A Proposal by Newton Ellison
To help humanity prepare for a future without oil, gas or coal, we envision the creation of what we call Solar Prosperity Corridors.
The earth could be divided into three regions, the sunbelt, between the two 30th degree latitudes, and the two polar districts, north & south, land in the latitudes higher than 40, New Zealand’s South Island, the tip of South America, and Antarctica. As we see it, humans can build Solar Prosperity Corridors (SPCs) across thousands of miles of sun-drenched reaches nearer the equator. Look at a globe, you see there is room for five corridors—West to East — 1) San Diego to Orlando, 2) Guayaquil to Recife, 3) Casablanca to Cairo, 4) Beirut to Hong Kong, with a leg down to Ho Chi Mihn City, and 5) in Australia, Perth to Brisbane.
Our plan transitions us from fossil/nuke fuels to 100% incoming and short-term-stored solar. There are hundred of benefits that come with our plan — land for Palestinians, peace and prosperity for Jews, respect for religions, a warm-water port for Russia, secure USA borders, better food production, efficient uses of remaining oil, clean air, water and irrigated farmlands to feed us all.
The basic issue is as we run out of fossil fuels, we will naturally first turn to nuclear power. The nuclear power people have much greater political/financial power than the solar people. And, without a well develped plan, the solar people will have essentially no political/financial influence.
Why not put nuclear reactors in the polar belts and reserve the sunbelt for SPCs, this might make it easier for environmentalists to agree not to oppose the building of nuclear power plants. Doesn’t that sound like a fair bargain?
There is quite a bit more to the plan, parts of which I and my colleague, John Tulkin, have been leaking on RunningOnEmpty2, AlasBabylon and EnergyResources since September, when we first mentioned the SPC from Kushka, Turkmenistan to the Arabian Sea, via Herat and Farah, Afghanistan. This North-South SPC encloses and protects a jumble of pipelines, including those carrying a slurry of undersea topsoil piped up to the barren north, with solar PV de-salting the water for irrigation.
We too have been impressed by the Ishmael Series, by Daniel Quinn, and his other good work. We also are veterans in the Running On Empty field, having read Hubbert, Schumacher, the Lovinses, R. Carson, H. Henderson, D. Meadows & the Club of Rome, from the early Odum to the more recent ones. We also believe Jay Hanson is generally correct about “Dieoff, ” but we are working for a “soft landing,” as is the most recent Odums’ work, we think.
We are seeking to attract others to join us in working on and further developing our positive, global plan, with locale-specific deployment of solar technologies as SPCs? If you would like to help, please write or call us.
Newton & Associates
P.O.Box 120023
San Antonio, Texas 78212-9223
(210) 226-1887