Energy Issues

I didn't catch the whole of the Four Corners program about new energy technology, but will watch the repeat 11.30 p.m. Wednesday.
There was such a dazzling array of new technologies that one couldn't help but feel buoyed by what is happening in terms of finding solutions to the problems that face us.
One recurring theme, whether it was hot rocks, solar or wind power or even nuclear power was the idea that "new stuff" is minuscule by comparison with old coal and oil generation.
This may be true, but I would suggest it is a very short-sighted view, if we use that argument to say therefore we should seriously curtail investment in nerw technologies.
If the IT explosion has told us nothing else it is that this era of technology is moving so powerfully that today's small and unsophisticated will be tomorrow's big and smart.
We have a bit of a family interest in Petratherm which is the quiet Geothermal achiever. (Our brother-in-law the world famous geologist(!) is a director). South Australia is leading in this area and moving steadily ahead. It can only go one way.

Morning sun

Although today will not be particularly hot (mid 30s) we are beginning a really hot spell. Tomorrow will be 40 and so too the day after. By Sunday we will plummet again, maybe even a little rain.
There is something about the morning sun when it is hotter. It seems to energise everything and everyone. In this house no one seemed to care at 5.45 that I might not be leaving the house and could lie in bed for an hour, they were full of early morning energy.
So I capitulated and got up, pottered around. Conscious of the fact that I am half in holiday mode I am using the laptop outside, where for the moment it is still quite mild (8.30) it will not be so in an hour.
The sun's energy seems to propel one to relax rather than work. To relax with a vengeance. I am having too many ideas and keep flitting from pillar to post unable to complete anything. I must do some reading. I must do some planning. I must write a newsletter. I must put out some info about the AGM. I must visit the lady in hospital. I must attend to travel insurance and I ,must make booking for accomodation and travel in May, there is a sermon to write and various bits of administration to attend to....I shall endeavour to report back later in the day to let you know how I go.

Sitting lightly

It is not always that you hear lawyers speaking gently or positively so I was impressed when chatting with one of my friends, a lawyer, last night about a seemingly unalterable difficult situation that he said "Of course grace abounds".
It all depends on the way you choose to view situations, he suggested; so often the sytem invites us to look negatively or selfishly but we can choose to look differently. I sometimes call this "sitting lightly".
So in the last few days I have seen some difficult stuff, and am chastened by those who sit lightly in the face of adversity, and a little saddened by those who find themselves unable so to do.
Chastened by the mother who wraps her dying son in the quilt made for him while he was in hospital; chastened by the friend who so looked forward to being a parent that no when she lost that baby she is finding this Christmas time really hard; chastened by another one dying and in great pain who simply wants to come home for Christmas. Chastened by a lovely daughter or three who is just edging into the season and gently trying to make everyone's life good today and the next day.....aaah too melancholic I feel, too sermonical. But grace abounds.

Final Solution

My less-left wing brother in law (well actually he's less left wing than Alexander Downer if that places him on the political spectrum for you) quite rightly remarks that nuclear energy presents the Green movement with something of a dilemma.
While it is being offered as a "green solution", an alternative to the CO2 emitting processes which seem likely to destroy (have destroyed) all sorts of things about our planet that we have taken for granted. There is clearly a problem with the side-effects of nuclear energy and the disposal of waste. I am generally persuaded that Australia being geologically and politically stable can be a good 'dumping ground'. But no one really wants a dumping ground in their backyard if they don't have to have it.
The real dilemma is the thousands of years it requires for this stuff to be stored before it can be reprocessed ( by my reading it doesn't ever become safe again) and the exponentially increasing quantities of waste that will develop if we give ourselves to this form of power production.
Much as I hate to agree with my less left-wing b-i-l,he is right. There is a dilemma.
It was not helped by hearing a current affairs host today in discussing this issue say "We are a long way from the final solution on this issue". Final solution indeed, she is usually a lot more careful with her language.