wasn't a politician so he didn't have to enjoy it but he had to eat plenty of shit regardless because that is how it works. The man did a great deal of good while facing a huge system bent on our destruction and more powerful than even a president... or for that matters the majority of the public has no real powe
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Secondly, why do you claim that nukes are not well managed here? We have not done a good job of promoting it anymore, which is a horrible mistake, but I do not see failures going. And solar remains MUCH more expensive than nukes. In fact, At this time. I think that Thorium will actually be as cheap
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Nuclear problems; prevented by LUCK and coverups.
When something is wrong and a good person spots and fixes it-- if they make any noise they are shutup / fired etc. Our regulators are industry people and that doesn't help matters; furthermore, the IAEA is not just the worlds "regulator" but they are also the industry lobby group. We've had leaks and "minor" events which didn't turn into some big disaster, not that it didn't raise cancer rates etc - it is extremely difficult to prove causation for nuclear p
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The military has been using a lot of alt power for strategic reasons for quite a while now - the navy has been funding biofuel research. The US military is the largest oil user in the nation - oil has always been strategic problem.
You must be joking; FYI: Carriers are nuclear and take more power than a city and they have a city worth of people living on them. Extremely expensive to operate a carrier; I've said for years we need to sink half our carriers.
homework:
1) how many carriers are there in the worl
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The Drone Ranger (Score:4, Funny)
PS. This is a joke.
So is this: "Obama Begins Inauguration Festivities With Ceremonial Drone Flyover" http://www.theonion.com/articles/obama-begins-inauguration-festivities-with-ceremon,30974/ [theonion.com]
So are these: "Obama’s CIA pick calls drone attacks ‘ethical and just’" http://www2.macleans.ca/2013/02/01/czar-of-the-drones/ [macleans.ca] http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jan/07/john-brennan-cia-drones-obama [guardian.co.uk]
Too bad. I had high hopes for him (Score:2)
Too bad he got ground down (Score:2)
Illegitimi non carborundum
Re:here comes more nuclear power (Score:5, Insightful)
say goodbye to anything that was a renewable energy movement of any sort.
Nonsense - he got the project started, now it's time for new people to come in and make it succeed.
As Winston Churchill was the man for the PM job during WW II, he was not the man to lead the UK through peace at the end of the war.
I for one thank him for his efforts. If we can't stop our need for using energy, at least we can find better sources of it with don't mess with the environment or geopolitics.
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Hmmm, not buying the Churchill comparison. Winston was on the outside before the war, and was more or less guaranteed the election by Hitler's castration of Chamberlain. After the war, his pre-existing problems came back to haunt him. Read Winston's War.
Chu had no prior problems, and isn't being banished for accumulated past transgressions.
His work is far from done. He doesn't have to stand for re-election. Only one vote counts, Obama's.
He's probably the person with the best science background in the whol
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You will notice that NONE of the repeat presidents had the same sec for the second term.
This is not a bad thing. This is a GOOD thing. What is needed is somebody who is as good as Chu, but will spend money in places like Nukes.
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