Graphic from South Africa NEWSLETTER - 2021 issue 1 Editor: John Shanahan Website: allaboutenergy.net This newsletter is sent to students, teachers, parents, people in many industries, and leaders in business and government in 124 countries. We discuss energy, energy by-products, the environment, people who use energy and politicians who make energy decisions. Vaclav Smil said: Energy is the only universal currency. Other currencies are just words, pictures and mysterious symbols on paper.
Anti-progress alarmists, their politicians, and hostile nations want to keep the best energy sources away from the free world so it will be weak. Only reliable, energy-dense sources can deliver clean water, manufacture everything, grow and process food for billions of people, keep buildings warm or cool, provide 1
transportation. power cell phones, TVs, and computers, operate hospitals, extract raw materials, bring finished products to market, treat wastewater, and dispose of trash! Wind and solar photo-voltaic energy will never power the modern world satisfactorily! But certain politicians are forcing wind and solar on us.
DEDICATION
This newsletter and website: allaboutenergy.net are dedicated to world freedom, peace, and prosperity with plentiful, reliable energy.
INTRODUCTION The beginning of 2021 is a good time to note the rise and fall of prosperity. From the 1860s through 2020, the world benefitted tremendously from use of fossil fuels, first coal, then oil, then natural gas, and their by-products. Tremendous advances have been made in nuclear power and use of radioisotopes in industry and nuclear medicine. Anti-fossil fuels and anti-nuclear power activists have worked for decades to stop use of these important energy and by-product sources. The media, politicians and other nations helped. 2
China and Russia are working hard to develop advanced nuclear power. China is making full use of fossil fuels to advance their economy and standard of living.
ENERGY - This section discusses the best energy sources: fossil fuels, hydro-electric, and nuclear power, and politically popular energy sources: wind and solar photovoltaic. Does the world want fossil fuels and nuclear power? The answer should be easy for everyone. First photo is a modern coal plant in Datteln, Germany. Second photo is Nuclear Power Plant Leibstadt in Switzerland.
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Alarmists demand electricity from wind turbines and solar photo-voltaic! Wind turbines disturb people, destroy the landscape and kill birds.
The map shows wind turbine locations. There are more than 28,000 wind turbines installed in Germany. All fluctuate in power output or stop working. All require maintenance. All go to the scrap heap in a few decades. Is this good German planning or bad extreme green political alarmism? See a better idea with nuclear power by James Conca
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ENERGY BY PRODUCTS - This section is about byproducts from fossil fuels, and radioisotopes and radiation from nuclear sources. They make the modern world singularly great.
Nuclear Medicine: Combined PET/CT (right) image of a mouse provides a more complete view of the spine than CT (left) or PET (middle) alone. See: Introduction to Nuclear Medicine - National Institutes of Health
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ENVIRONMENT - This section is about how our use of energy influences the environment and wildlife. Life in cities with all the electrical energy, transportation conveniences, entertainment, and shopping is great. That is why billions of people live in cities. But we desperately need nature to make us truly happy. Whether it's flowers for a lover, a pet dog or cat, an aquarium or reptile cage for children, or squirrels and pigeons in the neighborhood park, we need nature in the city and we need to get out to nature in the countryside for true health, inspiration and tranquility. Nature shows us so much that cities don't. We must respect the environment and preserve wildlife diversity. We can't ship our "recyclable" materials to another country where much of it is ignored except for the meager money it brings. Eventually some of it falls into the ocean where it kills marine animals and sea birds. Some photo examples of beautiful nature below.
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Every process of physics, chemistry, and biology produces results. Some results are less desireable than the original objects: - human waste versus food and beverage - animal waste versus meat in the supermarket - gaseous, liquid, and solid waste from fossil fuel and nuclear energy versus electricity and transportation for the modern world - household and office trash versus new consumer goods Nature has amazing ways of reprocessing its waste. All dead plants and animals are reprocessed by microorganism to contribute to new life. Man-made waste needs to be reprocessed or stored so modern living can continue. It is just a matter of whether it is done right or if alarmists insist that humans can't benefit from energy and energy by-products. The higher the energy density of an energy source, the smaller the volume of waste. Energy density of wind and solar is extremely low so the volume of used and broken 7
equipment is vastly greater than the volume of waste from fossil fuels and nuclear power. That is the opposite of what anti-modern world alarmists, their media and politicians say. Waste from fossil fuels and used fuel from nuclear power can be reprocessed or safely stored. Again, reality is the opposite of what anti-modern world alarmists say. See how used nuclear fuel is worth trillions of dollars by Kenneth Kok – CLICK HERE PEOPLE - How people behave and how governments rule determine if use of energy ends up being good or bad. If people drive within the speed limit and are not under the influence of alcohol, energy for transportation is good. If people commit crimes then race away in a car, use of energy serves a bad purpose. The same for all uses of energy. This is important when alarmists give false reasons to not use fossil fuels and nuclear power and governments use energy for evil purposes. In this issue we focus on the tremendous work a high school student did for three years. Mary Claire Birdsong of Augusta, Georgia learned a lot about nuclear energy and anti-modern world alarmists. Her high school essays are here. She wrote a great poem to pioneers in nuclear power, see here. She made videos to introduce outstanding nuclear engineers, see here.
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A balcony in Ticino, Switzerland. People and nature need each other. People need fossil fuel, hydro-electric and nuclear energy to enjoy modern life.
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