Thursday, June 12, 2014

On Owned Power



 On Owned Power


          People speak of ‘renewable energy’, but I think that both a misnomer and a distraction. People don’t want energy, as such; what they want is a constant supply of energy; a continuous flow. Energy is measured in ergs, or joules, or kilowatt-hours; energy flow measured in ergs per second, or watts, or kilowatts.
          Energy per unit time is also known as power; desired by all the world for all the usual reasons. What a solar panel, or a windmill, or a geothermal tap provides is secure access to an energy flow; or in other words, ownership of power.
          Therefore I give ‘renewable energy’ another name: owned power. What is usually called non-renewable energy I call rented power. Any power system requiring constant refueling is rented power.
          The economic distinctions between rented and owned power are obvious; and the political consequences too.


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