Common Sense Power

Congress: It didn't take long to run into an "uh-oh" moment when reading the House's "health care for all Americans" bill. Right there on Page 16 is a provision making individual private medical insurance illegal.

IBD Exclusive Series: Government-Run Healthcare: A Prescription For Failure

When we first saw the paragraph Tuesday, just after the 1,018-page document was released, we thought we surely must be misreading it. So we sought help from the House Ways and Means Committee.

It turns out we were right: The provision would indeed outlaw individual private coverage. Under the Orwellian header of "Protecting The Choice To Keep Current Coverage," the "Limitation On New Enrollment" section of the bill clearly states:

"Except as provided in this paragraph, the individual health insurance issuer offering such coverage does not enroll any individual in such coverage if the first effective date of coverage is on or after the first day" of the year the legislation becomes law.

So we can all keep our coverage, just as promised — with, of course, exceptions: Those who currently have private individual coverage won't be able to change it. Nor will those who leave a company to work for themselves be free to buy individual plans from private carriers.

From the beginning, opponents of the public option plan have warned that if the government gets into the business of offering subsidized health insurance coverage, the private insurance market will wither. Drawn by a public option that will be 30% to 40% cheaper than their current premiums because taxpayers will be funding it, employers will gladly scrap their private plans and go with Washington's coverage.

The nonpartisan Lewin Group estimated in April that 120 million or more Americans could lose their group coverage at work and end up in such a program. That would leave private carriers with 50 million or fewer customers. This could cause the market to, as Lewin Vice President John Sheils put it, "fizzle out altogether."

What wasn't known until now is that the bill itself will kill the market for private individual coverage by not letting any new policies be written after the public option becomes law.

The legislation is also likely to finish off health savings accounts, a goal that Democrats have had for years. They want to crush that alternative because nothing gives individuals more control over their medical care, and the government less, than HSAs.

With HSAs out of the way, a key obstacle to the left's expansion of the welfare state will be removed.

The public option won't be an option for many, but rather a mandate for buying government care. A free people should be outraged at this advance of soft tyranny.

Washington does not have the constitutional or moral authority to outlaw private markets in which parties voluntarily participate. It shouldn't be killing business opportunities, or limiting choices, or legislating major changes in Americans' lives.

It took just 16 pages of reading to find this naked attempt by the political powers to increase their reach. It's scary to think how many more breaches of liberty we'll come across in the final 1,002.

Obama, Fight The Green Agenda

2009-01-27T10:58:00.000-08:00

Don't alienate suburban voters or further endanger the economy.
Joel Kotkin
http://www.forbes.com/2009/01/26/green-climate-energy-oped-cx_jk_0127kotkin.html

Cylindrical Solar Cells Give a Whole New Meaning to Sunroof: Scientific American

2008-10-15T10:00:00.001-07:00

Cylindrical Solar Cells Give a Whole New Meaning to Sunroof: Scientific American

Posted using ShareThis

2008-10-08T18:13:00.000-07:00

Cylindrical Solar Panels Are Cheaper, More Efficient, And Easier To Maintain

Researchers at a startup company called Solyndra have designed a new way of deploying solar panels which is cheaper and more efficient than regular solar panels. The new technique consists of cylindrical solar cells which are made of thin-film semiconductor material that is deposited on a glass tube.

Full story below:

http://devicedaily.com/misc/cylindrical-solar-panels-are-cheaper-more-efficient-and-easier-to-maintain.html

Future Cars, Some Are Hydrogen Powered, One Eats Pollution!

2007-11-19T09:02:00.000-08:00

This years LA Auto Show Design Challenge has some crazy cars that's for sure.

From cars that run on pollution with lasers for tires, to cars that can melt into a puddle of sliver goo for easy parking.

Full story below.

Most Amazing Car Concepts for the Year 2057

IBM Plan For Silicon Wafer Recycling

2007-10-31T07:15:00.000-07:00

IBM has a way to recycle it's defective silicon wafers and now can sell them to solar panel makers instead of trashing them.

IBM Unveils Recycle Plan For Silicon

Google map CA wildfires

2007-10-24T23:48:00.000-07:00

This is the link to the Google map that has the current fire information attached.

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&time=&date=&ttype=&ie=UTF8&om=1&msa=0&msid=114250687465160386813.00043d08ac31fe3357571&ll=32.990236,-116.732483&spn=1.649439,3.652954&z=9

Ca wildfires photo

2007-10-24T13:49:00.000-07:00

Huge photo of the California fires.

http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/?2007295-1022/California.A2007295.2100.250m.jpg

Application for first Texan nuclear power plant in almost 30 years

2007-10-23T07:01:00.000-07:00

-- Consulting-Specifying Engineer, 10/22/2007 1:55:00 PM
NRG Energy Inc., Princeton, N.J., and South Texas Project Nuclear Operating Company announced in September filing of a combined construction and operating license application with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build and operate two new nuclear units at the South Texas Project (STP) nuclear power station site. The total rated capacity of the new units, STP 3 and 4, will equal or exceed 2,700 MW. NRG expects to bring the units on line in 2014 and 2015.
This is the first filing for a nuclear plant in almost 30 years, according to NRG officials.
STP 3 and 4 are being developed as part of the company's Repowering NRG initiative to build approximately 10,000 MW of generation facilities that leverage NRG's existing facilities' infrastructure and support a diverse fuel mix.

