Renewable Energy, the Dummy Version

renewable vs. non-renewable energy sources

Every day, no, every hour, our research staffers stumble over content that should have been written by someone who's technologically savvy, but is in fact written by a member of the species we call the common technoboob. You know these writers by their slim grasp of technology and, as a result, a failure to understand language that is even marginally technical. The vast stable of journalism and creative writing graduates at eHow.com is full of technoboobs, writers like Heather Bliss (AA in journalism), who puts it all out there for her readers in "Uses of Renewable Energy Sources" at, of all places, BizFluent.com (Leaf Group finally moved it to Sciencing.com, though it's otherwise unchanged).

According to her reference list, Bliss trundled over to her school library and checked out a couple of small-press books on renewables (or so she claims: we figure she just read synopses on Amazon). She also checked out a list of renewable energy sources from Oregon. Whatever the case, Heather managed to check off the standard list of renewables – solar, wind, and hydroelectric – while managing to omit biomass and geothermal, among others. It's not her list that won her a nomination, however, it's the dumbassery embedded in her post. Here: see what we mean...

• "In the home, solar energy can be used to warm water for bathing or cleaning in the same way that solar bags are used among camping enthusiasts. They are filled with water and placed in the sun to warm, then attached to a solar shower and used as the source for shower water." – We're pretty sure home solar water heaters don't consist of bags of water hung in the shower.

"...solar energy collected is converted to electricity and can be used and stored, as with purchased electricity." – Except perhaps for charging the battery of her iPhone®, where does Bliss store her "purchased electricity"? "According to [some book], there is great potential to use hydroelectric power in urban areas, where there is a constant flow of water through municipal pipes." – That's a pretty cockamamie idea, since many municipal water systems depend on electric-powered pumps to keep the water flowing! It would only work where the municipal water source is at a significantly higher elevation than the consumers. "Water, though its volume on the Earth is finite, is considered to be a renewable resource, because conservation efforts in local areas can alleviate a water shortage." – No, Heather, hydroelectric power is a renewable resource because water is not consumed to create energy!

Given a rather obvious unfamiliarity with the technology of energy production in general and renewable energy sources in particular, it was clear to the nominating committee that Heather's freelancing reach far exceeded her technological grasp. That's why Bliss is now the proud owner of her first Dumbass of the Day award.  Well, that and she didn't say that there's no difference between energy coming from renewable and nonrenewable sources...

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