musicman

http://chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/biz/4558313.html

Climate change may have topped the agenda for policymakers, but it should be looked at first and foremost as a technological challenge, power executives gathered in Houston said Thursday.

The current slate of power generation technologies are not ready to handle the demands that proposed greenhouse gas regulations are likely to put on them, said Jeff Sterba, chairman and CEO of power and gas supplier PNM Resources.

That means the industry and the government need to fund more research for cleaner power plant fuels and ways to clean or capture greenhouse gas emissions, he said.

"Yes, there are policy issues, but fundamentally it's a technology challenge," Sterba said at the Cambridge Energy Research Associates conference at the Westin Galleria.

The power industry is already putting significant money toward meeting the country's growing power needs, according to CERA managing director Lawrence Makovich, with close to $800 billion budgeted for the next 15 years. That includes $275 billion for new plants and $50 billion retrofitting existing plants to reduce emissions, not including carbon dioxide.

But that may not be enough to increase capacity while keeping greenhouse gases in check.

Sterba and other executives and analysts at the conference say there's a great deal of mis- information about clean energy technology, both its weaknesses and strengths.

Wind and nuclear power are attractive to many worried about greenhouse gases because they have zero emissions.

But wind power can't replace existing power sources fast enough, and its output tends to be intermittent, particularly because winds are slower during the hot weather when power demand peaks, a number of observers said.

"Some would like to think wind can take up the slack from coal, but you'd have to build something like 150,000 to 170,000 new wind turbines, taking up enough land for seven states of Rhode Island," said John Rice, CEO of GE's Infrastructure business, which includes the company's growing wind power business.

On my last visit to Houston I was actually amazed at the number of dance clubs downtown. A lot imo. My question: Do all those dance clubs really make for a great downtown? I noticed during the day a lot of those same clubs were closed. I guess they only open at night. Some of the best downtowns I've been to lately across the america, Vancouver, San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, Chicago don't have so many of those clubs. They have more bars, jazz clubs or nice restaurants. We ended up at Bossa which to us was just the kind of place we were looking for. We also enjoyed Sambuca for the late night jazz.

i don't think those clubs do anything to make downtown a place to visit because they are only open during the evening. opening their bars during the afternoon might do somthing to attract biz workers.

At a community meeting tonight in Glenbrook, it was brought up by one of Carol Alvarado's assistants that there is a move afoot to take out the golf course at Gus Wortham and replace it with a soccer field. Has anybody else heard about this? I think that would be a terrible move for the area.

this is being discussed in another thread

Good Afternoon All,

wonderful advise and the code enforcement employees were truly helpful in the Midtown location.

Once my drawings are submitted how long and how many times will the inspector need to review in person

the project ?

i think he inspectors time will be kept to a minimum. i know they will be coming out to review the forms and rebar size but other than that they probably won't need to come back. They usually concentrate on the area in the city's easement

make sure that you consider that when the concrete is poured that water will shed off if it in the right direction. you don't want to flood some area that didn't flood before. now might be a good time to do some underground drainage if you need it

MAN, I was thinking the same thing, $400 bucks for a couple of pallets of grass ? New sod would make a world of difference, or at the very least a little landscaping, this just looks like land scraped. Thanks for pointing that out Hizzy. ROCK ON !

i look at it this way, at least the new homeowner can do what they want vs buying something with plants that they dont like.

Dose any one know the progected ridership of the up coming LRT/GRT expansion? I curious because they're adding about 25 miles and 8 miles of commuter rail, so that would be about 40 miles!

There are a lot of factors that are still TBD. which buses are they eliminating, etc.

of course if it was a GAY housewife, that would be ok.

in the horton foote biography there's some info that says it was in existence in the 50's.

Why does this remind me of this season's "24"?

An omen for Obama perhaps?

As for the parking, do you really think parking will continue to be a breeze as Houston continues to grow? It's about the easiest big city in the country to drive in but it wont be for much longer as we add an estimated 3 million more people to the metro in the next 25 years. Of course, I also don't think it's such a bad thing for parking to become harder. People will just have to make choices on where to live and shop and developers will have to start building things beyond the faux Spanish strip mall and big box developments!

i agree that parking will become more critical and choices will have to be made by consumers. I know i usually stay clear of the village for that reason except for a couple of restaurants i frequent with their own parking. parking will be around as long as the car is.

we were at the dietrich's on montrose a few weeks ago and people were complaining about the parking situation there.

i don't think i'd say Houston is trash.....but it sure says something about Rick's and the Houston Chronicle.

milby hotel pic

according to this it was at texas @ travis

was built in 1910 by charles milby

that's why that thing called a parking garage is for.

of course, but not all visitors use them so it will affect the parking situation.

Does this worry you? Good. It should. If this continues, it is an OUTRAGEOUS violation of our privacy and civil liberties. Read the full article and start contacting people immediately. Contact list at the bottom of the article.

At least in the govt, this has already been done for yrs. not that the all the info is recorded but they do have people who just look at the data because a friend of mine does it. Many don't allow you access software for IM'ing either. i think restrictions will just get tighter in general.

sure wont help the parking situation

That post I made was trash. I shouldn't have submitted it. I didn't mean to call Islam a cult. I was just saying, if any belief fits the definition, it is one. And it's just calling it what it is.

i think you just did it again.

That's his S.O.P.

that is so true. he tends to hurt his own cause more than help it.

I don't know if by defenition the Muslim Religion is a cult, but if it fits the definition, it is what it is. It's not being judgmental or belittling it.

Answers.com:

1. A religion or religious sect generally considered to be extremist or false, with its followers often living in an unconventional manner under the guidance of an authoritarian, charismatic leader.
   
2. The followers of such a religion or sect.
   

Hmmm when i look at answers.com it says......

Mus

These cry babies who object are hippocrits. They want to close the gates behind themselves and not let anyone else in to enjoy. Did I just describe a republican?

There are no party lines when it comes to cry babies.

so what's the George Burns movie called now? Oh, !

no need to overreact. if you have a permit, HCAD already knows you're doing work on your house. most of the time, HCAD's stops are usually just drivebys to verify that what they have down is correct and the homeowner never knows.

The one on Leeland really has some great architectural character inside.

This is the 2nd if not third attempt to sell it. the price is still quite high for a home that needs a major upgrade to the utilities.

I went to a meeting last night where someone from the city of houston housing dept spoken on yet another tax credit complex going up on Broadway. He made it sound as if the project is about to go before city council. The President of Glenbrook valley was there and was irritated that the surrounding neighborhoods were left in the dark. The city rep and the project developer kept repeating how the neighborhood will be revitalized! of course i asked how a neighborhood could be revitalized by one apartment complex where the residents will be low income?

This is just one of those programs that the mayor wants to force upon us with no citizen input!

House hearing on " warming of the planet" cancel after snow and icestorm

how ironic! LOL

I am sorry Bush's tax cuts have put such a burden on you Red, I guess you should have saved your money instead of renovating your entire Kitchen. Yep, we sure have fallen on hardtimes around here.

Come on Red, i know you at least chuckled! LOL