Food for thought: part 2
Big Rich’s New York Style Cheesecake
1 lb. cottage cheese
1 lb. cream cheese
1 ½ cups Domino’s sugar
4 eggs, beaten lightly
Juice of ½ lemon
3 tablespoons flour
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1 tsp vanilla
¼ lb. butter
1 pt. sour cream
Cream the cheese in a bowl, add sugar, gradually beating. Then add the eggs and beat until smooth. Stir in lemon, vanilla, flour and cornstarch. Add melted butter (after it’s cooled) and mix until smooth. Finally, blend in sour cream.
Pour into a greased 9” spring form pan. Bake in a MODERATE OVEN, 325 degrees, for 1 hour. Allow the cake to remain in the oven for 2 hours longer, with the oven turned off. DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN during the total 3 hours!
Eat the cheesecake!
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Energy suggestions, like this paper I wrote in March, all have the same basic principle proposed, "let's start now, but slowly". This suggestion of mine really wants to start now, but BIG! What do you think?
Now is the Time
I believe we have an opportunity to change both the direction and the scope of this country’s energy policy. In order to accomplish this feat, we need to make some tough and quick decisions. Here’s my plan of action. It’s only a first step and can certainly use some tweaks, here and there, but I feel it could be used for a foundation for a larger and more permanent solution to our energy needs and our dependence on foreign oil imports.
Here goes: In my home state of Florida, our utility provider, Progress Energy, recently announced that they would be applying for permits and begin the process for two nuclear power plants. According to information from the Internet, they have said the costs would be $17 Billion dollars. Also on the Internet, the consensus is that build time to go online and start providing energy to its customers would be at least 3 years. This is a best-case scenario and with large projects of this size and complexity, nothing is ever on time and on budget. So, lets say it’s rounds out to $20 billion and takes 5 years, with a few lawsuits thrown in to slow it down and some material shortages (cement to China). In this timeline, we’ve received no energy from these two sites and the energy problem and the cost of energy in Florida and the rest of the United States has increased . What has this investment done for us in those years to get up and running, nothing!
So we’ve spent $17-20 billion dollars and created a limited regional employment spike, with a very specific workforce. Our electric bills have increased and now we face an issue again, what to do with the nuclear waste that we’ve started to generate and how to keep it safe. What have we gained with this decision and was it the right one? My suggestion is that it was the wrong one, maybe easy, but wrong. Here’s the better choice, in my opinion.
Make some tough decisions, but the right ones, such as instead of the $17-20 billion dollars being spent on 2 power plants, how about a few million power plants, or Micro-Farms. Millions of homes and businesses! We could start with the best states for solar power, Florida (Sunshine State) as one of the best producers of solar energy, (most of the Sunbelt states, California, etc.). These micro farms would harvest solar energy and distribute it back into the national grid. We’re doing this already when one state/utility company buys or sells electric power to each other, but now we’ve got EXCESS energy being generated by these states and being sent where it’s needed. How would we do this you ask?
Here’s the plan: Utility companies would “rent” space from homeowners or businesses and install solar panels on their roofs. The solar panels would be owned by the utility companies, much like the wind turbine farms out west. They are leasing a footprint to install their turbines and generate energy back into the grid. It could be just as simple as that here.
Example: My Florida home is just less than 2000 sq. ft and during the summer, mostly July, August and September, I will use at peak 2300kws/month. During the cooler months, I will consume 800-1,000kws/month. If Progress Energy installed a 4000kw system on my roof, most months my energy needs would be satisfied and I would have an excess of 2-3,000kws to return to the grid! Now multiply this by a few million homes and businesses and we’re solving a problem and we’re making a profit doing it. I no longer have an electric bill (based on my last 24 months of usage, I would have to stay within my past parameters) and the utility company now has a product that they can sell and trade with other utilities. Of course the gradual effect of this would be lower rates to Americans, which isn’t such a bad thing.
Now some specific ideas about the process of getting this accomplished. All the billions of dollars being set aside for the nuclear power plants and also the expected billions from the stimulus could now be directed to solve this problem.
