Sudden Changes

                                                                                           written 27 April, 2025

                                                                                          published 4 May, 2025

   

            Humans have Neolithic bodies, developed over millennium, oriented to respond quickly to immediate physical threats.  This flight/fight capacity ramps up rapidly, allowing appropriate response in the moment, slowly returning to "normal" after the crisis passes.  Therefore, we are ill prepared for slow, long term changes.  This is like the frog, that immediately hops out of boiling water, but will cook to death if put in cool water that then heats to boiling. 

            One of the challenges to motivating people about the climate crisis is the immediate dangers seem minimal to non-existent.  Sea levels are slowly rising each year.  The general cautious consensus is "only" one meter rise in the next 75 year, averaging out to about 1/2" this year, which seems like almost nothing.  In the last 150 years, the Earth has warmed by less than 3°F, which is smaller than the variation between the normal body temperatures of different humans.  That seems tiny, and the changes are slow, making it very easy to disregard.

            The linear assumption that tomorrow will be pretty much like yesterday is, for the most part, true.  Our investment economy is based on this assumption, and everything tends to follow from that.  However, the natural world is non-linear, where even very small changes can have immense consequences, shifting from one stable condition to a radically different one in a heartbeat.  Consider an earthquake, or a volcanic eruption, sometimes centuries in the making, changing the landscape in minutes.

            An effective climate solution has been identified: complete economic decarbonization (no longer adding to the problem) and massive carbon sequestration (returning to a climate habitable by humans).  But this demands radical change to our entire energy system, involving extensive rebuilding and massive investments.  That threatens our highly stratified economy, which has resulted in the well-funded climate denial industry.  Denying the problem even exists is now Federal "wisdom", and an emerging backup narrative is that climate "solutions" don't really work anyway.  

            But reality doesn't care what foolishness we believe, and scientific climate research continues, even if the US is no longer a relevant leader.  China is becoming the renewable powerhouse, producing affordable solar cells and electric vehicles for the world.

            While a succession of 500 year floods, megafires, or a decade of drought can destroy a regional economy, human structures can change rapidly as well.  Our economy is very fragile, highly leveraged, which means stability is based on the continuity of existing conditions and assumptions.  When any of that changes, even a little, the entire structure can collapse.  

            Currently, a key economic weakness is the insurance industry, a "canary in the coal mine".  The recent changes in flood and fire hazard zones are disturbing.  For instance, in Ukiah, everything west of Dora Street is now in the Moderate to Very High fire hazard zone.  This reflects new information gathered from a decade of fire storms, showing strong impact dependent on wind conditions.  This is the new reality, yet our entire civilization was built on a different set of environmental assumptions, now increasingly irrelevant.

            Insurance companies literally can't afford to ignore reality, when losses exceed premium income.  In February, Jerome Powell, Chairman of the Federal Reserve, said "insurance companies and banks are already pulling out of coastal areas and areas where there are a lot of fires.  In 10 or 15 years there are going to be regions of the country where you can’t get a mortgage.”  This threatens the foundation of the financial sector.

            There are three options going forward: status quo, triage, or resilience.

            Status quo (high climate breakdown and low adaptation) is the current Federal approach, which focuses exclusively on maintaining existing short term profit structures.  Increasing disasters will create a chaotic exit of insurers from affected areas, leaving customers and local governments stranded and abandoned, eventually leading to states going insolvent.

            Triage (high climate breakdown and high adaptation) assumes continued governmental denial, but some regions begin to adapt and "ruggedize", making survivability more possible in those areas.

            Resilience (medium climate breakdown and high adaptation) assumes the insurance industry becomes an advocate for effectively addressing the climate problem, through managed retreat and climate adaptive policies at all levels.

            Insurance companies already see the problem reflected in their bottom line, unlike the fossil fuel industry.  Choosing to build resilience sooner increases what we can preserve.  The best time was decades ago, but the next best time is today, while we still have options.

