Santee Riverkeeper Blog

The sun is a persistent and relentless source of energy that must be harnessed via the photovoltaic effect.  We do not have to seek, harvest, mine, frack, grow, distribute, transmit, pipe, purchase, ship, nor contain the photons that are readily and abundantly available for use.

The Santee Riverkeeper challenges 1) legislatures to enact law that is solar friendly and to nullify laws that are not, 2) non-governmental organizations to ardently advocate for solar energy, 3) organizations to pursue and adopt solar as an energy source, 4) universities and colleges to teach students about solar energy with a multi-disciplinary approach, 5) private citizens to educate themselves about solar energy, 6) power companies to markedly augment their solar budget line item, 7) scientists to invent new technologies to improve the efficiency of the photovoltaic effect and/or to discover a new method of photon to electricity conversion, 8) financial institutions to provide low-interest loans for solar energy implementations, 9) states, counties, and municipalities to exempt solar panels from property tax only when each specific solar energy implementation attains a rolling average breakeven point and taking into account the specific median cloud coverage for that geographical location for the previous twelve months, 10) electricity meter manufacturers to redesign meters in order to accommodate solar energy implementations as an electricity supplier, 11) insurance companies to build panel replacement risk models based on a combination of market value plus environmental benefit factors and taking into account the specific median cloud coverage for that geographical location for the previous twelve months, 12) engineers to design a low cost sun tracking mechanism to optimize the angle of incidence to 90° during photon impact with the photovoltaic substrate, 13) politicians to never make solar energy a negative political issue, and 14) everyone to plan for solar energy and finally, all of these actions and others, I believe will provide us with a renewable, environmentally friendly, efficient and clean source of electricity.

Santee Riverkeeper

National energy diversification strategy and implementations must be aggressively pursued to improve the health of our environment and to reduce the instance rate for diseases and cancer.

Preface:

Are you addicted to PVC, coal and fossil fuels? I am. Get the truth and decide for yourself. Where are all these unidentifiable" illnesses and diseases like Parkinson's, autism, and this, that. My theory is that the pollution at a molecular level is interfering with the stem cell generation process during the 1st trimester of pregnancy.

Supposition and scope:

Deviated stem cells are influenced by the molecular level pollution during the 1st trimester.

Impact:

The mutated stem cells message to regenerate is becomes distorted and even further into a state that may cause disease. Cells "talk" to one another so that the fetus can develop properly. If these cellular messages are in any way distorted, the cell will mutate sometimes for the good and sometimes for the bad. There is no direct way to determine what is good and bad because. The definition of good and bad could be measured on lots of different scales or measuring stick.

More information:

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/pd.1970120505/abstract

http://www.justmommies.com/printable-pregnancy-calendar.php

http://www.babycenter.com/pregnancy-calendar

http://www.whattoexpect.com/pregnancy/week-by-week/landing.aspx

http://www.ivillage.com/my-pregnancy-week-by-week

http://www.webmd.com/baby/features/an-expectant-dads-guide-to-pregnancy

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Link&db=pubmed&dbFrom=PubMed&from_uid=15635073

The Santee Riverkeeper Alliance is seeking ideas from the people of the Santee River Watershed on ideas to improve our water quality. The Alliance has held an event each month so far this year and plan on continuing this march towards Clean Water. We've got plenty of ideas, however, the Alliance values the thoughts and ideas of the watershed citizens. So, when an idea comes to mind about how we can keep our waters safe for its users please send the Riverkeeper an email at Riverkeeper@SanteeRiverkeeper.org with your idea.

Of course there are many solution paths that lead to a reduction of carbon emissions here on planet Earth; however, the most prudent choice is to expand solar power electricity generation immediately via the photovoltaic effect.