The great thing about this idea, aside from the billions of dollars and a few tough decisions to be made, is this can happen almost overnight. As soon as the decision is made and the money spigot is turned on, people will begin to get hired. These new hires would be at all levels of experience. Another example: Month 1, management, supervisory, planners, buyers and a ton of administration positions will be needed. Raw materials will need to be ordered, some of which will be in stock and others will need to be manufactured. Homeowners will begin to apply for these solar panels and the administration people will need to service these applications. I would suggest that we immediately use any and all existing solar panels and begin installations. In Florida, we have a construction workforce that will be able to handle this first phase, after this, training and manufacturing will have to start. At this smaller volume of panels being installed and serviced, we’ll begin the process of fine-tuning the overall project for the eventual installations of thousands and then finally millions of these solar panels.
Ok, the end of the first month and maybe here’s where we are: Thousands of people hired, existing panels being installed and small regional manufacturing sites identified (we have and most of the country has, a surplus of large empty commercial and retail buildings sitting vacant, ready to be leased and turned into simple manufacturing facilities.). The panels themselves may be a composite of designs from more than one company, but they have to all be simple. Simple to design, simple to manufacture and simple to install. We’re talking quantity here, not let’s wait till we have the most efficient design and then do. Do it now with what is either already on the drawing board or in manufacturing today. These panels will have to be generic and the panel made in California, will be the same as in Florida. Materials will be all the same and if we have a shortage in Arizona, Texas will supply the need. The most important item on this list is of course the Photovoltaic cells or substrate. We’ll use what’s on the shelves all over the country to get started, but at some point, we’ll have to start producing a generic product and this is where the government can help. The government can issue purchase orders for a product that has specifications that will need to be met, regardless of where the P-V cells are made. This will give the manufactures a timeline to begin to retrofit their existing assembly, if they so choose, but if not, they would be losing market share by doing so.
I know that this concept will annoy and frustrate many manufacturers, which have spent millions of dollars developing a unique and viable product, but I think that we have to consider this as a nation, much like the response of the American people during the World War 2 period. Victory Gardens, Bond drives and even rationing began. Men went to war and the women of America, for the first time in our history, started doing the work of their husbands, fathers and brothers. It was a huge mindset to accept, but they did it and were successful doing it. They, the manufacturers, can still produce their unique product; it will just have to meet certain design, dimensional and productivity specifications.
Another part of the puzzle that would NOT be designed in, a battery storage system for these installations. This would help both in construction and also in the cost of the system to the homeowners/Power /Utility companies. The power would just go back into the grid. If people wanted to add battery storage capabilities then it’s their decision and their nickel.
Now six months into the new program and things are really starting to come together. We’ve installed thousands of panels, power is starting to flow back into the grid and energy prices are beginning to fall. A few 100,000 or so people have jobs.
By the way, some people may think that we can’t possibly install that many panels on Florida roofs in just 6 months, but just look back to the roofing industry and what they did here in Florida after some of the major hurricanes came through. People were working 10-12 hours a day installing new roofs and that might be just the effort we’ll need this time for this program.
Now, 2-3 years into the project and what have we accomplished? Well, our unemployment is the lowest in years. We’ve created a product now that is commercially competitive around the Globe. We have a skilled and educated workforce that can stand shoulder to shoulder with any in the world. We no longer import oil and with the recent breakthroughs in Solar Technology, our oil usage has finally begun a downward run. We aren’t still in court fighting lawsuits with the various groups opposed to nuclear power and we haven’t begun to manufacture nuclear waste, which will be a problem for hundreds of generations. We’ve stopped mining coal and destroying the environment in the coal mining regions. We’ve saved billions of dollars not building new nuclear or coal burning power plants. And maybe now, we’re doing something good for the planet.
I realize that the people who make big decisions have big lobbyists pressuring them to go and do it the way we’ve always done it, more coal, more nuclear. But this is where the tough decisions come into play and the outcome has huge results. Bottom line: in a few years time, we could be energy sufficient, using solar powered technology or we could be looking at still relying on foreign oil, escalating energy prices and an economy suffering for lack of jobs and a national focus. There are countries already across the globe, which have made the right decisions and put their investments into solar and wind power, with a fraction of our resources, and are now independent from importing oil, maybe now it’s our time.
