Religion and Global Warming

Global warming is an issue that just as complex as it is controversial. An alliance of religious organizations has sent an open letter to the President of the United States and both legislative houses requesting immediate action on global warming. That letter reported by Router's , calling for immediate changes in policy to fight global warming may cause more harm that good.

The first step to fighting global warming begins at home. Simple things like reducing your own energy consumption. This involves more than just changing out light bulbs. Energy tax credits are available for more substantial home energy savings. Air conditioning and heating system upgrades can make a huge impact on your home energy bills. Riding a bike for short errands instead of driving will save energy and make you healthier. Planting trees sequesters carbon and is a great way to use passive solar energy. Try taking a home energy audit on-line at http://hes.lbl.gov/.

The road to energy independence is the key to reducing carbon dioxide emissions. Some of the technology exists and needs to be utilized. Nuclear power is one proven energy technology that can provide clean power and fuel for decades while other alternate energy technologies come of age. Wind power production is growing and will continue to grow as the new generation of wind turbines increase in efficiency and output. Tidal power, using the ocean's waves and tides, has the potential of being one of the least expensive alternate energy technologies. Finally, solar power is rapidly approaching maximum efficiency of the photovoltaic cell technology. Meaning the prices will reduce and obsolescence will be less likely.

Bio-fuels are a double edge sword that should be handled with care. Converting food crops into energy, will and already has caused dramatic increases in food prices. While Americans can afford these price increases to a point, the less developed nations of the world will suffer. Bio-fuels from food crops are at best carbon neutral and then only if the power and heat sources to produce the bio-fuels is carbon neutral. Bio-fuels that are carbon negative are in development that have much greater long term potential.

Algae farms are a surprisingly efficient method for producing biomass. This site http://www.unh.edu/p2/biodiesel/article_alge.html and similar sites document the developing algae farming technologies that can make bio-fuels from more efficiently grown non-food crops. This method of producing bio-fuels deserves recognition. Used it conjunction with other micro-organic processes, algae farming has enormous potential for producing more than just bio-diesel.

Hydrogen fuel holds the best promise for our fuel of the future. In order for hydrogen to be carbon neutral, the power source for manufacturing the hydrogen has to be carbon neutral. Nuclear, wind power, tidal power and solar power need to be the primary sources for producing hydrogen. Nuclear power is ideally adapted to the production of hydrogen as the waste heat of the reactor can be used to increase the production efficiency.

Research grants provided by the U.S. Government have helped develop very high pressure hydrogen fuel tanks that make Fuel Cell Vehicle (FCV) ranges comparable to standard gasoline vehicles. The cost of fuel cells is dropping and their reliability increasing. While the development of the practical automotive fuel cell has been delayed, fuel cells that very closely meet the automotive standard are being used in industrial applications. The much greater efficiency of the hydrogen fuel cell needs to be recognized by internal combustion engine proponents.

For FCV's to become a common sight on American highways will require dramatic infrastructure changes. In a joint effort, the U.S. and European Union are working to develop a hydrogen fuel economy. The European Union, Germany in particular, is building and testing methods of hydrogen distribution and storage required to build an efficient hydrogen infrastructure.

While the hydrogen infrastructure is being developed , the wealthy and celebrity types can do much more to help the world address global warming. They can start buying the new technologies that show the greatest promise. While I applaud the efforts of Willie Nelson and Dennis Weaver, bio-fuels from food sources are not the final answer, only a part of the larger picture. Few people took notice of President Bush fueling a FCV. Many more would notice Willie Nelson tooling around in a FCV pickup. That is one of the beauties of the fuel cell, it can power the full size vehicles Americans love and love to hate.

The letter to the United States government leaders by the alliance of religious organizations is a wonderful effort. A better effort for these religious groups would be to start a grass roots effort to encourage conservation, the use of existing and developing technology to combat global warming. Much more is being done by world leaders and industry to address global warming than they are being given credit. Much more can be done by the average world citizen.

More on alternate energy by this author:

How to Build a Better Battery
Energy Options: The Archimedes Wave Swing Machine
The New Agriculture: Energy Farming