I don’t know why, but I love this picture. I’ve stumbled across it a few different times, this time in the context of research on global energy consumption. Excuse the horrible pun, but this image shines a bright light on the countries (and regions within countries) that will face the biggest challenges with energy this century. Click on it for a bigger version from the NASA website.

technorati tags:Energy, Lights

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All good things must come to an end. I arrived back in CA last week after almost a month in Bali. Good times, but now it’s time to get down to work. For those readers who tuned in for the surf reports, you may find this blog a lot less interesting in the coming months. For those of you into technology and political economy, stay tuned for more consistent on-topic content. I’ll still try to mix it up and keep it lively for everyone.

In the meantime, here’s a parting shot of Bali:

This is looking south from Dreamland towards Bingin, Impossibles and Padang Padang. It never got very big when I was down there (this picture was the biggest day at about head high), but the lefts rolling down the reef were truly machine-like. But beware the super shallow, super sharp coral. You read about this stuff in the surf mags when you’re a kid, but it’s not until you kick out of a wave and stand up only to find the water is shin deep that you realize it’s pretty damn crazy out there. The current sucking back over the reef as the waves recessed was almost unmanageable. I have scars on my legs and dings on my board to demonstrate how fun it is to get dragged across the myriad coral species. I can’t imagine when the swell is in the 15′ range… not sure if I blogged about it earlier, but some Philippino dude died at this spot the week before I got there. He hit his head on the reef and got stuck in an underwater cave. They didn’t find his body for 10 days.

So as not to end on a down note, I thought a Bintang —the beer of choice in Bali— would be appropriate:

Cheers and selamat siang!

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It looks like the Middle East still wins in the energy game, even if we convert everything to solar:

Global solar energy resources. The colors in the map show the actual local solar energy, averaged through the years of 1991-1993. The scale is in watts per square meter.

However, look a little closer. The land area required to supply the current global primary energy demand by solar energy using available technology is represented by the dark disks.*

To put things in perspective, consider that Africa’s Sahara is home to over 450 TW of solar potential. The current global energy consumption by humans, including all oil, natural gas, coal, nuclear, and hydroelectric, is pegged at about 13 TW.*

Interestingly, the top 3 solar adoptors in the world –Germany, Japan and the US– are mostly in the green areas above (the American southwest not withstanding).

One last fact to note. Solar power production currently makes up only 0.02% of the total electricity consumed. Of course, that doesn’t even consider energy used for transportation.

* Map and Africa facts found on Wikipedia.

technorati tags:energy, solar

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Here’s a shot from my recent trip to Xinjiang in far western China. We stayed in one of these puppies next to Karakul Lake at 12,000+ feet, a spot in Central Asia boasting the farthest distance from the ocean on the planet. You might think of it as my fast before the surfing feast here in Bali.

This is the answer for so many of you who have asked “What the hell is a yurt?”:

Photo by travel companion Priya Dewan.

I promise to post all my Xinjiang photos very soon…

technorati tags:Xinjiang, China, Yurt, Karakul

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Democracy and socialism have nothing in common but one word, equality. But notice the difference: while democracy seeks equality in liberty, socialism seeks equality in restraint and servitude.

- Alexis de Tocqueville - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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