Dear FRONTLINE,
Thank you kindly for your investigative report "HEAT." Writing from the province of oil sands production, I appreciate learning more of what is happening in the world's corporate/political arena.
I am deeply ashamed of being an Albertan, knowing very well what my provincial and federal governments are doing to contribute to the problem, not the solution. It seems that news of both the positive and negative steps being taken on the world stage get lost in my local media, which is more concerned with the immediate economic climate as it relates to big oil.
In Spring 2008 I had the great fortune of spending 5 weeks in Europe learning about urban planning, sustainability and renewable technologies as a part of my university education. What struck me the most as we visited 11 cities over 5 countries was the dedication at the municipal level to combat climate change through the endorsement of renewable technologies, planning vibrant high density communities, and most importantly investing in alternative transportation initiatives. Not once in my 5 weeks did I require, or even desire, a vehicle because of fabulous public transit, bicycle rental programs, and dedicated bicycle lanes. The compact nature of each city also helped - I was able to leisurely walk half way across Paris in 3 hours, and across the entire city of Copenhagen in 2.
The most important thing I took away from my European learning experience was that the North American dream of a big house in the suburbs and one large vehicle per person is severely flawed. Sprawling cities are encroaching on valuable farm land, of which a finite amount exists globally, and to move within these monstrosities the vehicle has become a necessary evil because municipal infrastructure does not exist to facilitate the transportation needs that are associated with large cities.
Another important lesson I received is that everything is interconnected - changing valuable farm land used for food production into large houses and biofuel benefits no one, and polluting in one place has severe consequences both in the immediate vicinity and afar.
North Americans seem to be allergic to the idea of high density and small homes, but after living in a such an environment for 5 weeks I can honestly say there is no other way I would rather live. A five minute walk takes you to the nearby subway station, grocery store, and park. Shops and cafes line every street contributing to a vibrant and dynamic atmosphere. People are healthier and happier because they walk and interact with neighbors, rather than sit in traffic jams cursing those around them. Homes need not be large, why stay home when there is so much to see and do just outside your doorstep? Parks and playgrounds are bursting with children and people playing sports, compared to the North American child who is often forced to play alone in a confined suburban yard because the nearest playground is a 15 minute drive away.
Local initiatives to put a solar panel on every roof, a wind turbine in every community, accessible and efficient public transit including dedicated bike lanes in every city, and building vibrant high density municipalities where a person's every need can be meet in a 5 minute walking radius from their home, would go a long way towards combating the looming environmental crisis.
I know what kind of world my children will face if we as a society do not make serious changes to our current lifestyle. To ensure that they have access to clean air, water, food and shelter, I am willing to make sacrifices. Are you?
Melissa Peters
Calgary, AB
Dear FRONTLINE,
Kudos to Martin Smith and Frontline. This was an excellent description of the dilemma our world faces today.
The decision we have to make is this: Change the way we produce energy aka: elimination of fossil fuels, or continue our carbon emission ways and change our world forever with a runaway climate and billions of human lives hanging in the balance.
An excellent book was just published in Oct. 2008 called "Prescription for the Planet" by Tom Blees. The author describes in detail how we can ween outselves off of fossil fuels. We can have a 90% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions by 2050.
The 3 legged approach includes: 1. The developement of 4th Generation Nuclear power plants called Integral Fast Reactors (IFRs) They are safe, cheap to build, have no waste storage problems, have no nuclear proliferation problems, use the spent fuel rods of older generation nuclear plants as reprocessed fuel. The fuel is better than free. Produce baseload power with no greenhouse gas emissions. 2. Developement of boron as the fuel of future. Unlike hydrogen, boron is not explosive, it is not toxic to handle, Can be sold over the counter at a 7-11 store, it does not destroy the ozone layer like hydrogen, is cheap and abundant. Can produce the power we need for cars and trucks. Boron emits no greenhouse gases. 3. The developement of Plasma Conversion plants to reprocess garbage into useful products like synthetic oil, plastics and multitudes of building materials with no greenhouse gas emissions.