The South Texas Project Nuclear Operating Company, which currently operates units 1 and 2, will operate the new units as well. The STP site in Matagorda County, Texas, is considered to be one of the best sites in America for nuclear expansion. The 12,220-acre site and 7,000-acre cooling reservoir were originally designed for four units. The two new units will be built adjacent to the currently operating STP units 1 and 2

Solar Beer coming soon

2007-10-22T13:00:00.000-07:00

Stone Brewing Co has anounced to install a $3.2 million photovoltaic system for their brewery.

So, when the solar system is done, would their beer now be Solar Brew or the New Green Beer?

California utility regulators approved a sweeping program calling for new homes and commercial buildings to produce all the energy they consume

2007-10-19T10:08:00.000-07:00

Homes "zero net energy" by 2020. That would be cool, if we can reduce the cost of building such a Solar powered home.

California panel OKs new energy efficiency goals

Crazy cool colorful solar cells

2007-10-16T06:00:00.000-07:00

Great, now my cans of Spam could have spam ads all over them.

In a few years our world will really be awash in techno color.

Flexible, colorful solar cells coming next year

Blog Action Day

2007-10-15T08:41:00.000-07:00

Today is Blog Action Day..... um... do something Green everyone :P

Solar-powered parking lots

2007-10-15T08:29:00.000-07:00

I don't normally like government mandates but this one could be good....mainly for the shady parking spot in the summer :)

Solar-powered parking lots

Massive Solar Power

2007-10-12T10:32:00.000-07:00

A very interesting report about the potential power available from space-based power systems.

Space-Based Solar Power As an Opportunity for Strategic Security

New Player in Solar Tech

2007-10-12T10:18:00.000-07:00

This could be an awesome breakthrough in solar tech. My only concerns is about lifespan of such a product.

Innovalight predicts its silicon ink will dramatically cut cost of solar power

Cyber Solar is here!

2007-10-11T00:04:00.000-07:00

Well, I hope they a least make it cheaper to have installed than in R/L. :P

BP and Electronic Arts' Buddy Up in SimCity Societies

Solar Power Is Nuclear Power

2007-10-10T09:33:00.000-07:00

Did you know that all solar panels and concentrated solar power systems are still nuclear.

Solar energy depends on nuclear power. The power plant is called the Sun and is 93 million miles away. :P

Solar Cell Research

2007-10-09T09:16:00.000-07:00

I hope Cambridge can pull this off and come up with a low cost solar solution.

Plastic solar cells emerge from Cambridge research

Solar power advances

2007-10-08T10:37:00.000-07:00

Power Polymers Fuel Solar Cell Advances

I wish these advancements would come as fast as Moore's Law projects for computer hardware.
I wonder how fast solar would advance if it had as much resources applied to it's R&D as the computer industry has.

Biobased Plastics a Bust at Hewlett Packard

2007-10-08T10:22:00.000-07:00

Biobased Plastics a Bust at Hewlett Packard: "

One of Hewlett Packard’s environmental "

Abandoned Solar Power Plant --- What a waste :(

2007-10-08T00:59:00.000-07:00

Description:
The remote Carrizo Plain's status as one of the sunniest places in the state was exploited by the solar power industry from 1983 to 1994. This was by far the largest photovoltaic array in the world, with 100,000 1'x 4' photovoltaic arrays producing 5.2 megawatts at its peak. The plant was originally constructed by the Atlantic Richfield oil company (ARCO) in 1983. During the energy crisis of the late 1970's, ARCO became a solar energy pioneer, manufacturing the photovoltaic arrays themselves. ARCO first built a 1 megawatt pilot operation, the Lugo plant in Hesperia, California, which is also now closed. The Carrizo Solar Corporation, based in Albuquerque, NM, bought the two facilities from ARCO in 1990. But the price of oil never rose as was predicted, so the solar plant never became competitive with fossil fuel-based energy production (Carrizo sold its electricity to the local utility for between three and four cents a kilowatt-hour, while a minimum price of eight to ten cents a kilowatt-hour would be necessary in order for Carrizo to make a profit). Another photovoltaic facility was planned for the site by the Chatsworth Utility Power Group, and with an output of 100 megawatts it would have been many times larger than the existing facility. But the facility never got off the drawing board. The Carrizo Solar Company dismantled its 177 acre facility in the late 1990's, and the used panels are still being resold throughout the world.
Location:
Carrizo Plain (POINT(-120.0384634351 35.3756103515))(show on map)
Address:
CASan Luis Obispo County
Visitor Info:
Off I-58, 50 miles east of San Luis Obispo and 70 miles west of Bakersfield. Apparently totally removed now.
Links:
http://geoimages.berkeley.edu/GeoImages/BainCalif/CAL400/PHOTOVOL.HTML http://www.tnccalifornia.org/preserves/carrizo/

Nuclear Power

2007-10-07T22:50:00.000-07:00

It's a start, but it would be nice if more companies where attempting to build nuclear power plants in the US.
"FRANCE'S EDF AIMS TO BUILD FIRST NUCLEAR PLANT IN US IN 2015"