Alternative Energy Research and Development

The Power Beneath Our Feet

Geothermal Power

HeyerTech researches and reports on the potential of utility-level geothermal energy development throughout the world.

Residential Geothermal

HeyerTech is currently investigating residential and small-scale geothermal projects in the US and Central America.

For additional information, contact:

Mark Heyer
markh@heyertech.com

In response to your requests, following is the text of my opening remarks at the Rotary Palo Alto meeting November 13,2006:

Two weeks ago, along with more than 200 other Palo Altans, I attended the superb luncheon symposium, Palo Alto Business Goes Green hosted by the Stanford Alumni club and created by the Palo Alto Chamber of Commerce, spearheaded by CEO Sandra Lonquist and Carroll Harrington, Palo Alto visionary and organizer extraordinaire.

The speaker was Stanford’s Dr. Stephen Schneider, world famous climatologist, advisor to Al Gore and five administrations. Dr. Schneider painted a compelling picture of the consequences of our poisoning of the atmosphere with carbon dioxide and the risk of rapid climate change within the next 100 years.

As a scientist at heart, I too know that if we fail to address the root problem of climate change, the future of our children and grandchildren is not at all certain.

Just to pick one example among hundreds, according to a recent NASA study, we are within one degree Celsius of triggering a catastrophic and irreversible melting of the permafrost that covers much of Northern Russia, Alaska and Canada, releasing billions of tons of methane into the atmosphere, a greenhouse gas five times as potent as carbon dioxide, creating a positive feedback loop that in a few short years could flip the earth into an unrecognizable climatic state. The melting is already visible and measurable. Huge Methane bubbles are now rising under the ice of currently frozen arctic lakes. We have 50 years at the outside to halt the temperature rise and avert this, among many other disasters.

“Hi, its Monday, November 13, 2061 and in downtown Palo Alto, a mild 140 degrees. Tonight the city council will dedicate the old City Hall as the Ed Powers Memorial Sea Scout base, as it now sits on the shoreline of San Francisco bay.”

I came away from the luncheon with a nagging feeling that all the well-meaning voluntary programs, Kyoto protocols and efforts to reduce greenhouse gasses by 10 or 20 percent maybe someday, are pathetically inadequate to the task at hand. It’s as if we wanted to get to the moon and every person, town and company was expected to figure out how to do it on their own.

The real enemy here is carbon fuel, specifically fossil carbon fuels, oil, natural gas and coal, whose carbon is not recycled.  Like some kind of brain-addled meth-addicts, we pour more and more of our treasure and the blood of our children into obtaining and defending our carbon fix in ever more dangerous, difficult and expensive parts of the world.

Imagine if all the money we currently send to Kuwait and Saudi Arabia and Venezuela and Canada and yes, Iraq, was instead used to develop renewable energy resources in Kansas and Iowa and Nebraska and California. Would we be a safer and more prosperous nation? Dr. Schneider made a very convincing case, based on demonstrable history, that energy efficiency is highly profitable, once set in motion.

So if we were to start a new war – a war on carbon - we could and would solve our fossil carbon addiction, reduce the threat of terrorism, save the earth and all of our children and in the process, create an era of untold wealth and prosperity as our wartime investments drive the cost of carbon-free and carbon neutral fuels below the cost of today’s fossil fuels.

The developing world, driven by pure economic benefit, will adopt and adapt the fruits of our inimitable American ingenuity, invention and leadership, to the benefit of all humankind and earthkind. 

We have the money. We have the intelligence. We have the entire flat earth as our resource bank. All we need are the leaders. I was reminded of May 25, 1961, when John F. Kennedy spoke to a special joint session of Congress - clearly, boldly and without hesitation – only one word needs to be changed - substitute energy for space:

“Now it is time to take longer strides. Time for a great new American enterprise. Time for this nation to take a clearly leading role in space achievement which in many ways may hold the keys to our future here on earth. I believe we possess all the talents and resources necessary but the facts of the matter are that we have never made the national decisions or marshaled the national resources required for such leadership.”

“I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth. No other project in this time will be more impressive to mankind or more important to the long range exploration of space.”

But leadership like this doesn’t spontaneously emerge from the mouths of presidents, standing as they do at the pinnacle of a massive pyramid of leadership. The words are formed by countless acts of leadership by individuals and organizations who create countless other pyramids and voices that build on one another.

Right here in Palo Alto, we should be very proud of the leadership of our green citizens and institutions. I ask you to join me today in honoring Sandra and Carroll for their efforts and through them, all the people and companies and organizations who are establishing Palo Alto’s clear and resonant leadership voice which will reverberate upward until a future American president will clearly, boldly and without hesitation, articulate our our goal to rid the earth of fossil carbon fuels and once again return America to a position of leadership in the world.

Thank you Sandra, thank you Carroll and thank you all.

A HeyerTech owned company

Martine Heyer Homes