My Personal Credo

                                                                                           written 20 April, 2025

                                                                                       published 27 April, 2025

    

            I addition to being a life-long scientist, I have a strong spiritual perspective as well.  It is inspired by the philosophies of quantum mechanics and Buddhism, in accord with the mystics of all spiritual traditions.  Some years ago, I wrote a brief summary of my personal credo, consisting of an image of reality, and suggested guidance for living in that reality.

            Image: Unity Consciousness is the transcendent ground of all reality.  This may be called the Divine, but any specific name is inadequate, and limits further understanding.  Material reality, described by physics as space/time, is a 4-dimensional membrane/subset completely expressed within, and shaped by, Unity Consciousness.  Matter can be viewed as the skin of the Divine, like waves on the surface of an ocean, each individually unique in location and duration, yet always arising in the same substance, never inherently separate.  The story of time appears as an increase in material complexity, supporting growth of self-awareness within matter. 

            The foundation of evil is denial of Unity, the first ignorance, an inaccurate perspective which engenders fear.  Resonance with Unity is experienced as Love.  Life challenges and supports each individual to increase awareness of their resonance with Unity Consciousness.

            Guidance: Choose love over fear.  Choose the truth of Unity over the material illusion of separation.  Be happy and laugh often.  Life is good, beneficial, nurturing, and joyous.  As life is whole, massively interconnected, the Golden Rule is not so much a moral commandment, as a relational fact of nature, like gravity.  Love, respect, and honor yourself as the Divine manifesting.  Love, respect, and honor all Others as the same Divine manifesting.  

            Strive to be present and aware in every moment.  The only point of action is in the eternal NOW, and each moment is unique.  Life is a metaphor.  The opportunity for learning is ever present.  Take responsibility for your part.  There are no "accidents".  In resonance with the Divine, we create our own reality, by belief, imagination and intention.  The balance between Being and Doing is inspired intention.

            Be honest (internally and externally) in every action into reality.  Be grateful (internally and externally) for every gift from reality.

            From the above perspective, our current social upheaval appears as the conflict between the selfish, unaware individual and unity reality.  This has been going on for as long as history has been recorded, but seems to be coming to a head, perhaps because we are now more numerous and more powerful than ever before in history.  For the first time, ignorant, selfish human greed has begun to affect the climate of the entire planet, pushing it away from a condition that has nourished human life for thousands of years.  This looks like a disaster, and may indeed crush our species, but it may also be a force of sufficient magnitude to transcend all the tribal warfare and inequitable economics resulting for our cultural belief is separation, ushering in peace on Earth.        

            Despite constant political denial, the scientific community has been ringing the alarm about the climate crisis for decades, monitoring the growing risk, trying to generate social consensus toward action.  Although increasing physical damage sweeps the land, the over-extended economy is much more fragile.  

            In the last 12 months, US regional economic losses due to extreme weather were $625B, closing in on the annual Pentagon budget.  Although less than half of this loss was insured, the insurance industry is being pushed to insolvency, as costs soar far beyond premiums.  Recent updates of flood and hazardous fire maps, reflecting the new reality, are bringing this problem front and center.  When insurance become unaffordable, even if available, the real estate industry, the banking industry, and the funding of state and local governments all become more precarious.

            The changes are measurably accelerating.  Climate is a massive, nonlinear, complex system, which can shift abruptly beyond historic experience.  Climate science is constantly learning about new, previously unknown feedback forces.  In addition, the scientific process of observation, contemplation, and reporting, has a pace of its own.  As the system changes more rapidly, this lag slows understanding.  Furthermore, responding to increasingly hostile political denial, science is reluctant to present low probability/high risk scenarios, so called "black swan" events, leaving us all unprepared or unmotivated.

            Despite the insane climate denial from the current Federal government, the climate crisis is real, affecting everything on Earth, and therefore requires a global effort in response.

Traitor, Crook, Or Just Demented?

