Energy
Independence
Charlie Earl
When it
comes to geopolitics, I tend to follow the “F.E.W.” formula as a basis for
determining the potential wealth of a place or nation. Food, energy and water
are vital components for prosperity. Obviously food and water are necessities
for sustaining life, but ample food leads to healthy bodies and industrious
citizens. Water, too, has numerous uses beyond simple human hydration, and
energy provides the means for transitioning from totally human labor to
leveraging human activity to extremely high levels of productivity. Clearly…a
sufficient food supply and adequate water are needed for the development of
energy sources. Water and food are subsistence, and energy is progress. When
freedom is added to the three legs of prosperity, the potential for achievement
is unlimited. The three-legged stool of human advancement becomes a turbo-fired
rocket sled when there is liberty.
While the
availability of food and water should always be under consideration, those of
us who are fortunate enough to call Ohio our home have been blessed with a
highly productive agricultural sector and a terrific bundle of fresh water
sources. We are also the stakeholders of a phenomenal collection of energy
resources. Clearly our abundance of coal has been noted for some time, but
environmentalists and agenda-driven politicians and bureaucrats are undermining
(pun intended) our extraction of this rich natural resource. Recent discoveries
of natural gas and shale deposits have altered the landscape for Ohio’s energy
future. There is one resource and a technology for utilizing it that is
unfamiliar to most Buckeyes. It can provide a source of energy that will
transform our other energy resources and make them more efficient and valuable.
It is Thorium and LiFTR technology. Thorium is radioactive, but unlike uranium
is more efficient (less waste) and more difficult to convert to a weapons grade
substance. These properties make it much safer and more desirable than uranium-based
fuels because there are fewer residues to discard and unlikely to attract
nefarious types looking for a shortcut for bomb making. Even more beneficial
than the fuel source, however, is the technology.
Here is a
blurb from the Energy From Thorium
Foundation that may whet your appetite for more information:
(Liquid Flouride Thorium Reactor) LFTR can consume
our Nuclear Waste stockpiles and convert them into
electricity. LFTR produces little waste of its own and
that waste is valuable in industry and for research projects.
LFTR Technology:
America, We Can Build This! Pg.8
An abundance
of inexpensive energy is a wonderful thing. Nations go to war seeking it. For
centuries the Alsace-Lorraine region has been sought by Germany or France and
their various and sundry allies because of its coal. More recently, the huge
oil deposits in the Mideast have distorted historical alliances and perverted
foreign policies. Citizens and soldiers have died while trying to secure energy
resources for their nations….or to acquire them. If there were a very safe and
globally abundant source of energy and if the technology to generate it were
safe and affordable, it would seem that everyone might benefit from its
availability. Everyone. Everywhere. Perhaps one source of heartbreak for the
mothers of our earth could be minimized if no one had to go to war for energy,
and with consistent energy sources, perhaps we could grow enough food and
convert salt water to minimize the fighting over the basics for subsistence.
A sound
program that includes lower energy costs and varied benefits of LFTR technology
could be a game plan for our planet, our nation and especially for our state. A
previous Ohio slogan identified the Buckeye State as “the heart of it all.” If
we get our legislative and energy acts together, Ohio could be known as “the
start of it all.” This column is just a glimpse of the potential for
Thorium-based LFTR technology as an energy alternative. In the following three
articles I will discuss Thorium more thoroughly, then LFTR technology and
finally provide a summary of the political, legislative and activist
opportunities for protecting our economic future.
If you wish
to get a head start on my forthcoming columns, here are a couple of web sites
you can explore to gain more information:
Energy From Thorium Foundation: www.th90.org
Coalition of Freedom: www.coalitionoffreedom.com
So…there’s
your assignment for the next class. Take notice thereof and let it be done.
Freedom is achievable.
Charlie Earl
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