Some blog followers might be interested in a recent post “Could the U.S. Significantly Reduce Its Yearly Emission of CO2 By Covering Its Rooftops With Photovoltaic Solar Panels? #2” [Hake (2012b)]. The abstract reads:
*************************************************
ABSTRACT: In a previous post “Concentration of Energy by Photovoltaic Solar Panels” [Hake (2012a) I posed the following “Fermi Problem”:
“What fraction ‘f’ of the yearly total U.S. fossil-fueled electrical energy (and thus fraction of yearly tons of CO2 emission from U.S. fossil-fueled electrical energy production) could be eliminated if all rooftops in the U.S. were covered by photovoltaic solar panels?”
In this post I estimate f = 1.1 - considerably larger than the estimate f = 0.08 of MathEdCC’s Guy Brandenburg. Perhaps others would like to consider this problem.
In Hake (2012a) I warned (paraphrasing): “Before recommending that all U.S. rooftops be covered with Photovoltaic Solar Panels one should consider the EMERGY associated with such a plan. Odum wrote: “EMERGY measures both the work of nature and that of humans in generating products and services. . . . The photovoltaic power grid at Austin, Tex., evaluated by King & Schmandt (1991), is taking more EMERGY out of society than it is generating.”
So is the motto of Solar Forward http://solarforward.com/: “SAVING THE PLANET, ONE SOLAR SYSTEM AT A TIME” a deception? I THINK NOT because the evaluation of King & Schmandt (1991), failed to consider the devastating decrease in EMERGY due to global warming if the world’s dependence on fossil fuels is not reduced.
*************************************************
To access the complete 18 kB post please click on http://bit.ly/zT7dKj.
Richard Hake, Emeritus Professor of Physics, Indiana University
Honorary Member, Curmudgeon Lodge of Deventer, The Netherlands
President, PEdants for Definitive Academic References
which Recognize the Invention of the Internet (PEDARRII)
rrhake@earthlink.net
http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake
http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~sdi
http://HakesEdStuff.blogspot.com
http://iub.academia.edu/RichardHake
REFERENCES [URL’s shortened by http://bit.ly/ and accessed on 10 Feb 2012.]
Hake, R.R. 2012a. “Concentration of Energy by Photovoltaic Solar Panels” online on the OPEN! AERA-L archives at http://bit.ly/wdkAoL. Post of 6 Feb 2012 09:59:03-0800 to AERA-L and Net-Gold. The abstract and link to the complete post were transmitted to several discussion lists and are also on my blog “Hake'sEdStuff” at http://bit.ly/Aimt1K with a provision for comments.
Hake, R.R. 2012b. “Could the U.S. Significantly Reduce Its Yearly Emission of CO2 By Covering Its Rooftops With Photovoltaic Panels? #2” online on the OPEN! AERA-L archives at http://bit.ly/zX0oHw. Post of 10 Feb 2012 13:43:02-0800 to AERA-L and Net-Gold. The abstract and link to the complete post are being transmitted to several discussion lists.
Showing posts with label Howard Odum. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Howard Odum. Show all posts
Friday, February 10, 2012
Monday, February 6, 2012
Concentration of Energy by Photovoltaic Solar Panels
Some blog followers might be interested in a recent discussion-list post
“Concentration of Energy by Photovoltaic Solar Panels” [Hake (2012)]. The abstract reads:
************************************************
ABSTRACT: Physoc’s Bud Nye wrote (paraphrasing): “Systems ecologist Howard T. Odum’s energy-focused books http://amzn.to/xkp9cP suggest to me that the probable ‘purpose of life’ involves CONCENTRATING ENERGY by moving it from the lowest quality, most disbursed carriers, such as sunlight, into the most dense, highest quality, highest transferity carriers possible, such as electricity and information, thus minimizing the entropy of systems over time. . . . . . . . but those of us in the West and the U.S. have worked extremely hard to DISPERSE energy and increase entropy. This does not bode well for our long-term future. . . . . ."
An apparent way to concentrate energy is by installing PhotoVoltaic Solar Panels (PVSP) on rooftops. Consider the following “Fermi Problem”: WHAT FRACTION OF THE YEARLY TOTAL U.S. FOSSIL-FUELED ELECTRICAL ENERGY (AND THUS FRACTION OF YEARLY TONS OF CO2 EMISSION FROM U.S. FOSSIL-FUELED ELECTRICAL ENERGY PRODUCTION) COULD BE ELIMINATED IF ALL ROOFTOPS IN THE U.S. WERE COVERED BY PHOTOVOLTAIC SOLAR PANELS?
************************************************
To access the complete 12 kB post please click on http://bit.ly/wdkAoL.