                                                                                       written 13 April, 2025

                                                                                   published 20 April, 2025

  

            Just three months in, we already see what MAGA "leadership" looks like.  Critical parts of the government are being dismantled, with no coherent plan.  People are being "disappeared" in unmarked vehicles.  Fundamental social structures are under assault.  Prices are jumping higher.  The risk of recession, even depression, is increasing.  Fear and despair are rising everywhere.  Consumer confidence has plummeted.  

            Extreme tariff uncertainty has disrupted the entire economy.  The stock market dropped, then rose.  The treasury bond market almost collapsed.  Fundamental western alliances are now in tatters.  The US is threatening to invade our closest neighbors.  It looks like a deliberate attempt to destroy America.

            Consequently, some believe our Mad King is a Russian agent.  Bailed out of several bankruptcies with shadowy money from Russia, he may be beholding to his banker.  While he admires autocratic dictators, his only experience is reality TV and doesn't have the continuity of focus required to be a reliable thug.  It is much more likely he is just a "useful idiot", vulnerable to any suggestion of the moment, sowing disruptive chaos as his mood swings wildly from one extreme to the other.

            Promoted as a "good businessman", he acts like a crook.  Fourteen of his companies failed due to mismanagement, failure to deliver, or outright fraud.  He routinely refused to pay suppliers, choosing to sue instead, initiating over 4,000 lawsuits.  He lies for his own advantage, the goal being increased "brand worth".  He is guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.  During his first term, he used his office to enrich himself on public money, treating public service as a "cash cow".  This time, his economic "policy" is to shut down all social services in order to reduce taxes for the already wealthy, while increasing the national debt.

            But actual business people know prosperity needs a stable economy.  Big projects require big investments, financed over decades.  When the future becomes chaotic, interest rates soar, and everything becomes increasingly risky and expensive.  What we see today devastates the poor, but doesn't help the rich either.

            While a few insiders benefit from stock market swings, the tariff turmoil has caused a global economic slowdown.  This has depressed crude oil prices below the level where most domestic oil production is profitable.  Oil companies, which are supposedly allies of this administration, and should benefit from the "drill, baby drill" energy plan, are instead curtailing new production and even pausing stock buyback plans for their wealthy investors.

            Charles Koch, a Republican mega-donor billionaire, has joined Leonard Leo, the Federalist Society architect of the current Supreme Court, to sue the administration for their tariff "policy".  Contrary to their plans, the monster they created isn't really under their control at all.

            From the first, our "leader" has been described as a "malignant narcissist", which Wikipedia defines with the following traits.  "They use, abuse, and discard people.  They are obsessed with power.  Everything is personal.  They hold grudges and take revenge.  They take pleasure from the suffering of others.  Nothing is ever their fault.  They are ruthless in their pursuit of what they want.  They don’t have a conscience.  They have many enemies."

            The Mad King is an old man, with a terrible diet, under considerable stresses.  Wikipedia describes the following signs of advancing dementia: "short-term memory loss; word loss; difficulty multitasking; repetition; confusion about time and place; changes in judgment". 

            Of the three choices, traitor, crook, or dementia, the truth is probably a little of all three, but dominated by an increasingly unstable mind.  Whatever the internal reality or reasons, we can only judge by his actions.

            My primary issue is the climate crisis.  Extreme weather around the world makes the news every week.  Costs are rising as destruction increases, and insurance companies are pushed to insolvency.  Ignoring this, the administration is adamant the climate issue is a hoax.  They are ruthlessly killing even modest attempts to address the issue, doubling down on pushing obsolete, uneconomical, and harmful energy sources.  They are going so far as to stop all investigation, or even monitoring, of the changes, leaving the entire economy blind to what is happening. 

            The changing climate is a global problem, adversely affecting every political system, every economic system, and every individual.  To completely ignore such a problem is insane, and suicidal.  But here we are.  Our emperor has no mind.  Without a fundamental change, things will continue to fall apart.

