Monsieur, would you like some ice with your snow?

And that pretty much sums up how my day started. Its going on 4AM here in the great state of Mountainous terrain and I will not be going to work today. After the harrowing 20 minute drive to not get to work, I am not complaining. My little truck handles much better than the vans we use for delivery, and it wasn't exactly the most stable this morning. Its not raining hard, just a slight drizzle, but that compounded with the already frozen ground is making for LOADS of black ice. 4 Wheel drive is mostly useless unless you are going in a straight line on hills. Curves? Fuhgetaboutit! And there are LOTS of curves 'round these parts.

I am going back to bed.

And yet, this brings up something that I saw last night. It continually amazes me how weak our current country is. Weak being a kind word in this case. I stopped at the grocery last night to pick up some cold cuts for making my lunches for the next few days. The line may as well have been out the door. Seems everybody was in panic mode, stocking up for 'The great Ice Storm". Shocked me to the core. I expect this kind of crap in bigger cities, like the one I left behind; not around here. People tend to be more self reliant around here, or so I thought. (some may call me a hypocrite for saying this as I was stopping there for food. Difference being that I was not stocking up, just getting sundries. Not essentials.)

I take little things like this too heart: this is a precursor for what is coming at us. When fuel costs go through the roof, food will to. It all boils down to fuel in this country. EVERYTHING we take for granted (well, those that haven't a clue what is coming take for granted) revolves around fuel: good cheap (relatively) crude oil. I have had this argument before and have yet to be stumped on it. EVERYTHING in some way, shape, or form in this country, is attached to fuel now.

For that reason alone, I started investigating alternative energy sources. Things that can be done to alleviate, or eliminate the need for petroleum products.

Its a really small list.

And not one thing comes close to providing the same amount of energy per pound that Oil (or coal) does.

There are ways to capture energy locally that are really great ideas. Micro-Hydro electric for one. Solar and wind are others(and it isn't cost effective to 'go bigger'. Quite the opposite). The real problem isn't the source, but the storage. Electric motors put out Peak Torque at 0 Zero RPM's and hold that torque through most of the RPM range of the motor. This is 'backwards' from that of an IC Combustion engine. Most Electric motors are rather small in comparison to an equivalent powered ICE. The real problem is power storage. This goes across the entire board of electric vs. Hydrocarbon based energy. I don't know the actual figures, but its not hard to find it on the net. Pound for pound, we haven't a single source that equals, let alone beats the power we get out of one pound of ANY hydrocarbon fuel. Electric cars aren't new, but they went the wayside back in the early 1900's due to this inescapable fact. The closest thing we have to comparable, to date, is the Tesla Roadster. Even so, its battery pack is the heaviest part of the car. Its range is 'comparable' to that of gas powered car but still falls short in the long run, just due to lack of 'convenient' refueling. Storage issues are the key to 'cheap energy'. Our electric grid works cheaply only because its an "on demand" system. No storage needed. But it also isn't easily transported. Those towers and lines cost far more than people think. The cost has been deferred over the years and the maintenance of them is horrendous. Yet it is still cheaper than a storage system.
And battery technology hasn't made leaps and bounds progress since the early 1900's. Only recently have we seen some pretty neat stuff. A123 systems is one, there are others, but the drive for R&D just hasn't been there. Cheap Fossil fuels made it unnecessary.

Now we are dependent upon these cheap fuel sources. Dependent in a way that makes a Junkie look like a saint. And it all ties to an economy that is based upon a lie.

And the vast majority of people are so wrapped up in that lie, they can't see that the shit is up the their chins and rising. They worry only about getting through to the next day, not at all worried about how they are going to feed the kids next year, or even if they need to learn a new skill other than consumption.

It really shows when the weather turns nasty.

And this is only a glimmer of what is gonna happen when the power goes out, the trucks stop rolling and the 'electors' start screaming for the elected to 'do something'.

No thanks, I will do for myself and those around me that do for themselves. A small group of people that don't wait for the police to show up or the fire department to arrive. People that know that a garden in the back yard is worth far more than the $25/week it saves you at the grocery. People that know owning a gun isn't a 'complex' but an insurance policy.

All right, it was a gentle rant. Its still early though, I may blow up yet. LOL