Energy Flashes

The Mother Earth News editors

July/August 1976

THE NUCLEAR INDUSTRY SHOULD USE "ADVANCED POLITICAL CAMPAIGN MANAGEMENT TECHNOLOGY" to counter the efforts of anti-nuke consumer groups, states an Atomic Industrial Forum memo (printed in the May 1976 issue of Not Man Apart). "Just as the anti-nuclear [forces] have sold fear," the AIF memo brashly asserts, "the industry needs to find levers with equal emotional intensity-massive unemployment, no growth, poorer living standards, runaway costs and foreign dominance-[to put its point across]."

THE HAWAII STATE LEGISLATURE HAS PASSED A SOLAR TAX-INCENTIVE LAW which would allow persons-or corporations-who install solar energy devices on their property to deduct 10% of the device's cost from their state income tax. In addition, the same law exempts solar energy installations from real property assessment and taxation. One down, 49 to go.

AMERICANS USE 50% MORE ENERGY PER CAPITA THAN WEST GERMANS, new Federal Energy Administration report says. A study prepared for FEA by the Stanford Research Institute claims that U.S. citizens expend twice as many Btu's per capita in home heating as their German counterparts, while American industry consumes three times as much energy per unit of production as West German manufacturers. FEA analyst Jeffrey Milstein: "[This] suggests it is possible for the U.S. to substantially reduce the ratio of energy use to national income without cutting living standards or economic growth."

THE SOLAR ENERGY INDUSTRIES ASSOCIATION HAS SELECTED AN OFFICIAL MAGAZINE. It's called Solar Engineering, and it's one of the most information-dense semi-technical monthlies around. Solar energy is a fast-moving field demanding fast-paced coverage. You get it with Solar Engineering.

RETIRED NAVAL OFFICER MAY HAVE DISCOVERED THE WORLD'S MOST ABUNDANT NEW FUEL SOURCE: Dirt. Samuel Freedman of San Diego, California, has apparently found a way to ignite earth, rock or sand above a bath of molten metal and obtain more energy out than he's putting in. L. William Seidman, a member of President Ford's Energy Research Council has expressed interest in Freedman's work, while Joseph M. Ball-technical analyst for the Minnesota Energy Agency-called laboratory demonstrations "mind-boggling."

FULL NATIONWIDE USE OF REVOLUTIONARY NEW "LITEK" FLUORESCENT LIGHT BULB could "save [the U.S.] more than the equivalent of 500,000 barrels of oil per day," in the words of ERDA spokesman Austin Heller. The electrodeless Litek bulb-which uses 70% less energy than conventional incandescent lights-is the brainchild of Donald Hollister (of Placentia, California), whose company recently received $310,000 from ERDA to develop the invention.

ANYONE INTERESTED IN THE LOCATION, SIZE, COST, EFFICIENCY AND COLLECTOR SPECIFICATIONS of the more than 200 solar heated and/or cooled buildings in operation worldwide will find this information-and more-in the brand-new 12th Edition of William A. Shurcliff's Solar Heated Buildings: A Brief Survey. Check out this unique, fact-filled report.

LARGE POWER PLANTS ARE INCREASINGLY UNRELIABLE, an Edison Electric Institute study finds. The utility trade organization reports, for example, that fossil-fuel-burning plants with outputs of more than 600 megawatts were working only 58% of the time in 1974 (compared to 79% for smaller operations). However, all types of large power plants have, according to the EEI survey, declined in reliability of late.

THE LARGEST FEDERAL GRANT EVER GIVEN FOR A SOLAR DEMONSTRATION PROJECT has been awarded Trinity University of San Antonio, Texas. The $1,231,393 grant, to be matched by an additional $413,734 of the school's own funds, will be used to heat and cool a gymnasium and six dormitories with solar energy. Plans call for the largest known collector area ever to be used in one installation: 16,080 square feet of concentrating solar collectors.

GREAT PLAINS WINDUSTRIES, INC., is a new non-profit organization whose only goal is to promote wind power. William H. Ward left a job as environmental specialist for the Kansas attorney general to found the fledgling group, which is now busily developing written material, slide presentations and other tools designed to help spread the word about wind energy. "The best way to promote wind energy is to get some equipment up for everyone to see," Ward says. "We want to encourage such projects and let the public know about them."