 

Electric Home Tours

                                                                                               written 6 April, 2025

                                                                                         published 13 April, 2025

     

            The economic and ecological costs of the climate crisis are growing.  Despite the suicidally insane climate denial from the Federal government, many people want to address the climate issue and leave a habitable planet for our grandchildren.  One important step is to decarbonize our economy, making energy investments to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases we release into the atmosphere.

            Change is difficult and expensive, but the status quo is increasingly unsustainable.  Fossil fuels are finite, and the cheap reserves are already gone, assuring increasing costs.  Fossil fuel combustion increases atmospheric carbon dioxide, risking complete economic collapse.  Natural gas is methane, almost 100 times more potent a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide over a decade.  

            The natural gas pipeline infrastructure is old, and expensive to upgrade.  PG&E, our natural gas supplier, is on record stating they are getting out of the business, and will add no new natural gas infrastructure.  The City of Ukiah has a general plan element to eliminate natural gas in the city by 2045.  

            Sonoma Clean Power supplies 88 percent to 100 percent carbon-free electricity.  City of Ukiah Electric Utility supplies 70 percent carbon-free electricity.  Even PG&E provides 47 percent non-nuclear carbon-free electricity.  Every move we make toward electrification, and away from fossil fuels, decreases our risk of climate induced economic collapse.   

            Toward this goal, the city of Ukiah Electrical Utility, in conjunction with Climate Action Mendocino, will host a free, self-guided Electric Home Tour on Saturday, April 26th, from 1-4 pm.  Tour registrants will receive a map showing five homes, and an apartment complex, which have a variety of technologies to decarbonize our lives.  Each location will include some, or all, of the following. 

            Rooftop Solar: With good solar exposure, you can power everything electrical while using less electricity from the grid.  Solar energy is free, and the hardware to collect it is a fixed cost, warrantied for 25 years, but lasting even longer.  

            Battery Storage: Solar energy peaks in the midday, but household loads extend throughout the day.  Battery storage allows midday sun to be used at night, reducing your impact on the grid by avoiding using the more expensive evening electricity.  With battery storage, your home is more power resilient to grid blackouts.

            Heat Pump Heating and Cooling: Heat pumps move heat, rather than producing heat, much like a refrigerator moves heat from inside the appliance into the kitchen.  Consequently, this technology is 3 times more energy efficient than any form of combustion or resistance heating.  

            Heat Pump Water Heaters: Heating water is one of the most energy consumptive appliances in a house.  Heat pump water heaters, like heat pump house heaters, are 3 times more energy efficient than traditional water heaters, electric or gas. 

            Induction Cooktop: Induction cooktops use an electromagnetic coil to induce an electrical current in your cookware, heating the cooking utensil and contents, and nothing else.  Induction heating is as precise as cooking with gas, with less air pollution and more energy efficiency.  

            Electric Car Charging: As transportation shifts from fossil fuels to more energy efficient electric vehicles, one of the benefits is being able to charge your car at home.  In SCP/PG&E territory, traveling 100 miles will cost about $11 in electricity.  In Ukiah, the cost is half that.

            Certified installers will join each homeowner to answer questions about costs, installation, and incentives.  Installers participating in the tour are: Jim Apperson (retired), Apperson Energy Management; Fernando Arcilas, Ultra Air HVAC; Rod DeWitt, American Refrigeration Services; Ronnie Dodd and Justin Foster, All In Heating and Cooling; Pete Gregson, Advance Solar, Hydro, Wind Power Inc.; Jonathan McChesney, Radiant Solar Technology; Jim Purcell, Pardini Appliances; and Laurent Richard, AC&R.  For those who want to see heat pump products, another stop on the tour is AC&R Heating Cooling & Solar in downtown Ukiah. 

            Ukiah offers rebates to its electric utility customers to help offset the cost of energy efficiency upgrades, including $500 for a heat pump water heater and $150-$500 for whole house heat pump.  These are in addition to possible state tax credits and rebates.   