The developement of the 4th Gen IFR plants can provide all the power we need to supply not only the US, but China, India and other developing nations. Power needs are projected to double by 2050. Renewables will help but will not be able to fill the gap, which means that fossil fuels will still be used far into the future. IFR nuclear power plants can replace all the existing fossil fuel plants, with none of the dangers of the previous generation of nuclear power plants. The concepts described in this book are powerful and will work.
Ron Hayden
Spring, Texas
Dear FRONTLINE,
Our family recently purchased a new vehicle. We were looking at several models including a Chevy, which I was inclined toward, being the American made vehicle. However, my wife talked me into getting the Honda. I am so glad that we did.
The Not So Big Three are deserving of their reduced stature. Their intransigent behavior and reliance on political bribery is reprehensible. Perhaps the auto, coal, and oil companies will someday get with the program. And could someone tell John Dingell that he might not be doing such a great job representing the citizens of Michigan. Michigan's economic woes are well documented and due, in large part, to the decline of the auto companies.
I used to live in Michigan and left because of the lousy economy. Tennessee is full of former Michiganders.
Gary Schott
Nashville, TN
Dear FRONTLINE,
Alas, in seeing that you posted my letter, I realize that I failed to include a website for more information on Neil McCanney's hydrogen power plant work: www.ahps.us.
At the very least, it's heartening to know that so many are so passionate about these issues. And, yet, today's New York Times features an article on the sudden slump in interest and funding for alternative energy projects now that gas prices have dropped. Are we really that shortsighted as a nation? I'd love to believe that GM doesn't represent the attitude of America at large, but I fear the opposite is true.
Thank you, again, Frontline, for a great look at the many energy challenges we face.
Sharon Handy
St. Petersburg, Florida
Dear FRONTLINE,
Thanks for this piece. It really helped to sharpen the debate around some key issues, not to mention filling in the overall background to how much time we've had already to start dealing with global climate change.
With regard to two specific areas, nuclear waste storage and the T. Boone Pickens plan, I found it raised some questions that hadn't occurred to me before, and that weren't addressed in the program. (1) How well are Germany and France dealing with nuclear waste storage? and (2) "Clearing corridors"--it sounds okay, but what does this really mean in practice?
Researching a little on the first question, I found that there have been some serious groundwater leaks in Champagne and Le Hague, the main storage sites in France, as well as problems with the facility at an old salt mine in Lower Saxony.
On the second question, what it conjures up for me ranges from clipping a few trees, to displacing farms, or relocating structures over a certain height... who knows? I would want to see that spelled out more clearly.
Good initiatives though. I'm hopeful about high-efficiency lighting (OLEDs) and improvements in solar cells (Boeing/Spectrolab tests at 40% efficiency), as well as an overall thrust toward better conservation more generally. I think it can happen, but much of it will have to start from the ground up.
Chuck Riley
New Haven, CT
Dear FRONTLINE,
"Heat" was one of the best programs on the subject of global warming I have seen. Congratulations.
I hope you will continue the public education process. The next segment should focus on what we as individual consumers can do.
Examples: We have installed a 2000 watt grid-tied solar system in our home for a net cost of less than $8000. Last month we sold more power to Rocky Mountain Power than we bought from them. We have already reduced our reliance on "coal" power by more than 80%.
I have developed solar powered commuter vehicle that gets infinite gas mileage and does not have to be plugged into the grid to charge the Lithium ion batteries. check out sunzeecar.com.
When the vehicle's batteries are fully charged, the solar panels on the vehicle's roof supply power to our home or grid.
The challenge now is to find a manufacturer and buyers for such a vehicle. Thanks for a great program.
