Comments on Richard Heinberg's Museletter

I'm a 'fan' and have enjoyed and benefited from your writings etc.. Thank you. I look forward to the book. I saw an interesting video the other day of an MIT Professor lecturing on his group's work on 'artificial photosynthesis' & a fuel/power system based on that. His view is that this system, one which could allow each of us to generate our own fuel (presumably propane or butane) plus electric power for our own homes & businesses, may be the answer. As I understood it, it involves a solar collector using this new lithographically printable photo-voltiac sheet (80% efficient, natural photosynthesis being 100%), providing power to a fuel cell which splits water into H2 & O2, the H2 in a semi-solid form, essentially a hydrocarbon, then into a usable gas, & at the same time producing electricity. I think I have the essence of it but not being either a scientist or a chemist, may have it wrong. His delivery was 'typically professorial', so difficult to understand fully. He claims that the system could be mass produced cheaply (fuel cell for example for $100 if done in the 100's of thousands), and if widely used would consequently 'do away' with the need for the billions of dollars required to build a 'smart grid', as well as doing away with transport fuel delivery systems in the (theoretical) future. He agrees that nuclear is a false god, coal will become too expensive, oil will also, & all the other 'alternative' sources will be too small to make the difference we need. I was overall very impressed with his approach & wondered what you might think. You will surely know of him but I don't have a note of his name unfortunately.

The Guardian comes up with a very useful Website to inform yourself about Climate Change & related Matters

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/10-10

Will we look back & wonder why we all didn't take heed ?

How to Rein in a Rogue Company

Fonterra, a large New Zealand Dairy Company, one of the largest in the world, has about 85% of the supply market in NZ which amounts to a whole lot of output - butter, cheese, casien, milk powder, all sorts of other products such as yoghurt, ice-cream, etc.etc. They are in the forefront in research, have a modern suite of plants all over NZ and of course export much of the output world wide.

They are not a very socially responsible company in my opinion. They could be part of the solution to climate change - we all realize that the intensive dairy industry has much to do - but they do little, and are very much in the industrial mould where the bottom line is all important. They are part of the problem.

Here is a roughly sketched out plan that would change all that and make Fonterra a Green Clean Company - an image already spouted world wide by NZ generally, but unfortunately false, false, false ! Spin of the highest degree.