            Upgrading our homes and community makes sense economically, and environmentally.  This is a complex issue, but every incremental change is a step in the right direction.            

            Register for the Electric Homes Tour at climateactionmendocino.org/events.  Registrants will receive a map with addresses, a glossary of terms, and information describing what appliances and installers will be at each stop.  

 

Firewise Communities

                                                                                        written 30 March, 2025 

                                                                                        published 6 April, 2025

      

            In 2004, the Mendocino County Fire Safe Council was created "to inform, empower, and mobilize residents to survive and thrive in a wildfire-prone environment, through education, preparation, and collaborative action."  There are now 74 local Fire Safe groups in the county, representing about 15 percent of the population.  The Ukiah Western Hills Fire Safe Council formed in 2018.  

            The hills west of Ukiah haven't burned since the middle of the last century, but inexorable heating from the changing climate increases the odds.  CalFire recently released an updated map of Fire Hazard Severity Zones, and the entire western edge of urban Ukiah is in the "Very High Hazard" group.  For more information visit: http://osfm.fire.ca.gov/FHSZ.

            While some still deny climate change, most people know someone affected by fire storms.  A fire chief in LA recently said "When the wind is less than 10mph, we can fight the fire.  When it is over 30mph, we can only help with evacuations."  The recent LA firestorm had steady 55mph winds, gusting to 100mph. 

            Fire insurance costs are increasing everywhere.  In the last decade, fire claims at Lloyd's of London increased a factor of 3, and expenses increased a factor of 5.  Insurance companies are leaving California, and those remaining are increasingly unaffordable, forcing homeowners into the California FAIR plan, which is more expensive with less coverage.

            The National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA), founded as a non-profit in 1896, has the mission "to provide information and knowledge for the elimination of death, injury, and economic loss due to fire, electrical, and related hazards."  They have been promoting safe building practices ever since.

            NFPA runs the Firewise USA program, for communities to enhance their wildfire resilience, in collaboration between residents, local fire departments, and state agencies, to bolster the fire resistance of homes and surroundings.  Firewise encourages communities to document their volunteer hours, expenses, and vegetation removal each year, including such tasks as mowing your lawn, trimming trees, and clearing debris from your roof and gutters, thus increasing community awareness of the growing fire hazard.

            Responding to uncertainty in California homeowner's insurance, standards are evolving for best practices for home-hardening and defensible space.  Fire hardening your structure can double the chance of it surviving a fire.  State regulations require "Zone 0", five feet around structures and at least 6" up the side, be ember-resistant.  California Department of Insurance requires insurers to offer discounts for such homeowner mitigations.  Living in a recognized Firewise community provides potentially greater discounts for homeowners who do more to reduce their risk.  

            Last year, the Western Hills Fire Safe Council voted to join 11 other Mendocino county Firewise communities.  This new Firewise community in the western portion of Ukiah includes everyone west of Dora, extending the full length of Ukiah, a total of 2000 home.  The goal is for each household to annually record at least one volunteer hour (valued at $31.80 per hour) or an equivalent amount in expenses.  Everyone is already included, and all are invited to participate, but no one is required.  

            Through education, planning, and action, Firewise communities work together to minimize the vulnerability of homes and communities to wildfire damage.  In addition to potential discounts on insurance premiums, benefits include: increased safety through implementing proven risk-reduction strategies to protect both residents and first responders; strengthened neighborhood connections; improved access to grant funding for projects; and increased peace of mind throughout your neighborhood.

            A letter is being sent to all homeowners included in the new Ukiah Western Hills Firewise community, explaining Firewise, and listing several sources for more information.  The two co-chairs are: John Rodgers (JohnRogers8200@gmail.com) and Jeanne Chinn (JeanneChinn@gmail.com).  There is a Western Hills newsletter (whfirewise@gmail.com) and a Facebook Group (Western Hills Firewise Community).  For more information about the Mendocino County Fire Safe Council go to: FireSafeMendocino.org.