Richard Hake, Emeritus Professor of Physics, Indiana University
Honorary Member, Curmudgeon Lodge of Deventer, The Netherlands
President, PEdants for Definitive Academic References
which Recognize the Invention of the Internet (PEDARRII)
rrhake@earthlink.net
http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake
http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~sdi
http://HakesEdStuff.blogspot.com
http://iub.academia.edu/RichardHake
“Saving the planet, one solar system at a time.”
Motto of “Solar Forward” http://solarforward.com/
REFERENCES [URL shortened by http://bit.ly/ and accessed on 06 Feb 2012.]
Hake, R.R. 2012. “Concentration of Energy by Photovoltaic Solar Panels” online on the OPEN! AERA-L archives at http://bit.ly/wdkAoL. Post of 6 Feb 2012 09:59:03-0800 to AERA-L and Net-Gold. The abstract and link to the complete post are being transmitted to several discussion lists.
“Concentration of Energy by Photovoltaic Solar Panels” [Hake (2012)]. The abstract reads:
************************************************
ABSTRACT: Physoc’s Bud Nye wrote (paraphrasing): “Systems ecologist Howard T. Odum’s energy-focused books http://amzn.to/xkp9cP suggest to me that the probable ‘purpose of life’ involves CONCENTRATING ENERGY by moving it from the lowest quality, most disbursed carriers, such as sunlight, into the most dense, highest quality, highest transferity carriers possible, such as electricity and information, thus minimizing the entropy of systems over time. . . . . . . . but those of us in the West and the U.S. have worked extremely hard to DISPERSE energy and increase entropy. This does not bode well for our long-term future. . . . . ."
An apparent way to concentrate energy is by installing PhotoVoltaic Solar Panels (PVSP) on rooftops. Consider the following “Fermi Problem”: WHAT FRACTION OF THE YEARLY TOTAL U.S. FOSSIL-FUELED ELECTRICAL ENERGY (AND THUS FRACTION OF YEARLY TONS OF CO2 EMISSION FROM U.S. FOSSIL-FUELED ELECTRICAL ENERGY PRODUCTION) COULD BE ELIMINATED IF ALL ROOFTOPS IN THE U.S. WERE COVERED BY PHOTOVOLTAIC SOLAR PANELS?
************************************************
To access the complete 12 kB post please click on http://bit.ly/wdkAoL.
Richard Hake, Emeritus Professor of Physics, Indiana University
Honorary Member, Curmudgeon Lodge of Deventer, The Netherlands
President, PEdants for Definitive Academic References
which Recognize the Invention of the Internet (PEDARRII)
rrhake@earthlink.net
http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake
http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~sdi
http://HakesEdStuff.blogspot.com
http://iub.academia.edu/RichardHake
“Saving the planet, one solar system at a time.”
Motto of “Solar Forward” http://solarforward.com/
REFERENCES [URL shortened by http://bit.ly/ and accessed on 06 Feb 2012.]
Hake, R.R. 2012. “Concentration of Energy by Photovoltaic Solar Panels” online on the OPEN! AERA-L archives at http://bit.ly/wdkAoL. Post of 6 Feb 2012 09:59:03-0800 to AERA-L and Net-Gold. The abstract and link to the complete post are being transmitted to several discussion lists.
Monday, November 14, 2011
Can Education Research Be Divorced From Politics and Economics ?
Some blog followers might be interested in “Can Education Research Be Divorced From Politics and Economics ?” [Hake (2011a)]. The abstract reads:
*********************************************
ABSTRACT: In response to my post “Keynes & Hayek (was ‘Re: History of regulation of finance’)” [Hake (2011c)], PhysLrnR’s William Robertson (2011) wrote (paraphrasing):
“I keep misreading the title ‘PhysLrnR’ of this list, because I could have sworn the word physics is there but the words politics and economics clearly are not. Must be another of my silly non-sequiturs.”
I think Robertson's misperception is due more to non-cogito than non-sequitur. According to the statement on the PhysLrnR archive page http://bit.ly/tLtsIG, one of the issues upon which PhysLrnR is intended to focus is “Political Policy and Social Impacts on Physics Education Research and the Teaching of Physics.”
If education research hopes to affect any change in the current educational system IT CANNOT DIVORCE ITSELF FROM POLITICS AND ECONOMICS - witness the baleful effects on teaching and student learning of NCLB and RTT (Race to the Top) in K-12 as discussed in e.g., The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education [Ravitch (2010, 2011)].
*********************************************
To access the complete 15 kB post please click on http://bit.ly/uRSYoQ .
Richard Hake, Emeritus Professor of Physics, Indiana University
Honorary Member, Curmudgeon Lodge of Deventer, The Netherlands
President, PEdants for Definitive Academic References
which Recognize the Invention of the Internet (PEDARRII)
rrhake@earthlink.net
http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake
http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~sdi
http://HakesEdStuff.blogspot.com
http://iub.academia.edu/RichardHake
“ ‘Basic scientists,’ who define basic as ‘looking to the parts,’ need to learn that putting parts together to understand whole systems is equally basic. The scientist who says that synthesis is ‘applied,’ as if it were an inferior activity, must ask which is intellectually more difficult and ultimately more basic, reductionism or synthesism. Surely both are necessary, but we have had too little synthesis, and our science curricula in schools have failed to fulfill their promise because of this. The scientist who uses his discipline to learn more and more about less and less must connect his specialty to the real world as an entirety. Anyone who sets boundaries to his field of interest is limiting his capacity to grow. An old discipline has already yielded what it can; now knowledge must be arranged in different ways and given different names....”
