Re: Wind power may not be rocket science but...

On Apr 29, 5:10 am, "Amused" <jamescopel...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
"chatnoir" <wolfbat3...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message

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On Apr 28, 1:07 pm, "Amused" <jamescopel...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:





"chatnoir" <wolfbat3...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message

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On Apr 27, 1:49 pm, "Amused" <jamescopel...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

"°cg°" <cgrams7@{removethis}yahoo.com> wrote in message

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...it might be rock science.

Using gravel to store energy collected from wind turbines;
<http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2010-04/giant-gravel-batteri...>

--
°cg°
If beef was not subsidized it would cost around 98 dollar per pound!
Don't see many complaining there!

Someone should tell the Australians, Brazilians, and especially the
Argentineans. I'm sure they would be surprised to find out that their
economically strapped country is actually subsidizing something.

James
Lad, if beef actually could command those kind of prices, they'd be
raising
cattle in the median strips of interstate highways.

Check it out!

Kobe Beef can, in effect, sometimes command $100 per pound at extremely
upscale restaurants, but there is no subsidy involved.

Angus beef at auction can get upwards towards $5.00 a pound on the hoof.  (I
have heard the prices lately, but considering the cost increases in past
couple of months, it might be over $5.00 a pound now)

Now a prize bull, at auction, things might be different, but such animals
are not sold by the pound (like slaughter cattle are), those animals are not
destined for anyone's plate.

YOU "check it out" since, in a rural community in central Kansas, I can't
turn on a radio without eventually hearing a farm report.

There ARE a lot of different farm subsidies floating around out there, (in
the US) cotton and sugar usually are the ones attracting the most political
ire.  International trade is affected because foreign farmers cannot compete
in the US market.  Too bad.

There IS an ethanol subsidy that does have the effect of diverting corn away
from the food market into fuel production, (thus driving up the cost of
corn), but that drives up the cost of corn-fattened beef, not down.

Most of the people around here, buy their beef directly from the producer..
(Usually a half or a quarter)  Since the buyers can direct the fattening
process, (i.e. how much corn or grain to feed the cow) they rarely save as
much money as one might expect, rather shoveling that potential savings into
the fattening process.  High-fat marbled beef, properly aged tastes better
than grass-fed beef.  After the processing cost at the local meat locker and
the storage costs of the home freezer, I really doubt there is a tremendous
saving per pound.  But there are no subsidy.

James....
Are your EMT's repeadedly warned about the potential explosive nature of
hog-effluent holding tanks?- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

http://www.globalpolicy.org/social-and-economic-policy/international-trade-and-development-1-57/general-analysis-on-international-trade-and-development/48887.html

Gemma Ware
Africa Report
March 30 2010



With the US and Europe running huge budget deficits and desperate to
cut spending, should Africa seize this moment to push for a fairer
system of world trade to help its farmers access world markets?

It's hard to be optimistic under grey skies. But as rain lashed down
this morning on Montpellier, France's centre of agricultural research,
the cows in the surrounding hills were sitting pretty.

It's worth saying again: every cow in the West receives $2.5 a day in
subsidies, compared to 90 cents a day for every child in the
developing world.

But this global financial crisis presents an opportunity to get rid of
distortions. And there is little doubt that at $100bn a year each, US
and European farm subsidies are distorting world trade.

Anxious governments in Europe and the US scratching around to reign in
budget deficits are deaf, however, to calls to radically reduce the
subsidies that cripple African farmers' ability to compete fairly.

There has been little real optimism of change this week on the
sidelines of the first ever Global Conference on Agricultural Research
for Development here in Montpellier, which hopes to produce a
framework better linking scientists with the farmers using their
research.

Yes, it's an opportunity they're saying, but we've been here before.
Two years ago during the food price spike the same call was made- and
nothing changed.

In the West, there are now some refreshing sings of political will for
cuts. But they are vulnerable to being snuffed out. Under pressure to
cut back a projected deficit of $1.5 trillion in 2010, Obama's 2011
draft budget proposes cuts of $2.5bn over the next 10 years in direct
farm subsidies plus another $8bn in cuts to agricultural insurance.
But just like when Obama tried - and failed - the same move last year,
the lobbying juggernaught steered by the US agricultural sector is
more than likely to stop this reform in its tracks.

In Europe, although the UK is pushing for changes to the Common
Agricultural Policy, French President Nicolas Sarkozy recently made it
clear that he would rather create a crisis in the EU before giving it
up. French farmers, CAP's biggest beneficiaries, cheered.

Farm subsidies are an unfair political reality. Africa shouldn't be
wasting its breath trying to change them.

But, that doesn't give African politicians an excuse for inaction when
it comes to agricultural policy leaps. There are countries - like
China, Vietnam and Brazil - whose agriculture has thrived despite the
massive subsidies in the West. The reason? Policymakers who looked 50
years ahead, saw where their country needed to be, and invested in
agriculture.

Rather than sit back and let the West dump cheap, surplus food on
their doorstep, perhaps governments should be standing up to say no.
The temptation may be to provide cheap food so that the people don't
take to the streets and riot, but somebody needs to break the vicious
cycle says Namanga Ngongi, President of the Alliance for a Green
Revolution in Africa. Investments in domestic agriculture such as
those taken by Malawi, that position agricultural spending as spending
for the public good just like money for education and healthcare, will
be one way to start.

The Mediterranean region here around Montpellier is battling its own
issues around biodiversity: warming climates are pushing some crop
varieties further north. Nobody knows what type of crops will move in
to fill the gap, or how the migrant plants will fare in new soils.

Africa is facing even greater challenges from climate change. Getting
policymakers to listen to the researchers to make sure investments are
made with an eye on what can be grown in the future, will be just as
important.
.

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