Behold - For the Future of Green Energy We Must Look To Our Past !?&%$#@???

Submitted by Zebra Mussel on Wed, 07/11/2007 - 21:46.
Behold - For the Future of Green Energy We Must Look To Our Past !?&%$#@???

I would like to add that this and the other audacious billboard are the only procoal billboards on the PA turnpike and they are both adjacent to the wind turbines out that way; In fact if you squint really hard you can see the turbines in the fog.

PA Presents the Future of COAL - Clean Green Energy.

Does that mean they know coal is dead? Pun intended.

I suggest for their next billboards they go with " Coal - 100% organic and natural
The irony of this scene is what gets me really.

PS- I have been sitting on this shot since the snow has fallen.  I took this around easter en route to east coast.

Nice Notations

Really dug this piece Zebra - noone interjects the wry wit like you do.  PR and marketing efforts are so often awash with greenwash - we've seen this time and time again.  There is a bit of a connundrum I face, when I consider the recent connection I made to help drive grassroots (East) Cleveland economic development by ensuring that Hot Sauce Williams BBQ would have a berth at Ingenuity to hawk succulent soul food.

Greg Williams, BBQ master, prefers using organic charcoal briquets over propane and I laud that.  Of course we're back to coal again- but these 'grassroots emissions' should be negligible, especially considering some grill modifications under consideration.  I hope to integrate their location on Euclid outside of Playhouse Square with our sustainability showcase at Monte Ahuja.  More to come!

Charcoal BBQ making things hotter in more ways than one.

Dont get me wrong I love tastey bbq... but I do cringe a tad bit at the term "organic charcoal briquets".   See my post above "coal - 100% organic".   Currently I am unaware of folks certifiying silvaculture as organic.   Of course maple syrup can be... and thats an important one because the main difference in organic maple syrup vs. conventional in these here parts is that organic syrup production does not allow for the use of the anti-coagulants that can be used in conventional maple syrup productions.... that being said I am getting off topic from Charcoal BBQ to syrup... sorry for the sweet digression.

Charcoal  briquets are produced by burning high carbon materials like mother natures forest in a low oxygen environment.   A great bumper sticker once said, love your mother dont destroy her.  

Is burning trees to make fuel a wise use for Gods creation?   You be the judge.    

Alas I am a scientist not a evangelical minister.   Burn it once in a low oxygen environment then burn it again in a zero emissions control environment.   Propane does have its baggage given its oilfield origins but it also has 1/3 the emissions of charcoal per BTU at time of burning.

The potential environmental problems associated with charcoal use are exposure of users to high carbon monoxide concentration levels during cooking and emission of relatively copius quantities of nitrogen oxides aka NoX.

The Kyoto Protocol (ratified by 54 nations but not ours in 1997) calls for a substantial reduction in green house gasses world wide including nitrous oxides.

Between 2000 and 2004 the combusion of solid fuels (e.g. coal) accounted for 32% of the total CO2 hitting the atmosphere.

Interestingly Nitrous oxide (by volume) has increased 16%  since pre-industrial (1750's) levels (thanks wikipedia).   While carbon dioxide has increased over 150% in the same time frame.

Of course I try not to point out a problem without providing a solution so without further ado...  ZM prescribes more sustainably forested / produced charcoal like Wicked Good Charcoal made from "reclaimed industrial woodscraps, or Kingsford Charwood  which is initially charred using the heat from a cogeneration turbine.

Happy BBQ'ing!

Thanks for BBQ solutions

Your posting was bumming me out until the end, when you offer better ways to BBQ with charcoal. Interesting the Kingsford site doesn't mention the Charwood product is initially charred using the heat from a cogeneration turbine - that would be a major selling point. Where did you learn about that?

Disrupt IT

Great shot ZM

We're starting to see wind pop up all over the place, except here, as we study wind on water here. Your photo shows that even in the shadow of big coal wind can happen down south... gotta wonder that big interests have kept us so far behind up here in the "Progressive" north? Just poor public leadership here, or public leadership working for the Electric Company instead of the public?

Disrupt IT

paranoid bbq'ers must buy carbon offsets.

Yes yes.  Sorry for bumming you out.  To be frank, I myself got bummed out because I freeking love BBQ.  In fact I love bbq so much I will be traveling to my old home town of Madison Indiana this year like always for the Madison Ribber Fest.  It is the Hoosier State's only prequalifier for the Kansas City National BBQ compitition.  I am driving there in a 32 mpg honda.  OMG this is like a self help group.  I do feel better after getting that off my chest.  I promise to try to avoid using our 23 mpg truckster.

Ok well I have other interests in that little burb as well but its a almost pure bbq weekend.

As for why the wind turbines down in S. PA... cant tell ya.  I dont know the situation down there.   All I know is coal is totally natural.  Its from nature.   It is nature.   ;-)   Somebody stop me.

I had a feeling I was going to step on some toes with the bbq piece.  I usually end up being the whipping boy for the environment.  Surprisingly its been that way since nailing my first polluter in highschool.   FYI the first polluter I nabbed is online at Madison State Hospital .   Wholley smoke its in the same town as my Ribber Fest.    Just ignore the relationship.  You dont  know who I am  ;-)    Ok you do.

Paranoia is all relative

Nice thoughts Zebra - paranoia is all relative, as is conspiracy theory.  Just sampled some Bush-Mills Whiskey - what  a great complement to sip on - perhaps at many a BBQ in the future.  For now, I'll stick to my occasional fave - Maker's Mark!