The Skeptical Optimist

FQ.07.31: Favorite Quote for This Week

Management will remain a basic and dominant institution perhaps as long as Western civilization itself survives... Management is the organ of society specifically charged with making resources productive, that is, with the responsibility for organized economic advance.
—Peter Drucker

Renewable energy's unsung bottleneck

Just a quickie on energy technology developments...

Energy storage technology—more specifically, for electrical energy—is the bottleneck that never gets sufficient coverage in the renewable fuels discussions, in my judgment. 

Why is energy storage so important?  Because the wind and the sun provide us with their energy in the wrong places at the wrong times.  To make a dent in the energy mix, wind- and sun-powered electricity must be generated when the generating is good, then stored in massive quantities, for subsequent release into the grid when the demand calls for it.  One of the more effective ways of doing that today, in topologically-fortunate areas, is using off-hours electricity to pump water uphill into a reservoir, then later using it to generate electricity during high-demand hours.  Other storage ideas under development are flywheels, supercapacitors, superbatteries, and underground compressed air caverns.

I keep an eye on energy storage news, and noticed this story yesterday: World's Largest Wind Farm to be Built in Texas.  It says the two companies will "explore" using underground storage of compressed air, for later use in gas turbines.  My reaction was, gee I hope the exploration is successful; otherwise, the new wind farm could turn out to be little more than another array of "Condor cuisinarts" (...as they were dubbed in California).  Let's wish them luck, though; I hope it works. 

To me, however, the big breakthrough will be a safe, affordable, gasoline-tank-sized battery or supercapacitor that will hold 300 vehicle-miles worth of electric potential (...as I explained in the sixth energy article).  When that becomes available, I'll purchase not only the new vehicle, but also a spare battery, and some roof-mounted solar panels for recharging the spare while the sun shines. 

Dream on, Steve.

National Healthcare question for the candidates

Don Boudreaux at Cafe Hayek (a frequent stop for me), ran into some long lines at the airport, and missed a flight because of it.  Here's his description of the experience.

After reading that, I envisioned a sharp journalist with a probing question, one intended for candidates advocating federally-managed healthcare (as distinct from federally-supported healthcare):

"Government employees run the post office, and they also run airport security.  Long waiting lines are commonplace for both.  Will your system of government-run healthcare result in longer waiting lines for that, too?"

Yes, it's a longshot to hope for a journalist who would ask a question like that.  No, it wouldn't change any candidate's policy position.  But at least it would get them onto the record, for whatever that's worth. 

Potential bonus: If government-run healthcare, as distinct from government-supported healthcare, turns out to be unstoppable, maybe we could at least get a sunset provision into it ...one that mandates automatic repeal if predetermined performance measures are not achieved by a specified date.  (We should do that with a lot of programs and laws, not just healthcare.) 

Dream on, Steve. 

Anyway, regarding federally-managed healthcare, it's appropriate to keep in mind Henry David Thoreau's comment:

"If I knew for a certainty that a man was coming to my house with the conscious design of doing me good, I should run for my life."