ENERGY LOSSES IN THE US AND OHIO

Two main sources account for almost ¾ of the energy lost in Ohio:

Electric power plants, which are 32 % efficient, account for 40 %

Vehicles, i.e. autos , which are 25 % efficient account for 25 %

Electric power plants produce half of Ohio's greenhouse gas and vehicles produce about one quarter.

Data for the entire country are similar.

Source: LLNL documents: Estimated US (Ohio) energy Use and Estimated US (Ohio) Carbon Dioxide Emissions

Life After High School

I attended MIT and wound up with an ScD degree in Metallurgy, specializing in deformation and fracture. In 1960, I married Peg Young, who grew up in Iowa and was working at Harvard. Then, fifty years ago we, and our baby daughter Ann, spent a year in Liverpool, where I worked at the University. Arriving back in the US, I took a job at Battelle Memorial Institute here in Columbus. Our son, Joel, was born here in 1964. The family had another stretch in England, when I worked a Summer at the Open University. After retirement in 1994, I took up several activities, including genealogy and teaching people how to use the internet. Currently I am energy Specialist (Lobbyist) for the League of Women Voters of Ohio and Membership Chair of our suburban Library Friends group.

Peg is Election Specialist for the League of Women Voters. Ann lives in Toronto with our two teen-age grandchildren. She is head of the fund-raising arm of the Wood Green Foundation. Joel and Julie Olsen live in Park City Utah, where he telecommutes for the company that makes Magic Jack.

Fracking Letter to the Editor

The Columbus Dispatch declined to publish this:

"Your article on May 8 about the proposed legislation oil and gas drilling on State parks was very timely. It showed that the quarrel is about a small potential gain in the Budget. But there is also the concern for the health and safety consequences of drilling. Pennsylvania is the current focus of development and many accidents have occurred, including a gas-well blowout in Moshannon State Forest. Right now Ohio is on the fringe of drilling. But there has already been an explosion in Geauga County; a house was blown off of its foundation and drinking water was contaminated. Adding to the problem is a new technique called horizontal fracking, which allows one well to do the job of twenty (and cause twenty times the damage when an accident occurs). Because of its greater efficiency, horizontal fracking is called a game changer by drilling advocates. My fear is that the game will change from shuffleboard to demolition derby."