If We Can Do This, We Can Do Anything

Wrong, we can't even put a door on top of a refrigerator. It's hopeless.

One minor point to begin with; the photo was taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, not a craft on the surface. Considering the window of opportunity and communication time lag, casual might not be the most apt adjective. Credit where credit is due. The moon shot was no mean feat for it's day either. It was done on a wing and a prayer with less onboard computer power than I can go get in a wristwatch now. Kahonas incarnate at least.
That said, I agree with your take on priorities, and indeed we can fix our current problems. But the best way to do it is to address the largest and most significant part of our economy - consumer spending. Everybody wants to keep it going, the feds hand out rebates in the hope that we'll spend them. Where does the money that is spent go? Back to businesses. Talk about going around the block to get next door....

Very well put. That said, by the time we put a man on Mars, our air better be pristine :)

um, hate to break it to you but the complex math needed to guide a satellite on a trajectory is quite predictable, unlike things like Earthly weather, carbon output, or treehugger emotional output.

There are too many people motivated by greed.

Love is the answer :-)

"There are too many people motivated by greed."

I suggest you have a look at this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWsx1X8PV_A

The "moon shot" developed and pushed many new technologies, what new technology is needed?

We already have solar hot water heaters available. More energy efficient tank less hot water heaters for when the sun isn't shining, and they use no or little energy when not needed.

We have solar panels, inverters for both grid tied and off grid or battery applications. Lead acid batteries are fine for stationary applications where weight isn't an issue.

Sure, cars could use an improvement or two, but the technology exists, most consumers aren't willing to downsize to achieve better mileage, although $4 gallon gas is starting to do that already.

So again, what new technology do we need to develop?

"What new technology do we need to develop?"

Not much according to the IEER.

They have published their findings at the following URL:

http://www.ieer.org/carbonfree/

By the way, "Anonymous", the IEER is motivated by love.

You could be too. :-)

It's not that we need new technology. It's not that we need to harness the unpredictable earth environment.

What we need is the same universal need to perform. The same call to action. We need the same level of citizen participation as we had during WW2: rations, victory gardens, Rosie the Riveter...we recycled tin and rubber and did it all "For our boys."

We need a marketing campaign that will motivate and inspire....and we need to couple it with a tangible threat. Nazi's, blitzes, firebombs - those were tangible. We need to make it real. And we need to tap into that greed - you can make ooodles of money if you're the guy who puts this in every home.

And I love that shot. I don't care how predictable, how well timed, how unimpressed some of you are. I'm impressed. I can't even wrap my head around what it took to get that shot and I'm completely in love with it. I'm motivated.

We already have solar hot water heaters available. More energy efficient tank less hot water heaters for when the sun isn't shining, and they use no or little energy when not needed.

It's not as easy as buying a tankless water heater and hooking it up. I needed a new water heater, so I looked at tankless. I would have needed a new gas line run from the street to power the thing. It needs a minimum of a 3/4" dedicated gas line to get enough power to heat the water to an acceptable shower level.

Also, they need to have their own direct vent to the outside. Most water heaters vent up the same flue that the furnace goes out of, or up a chimney. Most tankless need you to run another 3" vent line outside, which increases the amount of money. All told, it would have cost me about $2500 to have a new $600 tankless hot water heater installed.

We ended up buying a high-efficiency conventional water heater, and I'm going to install it myself. If the difference is $3100 for a tankless and $600 for a tank, you don't have a solution yet.