Saturday, February 28, 2009

Makes my eyes bug out.

You know, this past summer - there was some show that Mr S. forced me to watch. It was about these four douche bag kids driving around the country in a french fry van. A van run on bio-whatever. I was barely paying attention - because I knew the whole thing was bullshit. Sometimes they'd put a "rooftop garden" on the van. Which is another subject that drives me crazy, but I'm already getting off track. I don't even remember the name of the show. That is how much I cared.

Yet every single time it was on - I wanted to take a sledge hammer to my temples. It was obvious, that for spoiled little rich kids - bio-fuel, or a rooftop garden on a van would be a feasible option. Because, they can rely on the kindness of strangers. For when their shit pile of a van broke down. They'd inevitably guilt people into helping them. For Mother Earth!

However - I understand how quickly technology changes. Everything changes. But, now our president is going full hog on solar. And it makes me crazy.

I love the idea of solar. If it payed for itself, in less then 10-20 years. I would kick PG&E to the curb so quickly it would make their head spin. It doesn't. But, with mass production - prices come down. Eventually I'll be wrong. Eventually. Just not now. You know how I know? Reading stories like this!

It's a story about a guy who looses his whole existence because he's a crazy nut bag who doesn't have a grasp on reality. But, don't read the details. It is sure to make your feel good factor go way down.

Read more here.

"From stem to stern across the continent, skirting blacktop and blue highway in his oddball little electric car, Marcelo da Luz has devoted the last eight months of his life to following the sun.

It keeps him going. It powers the silicon cells covering his three-wheeled roadster like a rattlesnake skin, bringing his record-breaking quest this week to Palo Alto, where he's taking a break. And it fuels his solar evangelism, sharing with a fossil-fueled world his passion for sun power.

After three seasons on a drive to set the world's distance record for a solar-powered vehicle, this addiction to sunlight has turned da Luz into a daydreamy vagabond — over his head in debt, at the mercy of strangers, dependent on the 26 lithium-ion batteries pushing him through a world governed by serendipity."


This is the interesting part. Buried in a two page story

"He's like a magnet," said John Schaefer, 71, a renewable energy consultant who met da Luz in Arcata three weeks ago and volunteered to follow him to the Bay Area in the support van. "Everywhere he goes, people come together around him and his car. "

See? Solar power is real, and it's here, and it's ready for you right now. You can run your car on Solar, and stop raping Mother Earth. As long as you too can get a support van to follow you around wherever you go.

3 comments:

  1. Wonder how much time he's spent tooling around Portland...

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  2. Oh no! Solar cars work everywhere. Everywhere!

    Or... you are just saying that because you are brainwashed by evil corporations.

    Pick your response. They both make me numb.

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  3. You know there are Solar farms here in Germany, and I often wonder why. It's only sunny about once a month, and for about 2 months in the heart of summer. Does the resulting energy collected justify the cost of constuction??

    Now, I get the wind turbines that are everywhere, and much more plentiful than the solar.

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