It’s up to our government to lead the way and the American people will follow and our children and grandchildren and generations to follow will look back at this time and say” They made the tough decisions, but the right ones!”
Rich Franco
March 12, 2009
I believe we have an opportunity to change both the direction and the scope of this country’s energy policy. In order to accomplish this feat, we need to make some tough and quick decisions. Here’s my plan of action. It’s only a first step and can certainly use some tweaks, here and there, but I feel it could be used for a foundation for a larger and more permanent solution to our energy needs and our dependence on foreign oil imports.
Here goes: In my home state of Florida, our utility provider, Progress Energy, recently announced that they would be applying for permits and begin the process for two nuclear power plants. According to information from the Internet, they have said the costs would be $17 Billion dollars. Also on the Internet, the consensus is that build time to go online and start providing energy to its customers would be at least 3 years. This is a best-case scenario and with large projects of this size and complexity, nothing is ever on time and on budget. So, lets say it’s rounds out to $20 billion and takes 5 years, with a few lawsuits thrown in to slow it down and some material shortages (cement to China). In this timeline, we’ve received no energy from these two sites and the energy problem and the cost of energy in Florida and the rest of the United States has increased . What has this investment done for us in those years to get up and running, nothing!
So we’ve spent $17-20 billion dollars and created a limited regional employment spike, with a very specific workforce. Our electric bills have increased and now we face an issue again, what to do with the nuclear waste that we’ve started to generate and how to keep it safe. What have we gained with this decision and was it the right one? My suggestion is that it was the wrong one, maybe easy, but wrong. Here’s the better choice, in my opinion.
Make some tough decisions, but the right ones, such as instead of the $17-20 billion dollars being spent on 2 power plants, how about a few million power plants, or Micro-Farms. Millions of homes and businesses! We could start with the best states for solar power, Florida (Sunshine State) as one of the best producers of solar energy, (most of the Sunbelt states, California, etc.). These micro farms would harvest solar energy and distribute it back into the national grid. We’re doing this already when one state/utility company buys or sells electric power to each other, but now we’ve got EXCESS energy being generated by these states and being sent where it’s needed. How would we do this you ask?
Here’s the plan: Utility companies would “rent” space from homeowners or businesses and install solar panels on their roofs. The solar panels would be owned by the utility companies, much like the wind turbine farms out west. They are leasing a footprint to install their turbines and generate energy back into the grid. It could be just as simple as that here.
Example: My Florida home is just less than 2000 sq. ft and during the summer, mostly July, August and September, I will use at peak 2300kws/month. During the cooler months, I will consume 800-1,000kws/month. If Progress Energy installed a 4000kw system on my roof, most months my energy needs would be satisfied and I would have an excess of 2-3,000kws to return to the grid! Now multiply this by a few million homes and businesses and we’re solving a problem and we’re making a profit doing it. I no longer have an electric bill (based on my last 24 months of usage, I would have to stay within my past parameters) and the utility company now has a product that they can sell and trade with other utilities. Of course the gradual effect of this would be lower rates to Americans, which isn’t such a bad thing.
Now some specific ideas about the process of getting this accomplished. All the billions of dollars being set aside for the nuclear power plants and also the expected billions from the stimulus could now be directed to solve this problem.
The great thing about this idea, aside from the billions of dollars and a few tough decisions to be made, is this can happen almost overnight. As soon as the decision is made and the money spigot is turned on, people will begin to get hired. These new hires would be at all levels of experience. Another example: Month 1, management, supervisory, planners, buyers and a ton of administration positions will be needed. Raw materials will need to be ordered, some of which will be in stock and others will need to be manufactured. Homeowners will begin to apply for these solar panels and the administration people will need to service these applications. I would suggest that we immediately use any and all existing solar panels and begin installations. In Florida, we have a construction workforce that will be able to handle this first phase, after this, training and manufacturing will have to start. At this smaller volume of panels being installed and serviced, we’ll begin the process of fine-tuning the overall project for the eventual installations of thousands and then finally millions of these solar panels.
