A few minutes ago a friend asked "what kind of jobs are you going to create?"
This is a valid question.
Many times I have said that if you plop down from your spacecraft in the middle of district six and open your eyes the first thing you see is trees..
Lots and lots of trees.
What I know about trees is that they contain lots of clean energy. Although a tree emits carbon when it is converted to fuel A tree sucks in whatever is belched out when it is burned during the time it is growing.
A tree mature typically contains 3o-50 cubic feed of wood, only one third of which is usable for lumber. A third can be chipped into building products and the remainder is just waste.
Waste unless there is a Electric energy plant in place to convert waste wood to electricity.
That one thing for which Americans seem to have a boundless appetite. " Is there enough?" my friend asked. "well," I reply " there are about 80,000 pounds of scrap wood per acre in a district five thousand square miles in area. Each 80,000 pound load contains 80 million BTU of energy. This is equivalent to 20 thousand barrels of oil. 20,000 times 640 acres per square mile times 5000 acres.. Check with the math department but the number boggles the mind. Boggles it a small amount anyway until you figure that amount is the 5% growth and cull trees that proper management of a forest requires you see the potential, in the billions, that our forest products can provide for energy every year. It becomes boggled squared plus one.
As a sawmiller I am often amazed that a load of firewood will bring more than a load of cut lumber. Energy is THE salable commodity in the new millennium.
Which brings us to the other hot commodity..
The Sun.
Solar radiation can be captured and stored on the grid using modern technology at reasonable prices. Add to that the 30% tax credit and energy incentives from the local electric company we see a potential of upwards of 50,000 home energy installations of solar power in district six.
All of these installations are going to require certified electricians (which coincidentally my department at the college provides) and licensed contractors to install them.
This could account for 150,000 jobs installing Photovoltaic generation equipment in zero energy homes.
But the panels also have to be built.
The manufacture of solar cells of silicon is a technical specialty products requiring clean room technology but those facilities exist and the raw materials can be purchased readily.
The assembly of these components into power producing units is a fairly low tech -high paying occupation.
A company to build such panels, along with the accompanying electronics to make them grid tie might employ 500 people in $25 per hour jobs. This plant could be put in Alabama for a reasonable sum.
Perhaps, what?
$1.6 million dollars?
This is a valid question.
Many times I have said that if you plop down from your spacecraft in the middle of district six and open your eyes the first thing you see is trees..
Lots and lots of trees.
What I know about trees is that they contain lots of clean energy. Although a tree emits carbon when it is converted to fuel A tree sucks in whatever is belched out when it is burned during the time it is growing.
A tree mature typically contains 3o-50 cubic feed of wood, only one third of which is usable for lumber. A third can be chipped into building products and the remainder is just waste.
Waste unless there is a Electric energy plant in place to convert waste wood to electricity.
That one thing for which Americans seem to have a boundless appetite. " Is there enough?" my friend asked. "well," I reply " there are about 80,000 pounds of scrap wood per acre in a district five thousand square miles in area. Each 80,000 pound load contains 80 million BTU of energy. This is equivalent to 20 thousand barrels of oil. 20,000 times 640 acres per square mile times 5000 acres.. Check with the math department but the number boggles the mind. Boggles it a small amount anyway until you figure that amount is the 5% growth and cull trees that proper management of a forest requires you see the potential, in the billions, that our forest products can provide for energy every year. It becomes boggled squared plus one.
As a sawmiller I am often amazed that a load of firewood will bring more than a load of cut lumber. Energy is THE salable commodity in the new millennium.
Which brings us to the other hot commodity..
The Sun.
Solar radiation can be captured and stored on the grid using modern technology at reasonable prices. Add to that the 30% tax credit and energy incentives from the local electric company we see a potential of upwards of 50,000 home energy installations of solar power in district six.
All of these installations are going to require certified electricians (which coincidentally my department at the college provides) and licensed contractors to install them.
This could account for 150,000 jobs installing Photovoltaic generation equipment in zero energy homes.
But the panels also have to be built.
The manufacture of solar cells of silicon is a technical specialty products requiring clean room technology but those facilities exist and the raw materials can be purchased readily.
The assembly of these components into power producing units is a fairly low tech -high paying occupation.
A company to build such panels, along with the accompanying electronics to make them grid tie might employ 500 people in $25 per hour jobs. This plant could be put in Alabama for a reasonable sum.
Perhaps, what?
$1.6 million dollars?
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