Heard a program a couple of days ago (on that vile, ultra-liberal station, KUOW-FM here in Seattle, affiliated with the ultimate demon of the liberal media, NPR). In the context of the ANWR vote (spokespersons from both sides, I might point out. The host was quite neutral, which, of course, makes him a flaming liberal), an hour-long segment was devoted to interviewing the Danish minister of energy (don't recall his exact title).

Denmark suffered rather badly during the energy crisis of the Seventies, so they decide to make themselves energy-independent. They have done so. In fact, they do a nice business in exporting energy to other countries.

They have reduced their petroleum consumption to minuscule amounts, and what little oil they need, they don't get from the Middle East or OPEC countries. They get it from the North Sea. They don't use much, and they are working to reduce even that.

Various low-cost, efficient sources of energy that they make use of are the following:

In cities, they pipe cooling water (hot—normally considered "a waste product") from power plants to surrounding areas (like steam heat). Integrated thermal energy in buildings; a central heating system for an entire area (downtown buildings, apartment complexes, etc. Local example, most of the buildings on the University of Washington's large campus are heated from a central heating system; hot water pipes run underground through tunnels all over campus.).

Wind turbines (32% of Denmark's electricity – expected soon, 50%, eventually even higher). Birds, the energy minister said, are not endangered. Anything predictable for a bird (make the windmills visible) they can and do avoid. Clear windows are far more dangerous to them.

Burning biomass as fuel (straw, wood chips), replacing coal (in the above mentioned power plants). Also can be used in households instead of coal.

New cars are heavily taxed if they are not fuel-efficient. Average 60 mpg. instead of 20 mpg. in USA. Hybrid cars are very popular. There are also electric cars available that can attain speeds of 80 mph. and go 500 miles on a single overnight charge before switching over to a gasoline engine. [On an National Geographic Special several months ago, Alan Alda interviewed manufacturers of several alternate energy automobiles (almost all European, unavailable in the USA {now, why might that be?}), and drove some of them, including a sizable van. Ought to satisfy the wilder urges of any brainless lead-foot].

Lots of bicycles (including electric bikes). Much use of trains, rapid transit. Run ever few minutes. Popular. Inexpensive. Efficient.

They didn't mention this during the program, but there are many other sources of energy available. Alcohol can replace gasoline, vegetable oils can replace diesel. Some people are already doing this—modifying their autos on their own. No help from auto manufacturers.

Tidal power. There are several ways of doing this, including anchoring large, slow-moving turbines deep under water in areas of tidal ebb and flow, or in places like the Gulf Stream. As far as whales, dolphins, etc., being injured by the blades of the turbines, it would be easy to surround them with screens that would divert sea life from the turbines.

There are also ways of harnessing solar power that don't involve expensive solar cells (although they, too, are getting cheaper—there are people here in cloudy old Seattle who supply much or all of their household electricity with solar panels on their roofs, selling their surplus to Seattle City Light). In the American southwest, say, a substantial area of otherwise wasted land (stretch of desert, say). Bury two large zig-zag patterns of pipes just below the surface of a large expanse of desert (Several acres? Several square miles?). The pipes contain fluid. Connect the two pipe fields with a turbine, or several turbines. Place a large sheet of insulating material on a rigid platform (mounted on rails) over one half of the piped area. During the day, cover one area, shielding it from the sun's light. By nightfall, it will be cooler than the surrounding area. Then at sundown (desert nights can get pretty cold), roll the insulating sheet to the adjacent area, preventing heat from radiating away. Over a period of a few nights, you have one patch very hot (absorbs heat during the day) and an adjacent patch frosty cold (radiates what heat it has during the night). Hot fluid flows through the turbines producing electric power, cools in the cold patch, then flows back to the hot patch to be reheated and continue the cycle. Once it's set up and after the initial heating/cooling, practically no maintenance is required.

A well-know science fiction writer once said to me that considering all of the things we make from petroleum (pharmaceuticals, fertilizers, all kinds of plastics, God knows what all!), and considering the alternative sources, to burn petroleum (once it's gone, it's gone!) for energy is a crime against the future.

Don Firth