-Santee Riverkeeper

The traditional tendency to use fossil fuels is diminishing. The installation of a pipeline within the heartland and above our nation's largest underground freshwater aquifer the "old-fashioned" way is becoming extinct.  The subsidies provided to the fossil-fuel industry by the government for the construction of the mechanisms to harvest fossil fuels should be used instead to diversify our energy production portfolio especially in solar wind and others.  Approximately 32 million watts of energy per square mile day strike the surface of the earth daily (11.5 billion watts/square mile annually).  Furthermore, The EIA reports that in 2011, fossil fuel powered generation was 1,593,912 MWh. In order to replace 30% of the fossil fuel production, we would need only to install 40 square miles of solar cells.  Now that's the a way to create jobs.  The efficiency of solar technology cells will increase at the rate of doubling for every three years;  I believe that if the consumption of the solar energy increases at the industrial, commercial, and residential levels production and innovation will occur and the photovoltaic efficiency will increase.  With this increase of solar power consumption the pollution in our environment will decrease. The health of our people will increase.  Land, air and water quality will improve.  New markets for the construction, distribution, installation, and maintenance will be created.  The expansion of the new economy does not include fossil fuels.   Fossil fuels are being phased "down."  For this reason it is prudent that we aggressively seek alternative sources of energy.

- Santee Riverkeeper

Figure1. - U.S Energy Production for the past decade by type

 Figure 2 - Energy production % change by type from previous year and as a percentage of total production for current year.

NPDES permits granted by a state authority to entities are basically a license to pollute and specify the ranges at which each pollutant is acceptable.  Over the past couple of weeks the Santee Riverkeeper Alliance has reviewed some of these permits and has found that many municipalities, corporations, water treatment companies, etc. have been chronic violators over the past many years.   If there weren't any penalties incurred by the offenders, that would explain the pervasiveness of the chronic violations.  From our analysis these permits are useless.  They are not enforced.  The pollution limits mean nothing to the authority that granted them.  Why waste time writing them?  The health of our rivers and streams might be a good reason.

Please let me say to you what I am while you listen.  I am the one that thins the land and thickens
the air.  I am also known as stream, river, bay, branch, canal, cloud, ocean, and sea.  You may classify me by color and clarity and even turbidity.  My shape and speed varies depending upon the terrain that I travel.  I have no control as to where I go but am the agile authority when I arrive.  I usually travel most fastidiously down the steepest slope and meander along on the deltas that I create.   I fly, transfer large amounts of energy, and carve stone and cut steel given the proper amount of time or velocity.  I exist in three states known as liquid, solid, and vapor.  I am my rarest in my purest form and weigh 18.01528 grams/mole.  I have a triple and critical point at an exact temperature and pressure.  I am conveniently, artificially, and unfortunately caged for profit in what I will call a fossil-fueled plastic jail named "bouteille en plastique."  I am more than the ninety-nine percent of the one hundred percent.  The Sounds I make shall be my and your keeper.  You may only speak on average and the majority, the seventy percent, of what I have to say.  I am the trickle, the pitter patter, the swish, and the swash.  I am the ahhhh after the quenching of your thirst from the garden hose on a hot summer's day.  I am the roar of an ocean wave breaking on the beach.  I am the tufts of mist on the crests of waves just as the wind likes to blow through your hair so does it mine.  I am the drip from a leaking faucet.  I am the hurricane and cyclone wave hauling heat around the earth as it takes a deep breath and exhales.  I am measured on by many scales but only after I have traveled through those bounds. The key to me is not as to what you think of me but is what you hear of what I have to say.  Listen closely.  My name is Water and I have a voice.

The Santee Riverkeeper, Mark Bruce, has decided to donate his birthday to help a group, organization, or an individual organize a cleanup located around the Lake Marion area.  The Santee Riverkeeper Alliance will provide food, drinks, and cleanup supplies.  Any interested person that has their eye on a location that needs some rejuvenation may email the Riverkeeper at Riverkeeper@SanteeRiverkeeper.org.  Although Mr. Bruce's birthday actually occurs on January 20th, the actual date of the cleanup event will occur on Saturday, January 21st.