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By Charles Rhodes, P. Eng., Ph.D.

INTRODUCTION:
This website addresses issues related to obtaining energy to do work in an environmentally sustainable manner. The flow of energy on Earth is examined from its sources, through its use to do work, to its sink via radiation into outer space. The consequences of the on-going combustion of fossil fuels are examined from an astrophysical perspective. The limited capacity of the atmosphere and oceans to safely absorb further heat and CO2 are highlighted.

The chemical and thermal balance that enables modern human life took over 50 million years to establish via solar driven biochemical and physical processes. Recent large scale combustion of fossil fuels has upset that chemical and thermal balance. The sea level is rising. There is ongoing collapse of agricultural, animal, forest, fresh water, marine and mineral resources. If humans fail to reduce their own population or fail to leave fossil carbon in the ground, then nature will respond with more severe storms, drought, famine, disease and sea water inundation. The will of god in this respect is expressed through physical laws that govern the evolution of the universe.

Quite simply, the survival of mankind depends on orderly reduction of the human population and on ceasing use of fossil fuels for prime energy production.

Meeting reasonable human energy needs, without fossil fuels, requires nuclear energy for both general purpose electricity generation and production of synthetic liquid and gaseous hydrocarbon fuels. The carbon component of synthetic fuels must be obtained from biomass. Renewable energy sources such as hydroelectric power, solar power and wind power are environmentally superior but are frequently insufficient, unsuitably located or not available when needed.

Technical and political issues related to the safe, economic and efficient production of nuclear energy, safe and efficient nuclear fuel recycling and safe disposal of nuclear waste must be faced. The full costs of agricultural losses, forestry losses and the property damage reasonably attributable to combustion of fossil carbon should be recovered via a fossil carbon tax.

Natural gas, of which there is only a limited supply, is currently the most suitable fuel for meeting the low load factor portion of the distributed winter space heating load. Hence, natural gas should not be used for applications such as electricity generation that can reasonably be met with non-fossil fuel energy sources.
 

WEBSITE SECTIONS:

1. Global Extinction	2. Energy
3. Nuclear Fusion	4. Electricity
5. Climate Change	6. Lighting Control
7. Contacts	8. Links

 

GEOGRAPHIC FOCUS:
The main geographic focus of this website is on energy issues in Canada, particularly in the Province of Ontario. However, most of the technical material is valid everywhere.
 

This web page last updated May 22, 2013.