Andy Schoenberg
Salt Lake City, UT
Dear FRONTLINE,
Dear Frontline:
I was disappointed to find a large gap in the HEAT report regarding hydrogen/fuel cell technologies. No reporting on the following:1. The vigorous pursuit of the hydrogen economy by governments around the world2. DOE�TMs hydrogen initiatives including the Hydrogen Road Tour with a stop in Washington. Were any legislators paying attention?3. Fuel cell technologies and related advances4. General Motors Project Driveway fuel cell vehicle (FCV) initiativeOne hundred fully operational GM Chevy Equinox FCVs not confined to a speed of 10 mph. Individuals participating in the program regret having to return their FCV to GM after 3 months of ownership. Given the negative focus on GM, this was one bright spot glaringly omitted from the report.5. No mention of the major discovery in this century announced in late summer by Daniel G. Nocera, the Henry Dreyfus Professor of Energy at MIT, of synthetic photosynthesis that produces hydrogen at 10% of the required level of energy now needed for its production. Says he "this is the nirvana of what we�TMve been talking about for years. Solar power has always been a limited far-off solution. Now we can seriously think about solar power (stored in hydrogen) as unlimited and soon." Predicting that homes will be off the grid in ten years, he says houses will be both power generators and gas stations using in tandem hydrogen produced from solar energy and fuel cell technology (decentralized energy production).
Given how dire this report was, why were these positive developments missing?
Kirk Lundahl
Denver, Colorado
FRONTLINE's editors respond:
See the video interview with correspondent Martin Smith in which he talks about the challenges in making a film on such a huge subject - and what had to be left out. The video is on the homepage of the HEAT site.
Dear FRONTLINE,
I carefully watched the excellent program "Heat" on Tuesday Evening Oct. 21, 2008. However, it DID NOT MENTION the Globally Applicable deep ocean solar energy collecting process called "Ocean Thermal Energy" (OTE) that uniquely works 24 hours per day (because the sun heats the ocean surface water and acts as a "Thermal Battery"). All the other solar energy collecting means work only part of the 24 hour daily cycle, or are intermittent. Ocean waves, currents, offshore wind and/or offshore water turbines deliver their energy as kWh on a wire.deep ocean OTE delivers bulk commodities by the least expensive means (tanker ships). The bulk commodities involved are the "Green,Hydrogen carrier" fuel Ammonia (NH3), and in separate tanks, the increasingly valuable desalinated "potable" water. These "Green" tankers are Green fueled with some of the OTE produced NH3 fuel. Thus the OTE system approach is completely "Green". Recently the DOE has modestly supported some work on the OTE approach as a part of their "Freedom Car" program, as the "totally Gteen" means to secure and deliver to the needed filling stations, secure Hydrogen fuel for these fuel cell powered cars to access. On October 29-30 the "5th Ammonia Conference" was held at the Minneapolis campus of the University of Minnesota. This meeting was oversubscribed and the 6th Ammonia Conference is expected to be held in the Washington DC area.
A professional paper titled "NH3 IS CARBON-FREE" was delivered by the Writer on the subject of OTE at the 3rd, 4th and 5th Conferences. Information on these Conferences and on Ammonia as a fuel, can be obtained from: ammonia08@energy.iastate.edu
In conclusion: Frontline needs to devote as much coverage to "Ammonia as a fuel" and the OTE 100% Solar Driven approach to making a delivering it to organized societies of this world as Frontline gave to the Boon Pickens relatively small scale wind networks in the mid western US states. 60% of the US population lives within 100 miles of the ocean, which is on 3 sides of the Continental US. Thank you.
William H. Kumm
Severna Park, Maryland 21146-1010
Dear FRONTLINE,
Thanks again for the great reporting - Heat is yet another in an unending chain of "must-see" programming from your team!
After viewing HEAT I am left with the impression that in the end it is the choices of consumers that will determine to what degree global climate change is addressed in the next century. The scary part for me about this being left up to consumers is that when it comes to transportation issues, American consumers know next to nothing about their transportation options outside of the automobile. For starters, in my state, 65% of local road costs are paid for by property taxes - yet most people think that gas taxes are paying for all roads and that much of that is redirected into frivolous non-transportation programs. The effect of this impression is that we seem to be in an ever-escalating cycle of road construction which then induces more driving and propagates the cycle.
Please consider producing a program on some of these common "car-culture myths" that are trapping consumers into behaviors that intensify global climate change.