            Part of the Firewise program asks communities to make goals and a plan for the next 3 years to help prioritize actions to become more wildfire-prepared.  Some highlighted goals for Ukiah's first year include: encourage registration on wildfire alert systems, promote the Free Defensible Space Program offered for income-eligible seniors, educate on the importance of removing vegetation within 5 feet of a home, promote use of a free chipper program to reduce vegetative fire fuels, and partner with the Ukiah Valley Fire Authority to identify areas for fuels reduction.

            Wildfire doesn’t recognize property lines, so the more we work together, the safer we all are.

Paying Attention

                                                                                         written 23 March, 2025

                                                                                     published 30 March, 2025

   

            Our Mad King in the White House is a master at self-promotion and capturing media attention.  Most of his life has been a reality TV show, designed to increase his brand value and keep his fragile ego inflated.  He now plays the role of an autocratic political bully, making up the script moment to moment.  The more outrageous his actions, the better, as long as everyone is focused on him. 

            He has been described as a malignant narcissist, living in a bubble where only he is important, and everyone else is, at best, a prop, or an asset to be consumed and discarded, if he gives them any consideration at all.  This is a destructive personality type, made more dangerous with power.

            Naomi Klein's book, "Shock And Awe", describes how US interests helped overthrow the elected government of Chile in 1973.  This play book is now on full display here in America.  We already see wide spread destruction, dismantling the America we have known all our lives, building to an unknown crescendo.  Some is planned, but more results from the unstable "genius" at the top being so lightly tethered to reality.

            Despair and depression are on the rise, and little has been suggested for how to effectively respond to a force that has zero respect for honor, tradition, compassion, or the rule of law.  Enrichment of the already very rich, domination, and fear are the goals of this regime.

            Our culture has devolved down to an economy of distracting attention.  The news media has always gone for the exciting and extreme to grab attention.  Consumer capitalism is about the next new and shiny thing "out there", always promised to improve our lives.  Online, the goal is to hold our attention on a particular site, and then pitch advertising to those drawn in.  What we pay attention to shapes our view of the world, so capturing attention is a form of brain washing.  Perhaps an effective response is to reclaim where we put our attention.  

            We experience despair and grief as we see what we once had, now being deliberately destroyed.  But the past, incompletely remembered, is already gone, and the world is always in flux, so any expectation of certainty or continuity has always been at risk.  We fear what worse disaster might be coming, but the future isn't really here yet, and our expectations are based on our past experiences projected forward.

            Changing the past isn't possible, and the future is yet to be.  When we look closely, reality is only what is happening in the present, this moment, right now.  Each moment is unique, unlike any other moment, so change is inherent in the now.            Because action can only take place in the present, not in the past or the future, everything you have ever done has always been in the present.  But being present, living is full awareness of each moment, takes intention and practice, because our culture isn't inclined toward being in the moment.  Consequently, our upbringing and life experience must be transcended.  

            Sit comfortably, and consider yourself in this moment.  If you can read this, you are alive and relatively healthy, which means your heart, lungs, circulatory system, and all your senses are functioning.  Put your attention there, notice and be grateful.  You are likely warm, fed, clothed, housed, and relatively safe.  Notice this good fortune.  As you tune into the beneficial reality of your present situation, you will feel calmer, experiencing less stress in your body, which helps support your immune system.

            In this state of present physical awareness, you might be able to watch the stories rolling through your mind, without having to obsessively identify with them.  As each story comes to an end, there is a short break before the next one starts.  By noticing the breaks, they extend in time.  Embrace the experience of simply being.  Notice the beauty of the natural world around you.  This internal refuge is always available to us, by simply choosing to pay attention.  

            We have no idea how this will all play out, as we are in uncharted waters.  However, as more of us practice being calm in the moment, we see more clearly what makes sense to do.  At the very least, our part of the human collective feels better.  Perhaps there is a tipping point in consciousness, a critical mass, beyond which a wave of awareness spreads globally.  

