Made in the USA » Going Green

Alternative Energy Resources

thenness — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 19:49:24 +0000

I’ve heard a lot of people arguing against photovoltaic (solar) power, wind generated electricity, alternative automotive fuels, etc. They all have the right to have and voice their own opinions. And they may well be right in their perceptions. It is undeniable that many of these new technologies are inefficient, costly, and possibly potentially hazardous.

But we live in an age where, aside from the idea that we may run out of the resources we currently so readily consume, we have such a high rate of unemployment and a downwardly sliding economy. These technologies have the potential for decreasing unemployment and improving our economy. If you are against decreasing unemployment and/or against improving our nation’s economy, you don’t need to waste your time reading further.

Many of these technologies attempt to harness immaterial or intangible natural forces such as solar energy, wind, and magnetism in ways that supplement the ways we currently generate electricity and mechanical motion. The problem is that we have not found ways to make these technologies truly economical and efficient. But to draw a parallel here, think back to the 1980′s when desktop computers were just coming on the scene. Most people, and some major corporations such as IBM, scoffed at the idea of having computers in the homes and occupying valuable desk space in the offices. They couldn’t possibly be really all that useful, and one certainly couldn’t justify the cost factor. This was something for the hobbyist and for those who had money to burn on expensive toys. But as technological advances improved speed, made better use of current flow, reduced the gaps between components, reduced the size of components, streamlined instruction sets, improved multimedia capabilities, improved storage capacities and portability, the price of hardware was drastically reduced. Additionally, software applications and operating systems became more user friendly, more efficient, more interesting, more flexible. And the overall general acceptance of the personal computer became overwhelming. Very few homes are completely without desktop or laptop computers or other portable computing devices of some sort. The same goes for mobile or cellular phones, and many other recent technological wonders.

Each of these technologies saw surges in research and development and in production during periods when many people were still skeptical of the devices. Unfortunately, in order to meet demand for these devices at prices the masses were willing to pay, the developers and producers outsourced production to foreign soil. Can I get an AMEN when I say we should have kept American jobs in America as much as possible?

Well the sun shines here and the wind blows here just as much as the rest of the world. Lets put people to work finding new and better ways to harness these resources not just because we “might someday” run out of oil, coal, and natural gas, but because we can’t imagine right now what breakthroughs we could develop in the near future. Yes, it takes an investment that may or may not see an immediate return, but in the long run we will be better off with people employed rather than seeking handouts. God put so much potential in the brains of so many people who are currently being discouraged by the scoffers. Shame on us for holding them back. And shame on us for letting ourselves be held back.

Tracy Henness

Are We “Green” Yet?

thenness — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 14:34:05 +0000

There has been a lot of talk about “going green” and reducing one’s “carbon footprint”. That’s all well and good, but there is much debate about how much good or harm we are actually doing. The fact of the matter is that everyone needs to be responsible stewards of all they’ve been given. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, neither shadow that is cast by turning. (James 1:17) All is His and He is able to take care of it. But He does expect us to be responsible and not wasteful.

In periods of tough economic times, businesses naturally want to find ways to cut costs, reduce overhead, optimize raw material inventories, maximize efficiencies, etc. Some of the things companies do to save money automatically reduce their “carbon footprint”, while some try to bypass government regulations such as proper waste disposal, thus harming the environment and offsetting the efforts of the responsible.

Some of the things we have done in recent years at Clinton Displays that has reduce our carbon footprint include consolidating the number of servers in our computer room and installing motion-sensing lights in the cafeteria. We also try to be responsible in our use and reuse of raw materials, sustain equipment as much as possible to keep from cluttering our landfills, etc. We used to have 3 Novell file servers, a Linux file server, a web server, an e-mail server, as well as all the routers and switches and UPSs and firewalls in our server room, all consuming electricity, generating heat, causing us to use more energy just to keep the room temperature under control. We have outsourced our web and e-mail services and consolidated the 3 Novell and one Linux servers into one small-footprint, high-capacity Linux server, thus cutting our electricity usage in that room significantly.

But the question comes regarding what happened to the hardware that was taken out of service. Did it get thrown out only to clutter a landfill and leach harmful elements into the environment? No, we reutilize the components as much as possible. Anything salvageable or reuseable either gets used to enhance existing equipment or stored for replacement of failed components, or recycled when possible. It’s just a matter of being responsible and not wasteful.

Not everything that is done in the name of all things “green” is truly environmentally friendly, economically effective, or even successful. But interesting technological strides are being made, and we should applaud those efforts. It is said that “necessity is the mother of invention.” And as long as we keep being told that we must do more to save the planet there will be an increase in innovation, some good, some not. Be it far from me to discourage good innovations.

Christians, for the most part, don’t worry about trying to save the planet from the future destruction resulting from everyday life activities. We know that scriptures tell us in several places that this world will pass away, that there will be destructive forces, both in the spiritual and natural realms. Jesus tell us that these things must be (Luke 21:8-11). Peter tells us the earth will be destroyed by fire and melt away with fervent heat (2 Peter 3:10-13). John also tells us there will be a new heaven and a new earth, for the old will have passed away (Revelation 21:1).

We are not out to bring about the destruction of earth, we simply know our efforts to save it will not hinder God’s ultimate and wonderful plan. It’s not a waste of time to act responsibly, but it is a waste of time to worry about the condition of earth tens of thousands of years into the future.

Tracy Henness

Alternate Fuels

thenness — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 15:08:29 +0000

Saturday I was involved in a discussion with a couple of friends from church regarding the price of gas. In recent weeks it has fallen significantly. I mentioned that the day before I bought E85 fuel at $1.899 per gallon. So the question was asked as to whether I actually save money using E85. One of the considerations was the cost of vehicles that can use E85. In my case I didn’t take into consideration whether or not the car was Flex-Fuel when I bought it. It was a used car that met our needs and we were able to negotiate it into our price range. We later found out it was Flex-Fuel, so for us the cost of the car was irrelevent.
So the major issue in terms of economy is the decreased milage we get with E85. On regular unleaded gasoline we get about 28mpg. With E85 we get about 24mpg. On the day I spent $1.899 regular unleaded was $2.859. Let’s do the math to find out cost per mile. 2.859/28=$0.102 and 1.899/24=$0.079 so I save about 20% on the cost of fuel when I use E85 (your milage my vary).
There are other issues to consider. It is not very often the the difference in the 2 fuels will be about 30% as it was on this day. If the price difference is significantly less it may be no cost benefit. The price varies with the availability of the raw produce whether it be corn, sorghum, switchgrass, or whatever the crop of choice is. But I would rather be supporting our US farm economy than to be sending our nation’s wealth (as it is) to nations that have little or no respect for America.
Some will argue that by using our corn for fuel we take food out of the mouths of starving children because we won’t have the surplus. But by making corn and other crops more of a commodity, fewer of our nation’s farmers will be going bankrupt. Bankrupt and former farmers produce fewer crops, thus causing the surplus to dwindle. Save the farmers, save the children of the world. Balance is the key.
God bless the farmers. God bless the scientists and engineers that can develop alternate fuel technologies. God bless the USA.

Tracy Henness