In doing some research for my previous post about wind-up gadgets, I ran across the Energy Kids Page created by the U.S. Department of Energy.
The page shows an adorable blue ant playing energy games and taking energy quizzes, and it offers classroom activities for teachers! And how about this fun fact: Did you know that ink and crayons are made from fossil fuels?
Hey, DOE, did you know that some aren’t?
But here’s what really got me steamed. On the first page, where they explain How Electricity Is Generated, DOE writes that
Solar power is derived from the energy of the sun. However, the sun’s energy is not available full-time and it is widely scattered.
Widely scattered? So is petroleum. So is coal, America’s #1 source of electricity. But DOE doesn’t mention that. Solar is the only energy source that DOE describes for kids as having any problems at all.
DOE – as well as children and their parents – may be interested to know that the sun exists in more places on Earth than either oil or coal. The only reason coal and oil don’t appear to be “widely scattered” is because we’ve developed complex delivery systems for them. If we’d spent the last five years investing in collection and delivery systems for solar power rather than on an expeditionary army that’s consuming more than 3 million gallons of oil a day in Iraq, maybe solar power wouldn’t seem so scary to the Dept of Energy.
Hey, kids. Don’t be fooled.
![Windsor Castle Upper Ward Quadrangle 2 - Nov 2006.jpg [POTD for November 17 from commons.wikimedia.org]](http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Windsor_Castle_Upper_Ward_Quadrangle_2_-_Nov_2006.jpg "Windsor Castle Upper Ward Quadrangle 2 - Nov 2006.jpg [POTD for November 17 from commons.wikimedia.org]")
April 15, 2008 at 1:45 pm
Scary–the novel is coming true.
But I do like the idea that I can blame high gas prices on crayon-happy kindergarteners.
April 15, 2008 at 2:09 pm
Kids these days!
April 15, 2008 at 9:47 pm
[...] If we’d spent the last five years investing in collection and delivery systems for solar power rather than on an expeditionary army that’s consuming more than 3 million gallons of oil a day in Iraq, maybe solar power wouldn’t seem so … Read More [...]
April 16, 2008 at 9:31 am
Haha! It’s this guy’s fault:
http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n139/spacecakecookie/I_fuckin___love_coloring_by_WhiteSt.jpg
April 17, 2008 at 1:52 pm
Hey, readers. Click on the link in Bryson’s comment above. Those damn kids destroying the global economy with their crayons!
April 17, 2008 at 2:33 pm
[...] ad is two years old, but it seems so fresh in light of all the other energy misinformation we’re being fed these [...]
April 22, 2008 at 7:59 am
You make good points. Thanks for digging in and publishing these thoughts.
Also thanks for your comment at http://www.timprosserfuturing.wordpress.com.
I am trying not to get too bogged down in the day-to-day stuff and to maintain a focus a couple of decades out, but … they’re (the media) dragging me down a bit. I’m glad you’re covering the crayon issue, though, and will stop back to see what else you’re writing about.
Nice job – Thanks
- Tim
April 24, 2008 at 11:41 am
[...] 5. The Dept of Energy told us the alternatives to petroleum products aren’t reliable. [...]
May 1, 2008 at 4:56 pm
geez—widely scattered huh? are we going backwards now? solar would be free and clean if they’d only get going on it—-blog52, ? the world is totally going to collapse, I swear….
I’m waiting for the robot video to load but I’m actually too scared to watch it…thry will rule the world in the end—and people who clone themselves…
June 5, 2008 at 10:28 am
CRAZINESS. INSTEAD OF PUTTING SOME EFFORT INTO DEVELOPING COLLECTION AND DELIVERY SYSTEMS FOR SOLAR POWER, LET’S JUST KEEP PAYING OBSURD AMOUNTS OF MONEY TO THE TERRORIST NATIONS FROM ALL DIRECTIONS AND SEE WHO CAN DESTORY THE EARTH FASTER.