A bit more to the massively centralized side than I'd prefer, but it beats the "traditional" (love that word!) approaches.
Meantime, one way to mitigate the intermittency problem of wind and solar installations might be to put solar panels on wind turbine towers. Has anyone done that anywhere?
It's true that storage is an issue for wind and solar power, which accounts for the popularity until now of other energy sources. However, there are storage solutions. Here's one that was proposed recently in an article for Scientific American:
[http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=a-solar-grand-plan http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=a-solar-grand-plan]
It uses off-the-shelf, existing technologies. There's nothing particularly experimental or suspect about it. It would work. There is a significant cost involved ($420 billion, spread over a 40-year period). However, that's actually a small cost when compared to the cost of Bush's war in Iraq, the federal bank bailout or Obama's economic stimulus package. Spread out over 40 years, it's only $10 billion/year.
<blockquote>"The folks at HCAN aren't Obama's 'allies,' they are authentic grassroots activists PUSHING the Obama agenda and they represent tens of thousands of people all across the country."</blockquote>
They're Obama's allies precisely because they're pushing his agenda instead of pushing him to push the true grassroots aganda, i.e. single-payer universal coverage.
<blockquote>"When you show us how you can get 60 votes in the senate to eliminate one of the most powerful industries in the history of western capitalism you will suddenly find yourself with just as many allies and grassroots organizers as HCAN has."</blockquote
Yeah, but should it have to take 60 votes in the Senate just to get a couple of token single-payer advocates a seat at the table?
This side of the squad is reloading. Better duck.
A smoking ban sends smokers outdoors where kids can see the smokers smoking.
If the smokers were inside a tavern smoking, the kids could not see them smoking, for the most part.
So do the smoking bans create the same problems as the movies are accused of creating, that is, poor adult behavior that serves as a poor model for the children?
Your pot shots at HCAN are mean spirited and are as helpful to the left as a Cointelpro hit.
The folks at HCAN aren't Obama's "allies," they are authentic grassroots activists PUSHING the Obama agenda and they represent tens of thousands of people all across the country.
When you show us how you can get 60 votes in the senate to eliminate one of the most powerful industries in the history of western capitalism you will suddenly find yourself with just as many allies and grassroots organizers as HCAN has. Then we can talk about nationalizing other industries, like energy.
Until then, please continue to push forward the critique of the insurance industry but PLEASE do not take pot shots at your allies working to expand the public sector and shrink the private sector. We HAVE to work together.
PS . I enjoyed your book and used it in my Social and Economic Justice Class. But please cut the crap.
A smoking ban sends smokers outdoors where kids can see the smokers smoking.
If the smokers were inside a tavern smoking, the kids could not see them smoking, for the most part.
So do the smoking bans create the same problems as the movies are accused of creating, that is, poor adult behavior that serves as a poor model for the children?
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