Matt Logan
Madison Wisconsin, Wisconsin
Dear FRONTLINE,
Great thought provoking show. So many great comments from you viewers and indeed this debate will continue until something BIG happens. Don't know what that might be but that is what the human race needs in order to act.
Right now I can only think of the "frog and the hot water" concept. Toss a frog in boiling water and he will try to jump out-put him in cold water and turn on the heat...in a few minutes a cooked frog.
We are all frogs sitting in luke warm water right now. I only wish I could jump out!
Henry Ward
Fairfield, CT
Dear FRONTLINE,
Frontline did an excellent job explaining the complex concoction of causes that have increased our CO2 emissions.
It leaves one feeling a little powerless in the face of lobbyists, big business, China's boundless growth, population increase, etc.
Somehow we must ultimately ask ourselves "How much am I willing to pay for clean energy?" Would you be willing to pay twice as much for electricity plus a substantial increase in the price of most consumer goods? The recent rise in gas prices resulted in "drill, baby, drill" and I can scarcely imagine what will come up against a national alternative energy policy. We are all going to have to sacrifice a lot to make this happen. That is where the rubber meets the road...Thanks for your show.
Katrina Roseboom
Boulder, Colorado
Dear FRONTLINE,
As a Detroit municipal architect/community planner, I enjoyed your program "Heat", and wanted to inform your viewers that hydro power produced by UEK (Underwater Electric Kite) and Verdant Power are realistic systems designed to augment a municipality's electrical needs. Where solar and wind turbines are subject to weather change, a moving body of water offers constant reliability.
Hopefully, the automotive industry will soon produce electric vehicles to be serviced by wind, solar, or UEK/Verdant Power renewable energy systems to combat global warming.
Wishing FRONTLINE continued success,
Alexander Pollock AIA/AICP
Alexander Pollock
Detroit, Michigan
Dear FRONTLINE,
But America is not alone in ignoring the phantom threat of man-made global warming. Europe has attempted to put a price on carbon for years and has failed to reduce emissions because such measures would negatively affect their respective economies. Further, measures attempted in Canada, Japan, Australia and New Zealand have also failed on delivering their own national CO2 reduction promises for the same reasons. Real world economics, jobs and the demand for advancement by developing nations have thankfully always trumped arbitrary caps on productivity and progress.
Before you criticize, remember you all watched your TVs and replied here on your laptops which were assembled abroad, shipped from overseas on large fueled based vessels and railed or trucked using diesel to your local store which you drove to using gasoline in order to purchase. From the plastic parts to the power needed to assemble, warehouse, transport and pick up these items, to using the convenient and reliable electricity needed to type out our carefully thought out replies on how man made CO2 is changing the climate. It�TMs clear to me that we�TMre all contributing to and benefiting from man made CO2.
Mike Garcia
Naperville, IL
Dear FRONTLINE,
I was hopeful that Frontline would provide a balanced examination of this issue and at least give "deniers" (a hugely pejorative term, by the way) a chance to make their case.
The program also gave a complete pass to wind and solar, not mentioning any of the economic, logistical or efficiency questions these alternatives carry. In the automotive segment, no attempt was made to discuss why CAFE standards don't work and are a bad idea or why American car makers can't instantly "switch" from SUVs and trucks to small passenger cars.
This was not a documentary; it was a lecture.
Thomas McIntyre
Des Moines, Iowa
Dear FRONTLINE,
There was no mention of use of ICF light bulbs. States can require the use of these bulbs now helping save carbon output. Nothing was said about the use of tankless water heaters that save both energy and water.
Issues concerning the electric caar batteries were not mentioned. How long do they last and will buyers find that replacing the whole car more cost efective that replacing the batteries? No mention was made of the many overly large homes being built that are not necessary. Many people in this country live very well in a 2,000 Sq Ft home.
Nothing was said about those consumers who buy those gas guzzling cars in the first place.
But then that wasn't the point of the program.
David Stahly
Damascus, Oregon
