Renewable Energy — Facts and Fantasies: Tales from Launch Day

Renewable Energy — Facts and Fantasies: Tales from Launch Day

A funny thing happened when we launched Renewable Energy Facts and Fantasies last week. Of course, I was hoping it would do well in the categories to which Amazon.com had assigned it: energy, engineering, and physics. And while it went to number one for a few days in both energy and engineering, it got massacred in physics.

It seems that Steven Hawking, by far the most famous physicist on Earth, had just launched his new book. And was there any controversy that may have spurred his book sales even higher than they otherwise would have been?

Just a teeny bit. Hawking concluded that the universe could have been created without God. In turn, this caused The Pope himself to decry the book. Not only the atheists and Catholics, but the Hindus, the Protestants, and the Buddhists, nudists, and flutists — all flocked to buy the book.

I had to laugh when I saw what was going on.  It was like I had planned to broadcast my documentary on bird watching on a quiet Sunday afternoon — only to learn that they rescheduled the Super Bowl for that day, featuring Janet Jackson and her malfunctioning wardrobe as the halftime show.

Some things are out of our hands.

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9 comments on “Renewable Energy — Facts and Fantasies: Tales from Launch Day
  1. Les Blevins says:

    Hawking is correct. The universe could have been (and indeed was) created without God. I’ve heard from God and he confirmed it. Nature is the creator of the universe, God only invested his time and effort in the creation and development of mankind. God says he hasn’t meddled in human affairs but a few times. Once was appointing John Brown as his agent in charge of initiating the end of slavery in America. Lincoln was left to deal with implementing changes John Brown enabled. If you study your history the facts are all well recorded. God handed me a message about physics even Hawking would like to know. He reveiled the so called “simple truth” that can explain everything about the universe that Einstein was seeking when he diveloped his theory of relativity, like how is it that the universe has no center and no edge and a lot more.

  2. Dennis Miles says:

    That brings to mind an article I was going to post on the EVDL list about all the negative publicity the EVs keep getting from the media. Some days it seems if a Positive press release is distributed the same few “Friendly” media outlets give it coverage, and the other 20,000 publish something negative and if they post the positive piece at all it is hidden away beyond the Obituaries section. The behavior shows they are very very frightened. Perhaps out of Ignorance or fear of change. Perhaps it we all keep a vigil for these half-truths, and erroneousness statements or confused factoids, then immediately contact the authors, editors, and publishers with plainly written corrections including our expert status and combining it with an offer to be locally interviewed. Reminding them of our established readership status for their publication. Always speaking positively and never negatively of the author/editor and their confused information. And just so you never lose hope, remember all great publicists always agree, “The only bad publicity is no publicity” so even if whey get it wrong. at least we know only 10% will be remembered in 10 days if that much, and usually only the subject, so the reader will be more open to reading our press on the same topics, than if no mention of Electric Vehicles was ever made at all. Remember the scene in “Who Killed the Electric Car” where the two young ladies said, “Electric Car? Do they make electric cars? Where can I see one? Are they for sale?” but alas the EV-1was gone. The Media could hurt our cause much more if they merely ignored us.

  3. Dennis Miles says:

    To all who read this, if you served the USA in Honorable Military Service, I offer my personal

    Thank You for your Service to our Country. ( From one Veteran to the others !)

  4. j miller says:

    i would hope Les Blevins will get in toutch with God and find out how to solve the energy crisis and also get the answer to out economic crisis

  5. Garth says:

    Craig, i’ve been reading your book and have found it quite interesting; I intend on buying Hawking’s book as well; i just read a lot. I don’t think it was so much what Hawking said about the creation of the universe that sold his book but the simple idea that something along those lines was said at all by a well known person. The reason I say this is because I write a bi-weekly column from the conservative point of view; much of my material concerns the environment. I’ve found out over the years that I have a larger audience of liberals than I do of conservatives; most are waiting and watching for something to disagree on rather than just reading for content.
    About your book, concerning wind and the mention of storage; over this last year I have sensed some denial by the wind folks about that service and have come to the conclusion that the denial is born of one unknown factor- cost. As yet, the value of the benefits of storage haven’t been defined beyond arbitrage, however it is becoming very clear that storage on a large scale should be considered and valued as a transmission asset rather than a service for generation of variable energy and those values haven’t been established as yet either. One day wind will understand that the benefits and value of storage outweight the cost. On that day the combustion generation industry will see the end of their reign. I would like to have seen more of this in your book. Keep it up.

  6. Matt Snyder says:

    @ j miller – It appears to me that God was otherwise engaged with somebody else and putting pen to paper for a message about Physics & Steven Hawking to be available for solving a problem of our own creation, for us. During a life threatening illness in 2007 I had “that” conversation with God. The one where you make all kinds of empty promises if God will let you live. As I feared, God knew just how empty those promises usually are with us humans so 2 weeks later when the infection recurred, this time with a vengeance God did not tell me how to fix both problems. That, I already knew back then. What he told me was that I was poor soul he had been preparing to be able, for quite some time. While this explained a thousand strange events & decisions in the past, it told me nothing of the strange events of the future. God has a sense of humor too.

  7. lew says:

    Check out Ohio’s Advanced Energy Fund. It was cut without notice leaving holding the bag on contracts to fulfill. Word is that the Stickland administration was diverting the funds. No one has covered this story which needs explanation. We had an interview with the local news today hopefully it will bring light to this arbitrary decision made on 11/5/10. I alone have half a million in deals that need submitted in time to get the 1603.

    • JohnInMA says:

      Lew, only because I research legislation and incentives did I read a week ago, or so, that the state of Ohio has ceased accepting new applications so that they can focus on received applications by the end of the year. The magic end of year date is important, because the division that administers the fund is uncertain if or to what level it will be replenished next year. It hasn’t been stated clearly in what I have read, but I assume it has some linkage to the recent state level elections and appropriations that follow with new blood. Just FYI.

  8. It’s good that most people like the concept of renewables by heart, including atheists and Catholics, the Hindus, the Protestants, and the Buddhists, nudists, and flutists, even it may not make sense in some extense.

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