Ok, the end of the first month and maybe here’s where we are: Thousands of people hired, existing panels being installed and small regional manufacturing sites identified (we have and most of the country has, a surplus of large empty commercial and retail buildings sitting vacant, ready to be leased and turned into simple manufacturing facilities.). The panels themselves may be a composite of designs from more than one company, but they have to all be simple. Simple to design, simple to manufacture and simple to install. We’re talking quantity here, not let’s wait till we have the most efficient design and then do. Do it now with what is either already on the drawing board or in manufacturing today. These panels will have to be generic and the panel made in California, will be the same as in Florida. Materials will be all the same and if we have a shortage in Arizona, Texas will supply the need. The most important item on this list is of course the Photovoltaic cells or substrate. We’ll use what’s on the shelves all over the country to get started, but at some point, we’ll have to start producing a generic product and this is where the government can help. The government can issue purchase orders for a product that has specifications that will need to be met, regardless of where the P-V cells are made. This will give the manufactures a timeline to begin to retrofit their existing assembly, if they so choose, but if not, they would be losing market share by doing so.
I know that this concept will annoy and frustrate many manufacturers, which have spent millions of dollars developing a unique and viable product, but I think that we have to consider this as a nation, much like the response of the American people during the World War 2 period. Victory Gardens, Bond drives and even rationing began. Men went to war and the women of America, for the first time in our history, started doing the work of their husbands, fathers and brothers. It was a huge mindset to accept, but they did it and were successful doing it. They, the manufacturers, can still produce their unique product; it will just have to meet certain design, dimensional and productivity specifications.
Another part of the puzzle that would NOT be designed in, a battery storage system for these installations. This would help both in construction and also in the cost of the system to the homeowners/Power /Utility companies. The power would just go back into the grid. If people wanted to add battery storage capabilities then it’s their decision and their nickel.
Now six months into the new program and things are really starting to come together. We’ve installed thousands of panels, power is starting to flow back into the grid and energy prices are beginning to fall. A few 100,000 or so people have jobs.
By the way, some people may think that we can’t possibly install that many panels on Florida roofs in just 6 months, but just look back to the roofing industry and what they did here in Florida after some of the major hurricanes came through. People were working 10-12 hours a day installing new roofs and that might be just the effort we’ll need this time for this program.
Now, 2-3 years into the project and what have we accomplished? Well, our unemployment is the lowest in years. We’ve created a product now that is commercially competitive around the Globe. We have a skilled and educated workforce that can stand shoulder to shoulder with any in the world. We no longer import oil and with the recent breakthroughs in Solar Technology, our oil usage has finally begun a downward run. We aren’t still in court fighting lawsuits with the various groups opposed to nuclear power and we haven’t begun to manufacture nuclear waste, which will be a problem for hundreds of generations. We’ve stopped mining coal and destroying the environment in the coal mining regions. We’ve saved billions of dollars not building new nuclear or coal burning power plants. And maybe now, we’re doing something good for the planet.
I realize that the people who make big decisions have big lobbyists pressuring them to go and do it the way we’ve always done it, more coal, more nuclear. But this is where the tough decisions come into play and the outcome has huge results. Bottom line: in a few years time, we could be energy sufficient, using solar powered technology or we could be looking at still relying on foreign oil, escalating energy prices and an economy suffering for lack of jobs and a national focus. There are countries already across the globe, which have made the right decisions and put their investments into solar and wind power, with a fraction of our resources, and are now independent from importing oil, maybe now it’s our time.
It’s up to our government to lead the way and the American people will follow and our children and grandchildren and generations to follow will look back at this time and say” They made the tough decisions, but the right ones!”
Rich Franco
March 12, 2009
Thursday, July 30, 2009
First Post
Hello to all,
My brother, Jim Franco was visiting from New York and he showed me his new blog, which is beautiful. His is called " jimsees" and he has some great images of course, both of his Travel/Food photography and also his "white" apartment that he has up for sale. Take a look.
I'll be adding some thoughts of my own and some images and would like to get some feedback on the images if you have an opinion you'd like to share. Of course, on the "thoughts" part, I always relish a different viewpoint or some debate, I mean that's the reason for a blog. I don't want to just publish my thoughts and viewpoints just to see them on the Web.
Rich
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