 

     

Storing Energy (part 2)

                                                                                         written 16 March, 2025

                                                                                     published 23 March, 2025

  

            Let's pretend.  Assume most people want a habitable planet for their grandchildren.  Imagine the partisan fever dream of climate denial has broken, and we realize only coordinated action will preserve our technological society.  Rather than burning through our energy inheritance, consider living within our energy income, collecting heat from the Earth, and solar, wind and rain energy from the Sun.  

            Even if that all happened, we still need to be able to store this collected energy for months or years, using energetically efficient, economically affordable, existing technologies, which are scalable to the quantities needed.  Several candidates exist.

            Pumped hydro is currently installed at grid scale.  Electric pumps push water to higher elevations, which then runs downhill, using the pumps as generators to produce electricity at a later time.  This is expensive to install, not easily expanded, limited to sites with adequate access to water and elevation, and rarely stores energy for more than a few days due to capacity constraints.

            The other possible candidate is using electricity to produce hydrogen by electrolysis of water, which can later be run through a fuel cell to produce more electricity.  The problem is storing the hydrogen gas, the smallest molecule of matter.  Hydrogen can be compressed as gas, cooled to a liquid, or converted to another chemical.

            Hydrogen must be compressed to 250 atmospheres to increase the density enough to be stored and transported economically.  To make hydrogen liquid, it must be cooled below -421°F.  Both these storage forms take energy and expensive, specialized containers, limiting their economically viability.  For long term storage of grid scale quantities, conversion to a "liquid organic carrier" produces the easiest storage form.  Two options are commercially available: ammonia and methanol.  

            Ammonia (NH₃) can be produced using hydrogen and nitrogen gathered from the air.  It must be cooled to below -30°F to be kept liquid at atmospheric pressure.  Even though ammonia is toxic, it is one of the most widely use industrial liquids.  Ammonia is used as fertilizer, and can be burned in internal combustion engines.  Alternately, the hydrogen can be regenerated and used in fuel cells.  Ships that run on ammonia are now operating.

            Methanol (CH₃OH) can be produced from hydrogen and CO₂ pulled out of the air.  It is a liquid at room temperature and pressure, making it the cheapest of all forms to store.  Methanol can be shipped by pipelines, rail cars, or tanker trucks, with no special storage requirements.  It can be burned in an internal combustion engine, or regenerated back into hydrogen to run a fuel cell.  Ships that run on methanol are now operating.  

            The full spectrum from power to liquid back to power requires four different stages of hardware: electricity to hydrogen, hydrogen to methanol, methanol back to hydrogen, and hydrogen back to electricity.  Each stage takes some amount of energy.  These needn't be large single plants, but collections of smaller identical units, mass production to reduce cost.  The modularity of the hardware allows for phased development of the industry and creative distribution of the stored energy.  

 

            Methanol is perfect for backup power at critical facilities, such as municipal sewer and water plants, supermarkets, emergency shelters and communication systems.  It could be burned as methanol, but that is energetically inefficient.  Changing it back to electricity would be more efficient.

            Taking Ukiah as an example, the City electric company could build all four functions in a central location and be able to store excess summer solar energy to provide electricity during the winter.  With the addition of a large battery, power could be shipped over the grid at night, when grid capacity is available, and produce methanol all through the day.  Ukiah could store some of this locally produced methanol at the sewer and water plants for backup power.  Stored methanol at the MTA could power long distance fuel cell busses.  Locally produced methanol would support the shift to long distance trucking using fuel cells.  In addition, NCPA, Ukiah's power provider, could produce methanol at central valley arrays, and truck it to Ukiah without stressing grid capacity.

            Grid scale power storage is a new addition to the electrical system, and planning and construction needs to begin now.

            In light of current politics, this may sound like planning a picnic while ignoring the hurricane destroying the area.  But holding an image of where we want to go helps us on the journey.