Howard T. & Elisabeth C. Odum (1981)
REFERENCES [All URL’s shortened by http://bit.ly/ and accessed on 14 Nov 2011.]
Odum, H.T. & E.C. Odum. 1981. Energy Basis For Man and Nature. McGraw-Hill. Barnes & Nobel information http://bit.ly/uhZ9lA.
Hake, R.R. 2011a. “Can Education Research Be Divorced From Politics and Economics ?” online on the OPEN! AERA-L archives at http://bit.ly/uRSYoQ. Post of 14 Nov 2011 07:58:50-0800-0800 to AERA-L and Net-Gold. The abstract and link to the complete post are being transmitted to several discussion lists.
Hake, R.R. 2011c. “Keynes & Hayek (was ‘'Re: History of regulation of finance’), ” online on the OPEN! Dewey-L archives at http://bit.ly/vkKmaw. Post of 9 Nov 2011 10:23:43-0800 to Dewey-L. The abstract and link to the complete post are being transmitted to several discussion lists and are also on my blog “Hake’sEdStuff” at http://bit.ly/uSEuEz with a provision for comments.
*********************************************
ABSTRACT: In response to my post “Keynes & Hayek (was ‘Re: History of regulation of finance’)” [Hake (2011c)], PhysLrnR’s William Robertson (2011) wrote (paraphrasing):
“I keep misreading the title ‘PhysLrnR’ of this list, because I could have sworn the word physics is there but the words politics and economics clearly are not. Must be another of my silly non-sequiturs.”
I think Robertson's misperception is due more to non-cogito than non-sequitur. According to the statement on the PhysLrnR archive page http://bit.ly/tLtsIG, one of the issues upon which PhysLrnR is intended to focus is “Political Policy and Social Impacts on Physics Education Research and the Teaching of Physics.”
If education research hopes to affect any change in the current educational system IT CANNOT DIVORCE ITSELF FROM POLITICS AND ECONOMICS - witness the baleful effects on teaching and student learning of NCLB and RTT (Race to the Top) in K-12 as discussed in e.g., The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education [Ravitch (2010, 2011)].
*********************************************
To access the complete 15 kB post please click on http://bit.ly/uRSYoQ .
Richard Hake, Emeritus Professor of Physics, Indiana University
Honorary Member, Curmudgeon Lodge of Deventer, The Netherlands
President, PEdants for Definitive Academic References
which Recognize the Invention of the Internet (PEDARRII)
rrhake@earthlink.net
http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake
http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~sdi
http://HakesEdStuff.blogspot.com
http://iub.academia.edu/RichardHake
“ ‘Basic scientists,’ who define basic as ‘looking to the parts,’ need to learn that putting parts together to understand whole systems is equally basic. The scientist who says that synthesis is ‘applied,’ as if it were an inferior activity, must ask which is intellectually more difficult and ultimately more basic, reductionism or synthesism. Surely both are necessary, but we have had too little synthesis, and our science curricula in schools have failed to fulfill their promise because of this. The scientist who uses his discipline to learn more and more about less and less must connect his specialty to the real world as an entirety. Anyone who sets boundaries to his field of interest is limiting his capacity to grow. An old discipline has already yielded what it can; now knowledge must be arranged in different ways and given different names....”
Howard T. & Elisabeth C. Odum (1981)
REFERENCES [All URL’s shortened by http://bit.ly/ and accessed on 14 Nov 2011.]
Odum, H.T. & E.C. Odum. 1981. Energy Basis For Man and Nature. McGraw-Hill. Barnes & Nobel information http://bit.ly/uhZ9lA.
Hake, R.R. 2011a. “Can Education Research Be Divorced From Politics and Economics ?” online on the OPEN! AERA-L archives at http://bit.ly/uRSYoQ. Post of 14 Nov 2011 07:58:50-0800-0800 to AERA-L and Net-Gold. The abstract and link to the complete post are being transmitted to several discussion lists.
Hake, R.R. 2011c. “Keynes & Hayek (was ‘'Re: History of regulation of finance’), ” online on the OPEN! Dewey-L archives at http://bit.ly/vkKmaw. Post of 9 Nov 2011 10:23:43-0800 to Dewey-L. The abstract and link to the complete post are being transmitted to several discussion lists and are also on my blog “Hake’sEdStuff” at http://bit.ly/uSEuEz with a provision for comments.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
