Letters to the Editor
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"Carbon Free" Electricity?
Well, either Mr. Romm doesn't understand where most of our electricity comes from, or he is a huge advocate of nuclear power (since solar, wind, biomass and hydro are not even close to delivering the kind of energy he is talking about.) Most electric generating stations burn fossil fuel, and most are about 33% efficient in converting the energy of oil, gas or coal to electricity. Carbon free electricity is a canard.
I am all for reducing our carbon footprint and using energy more efficiently. But when my neighbor thinks hydrogen and electricity are environmentally benign, an easy path to addressing our future energy needs, I know the propaganda has gone to far.
No one likes hard problems, but energy is one of them. Articles like this do not add to the serious debate that needs to be had. They only provide comfort to people who do not understand the physical limitations of known energy conversion technologies.
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More on nuclear power
Check out
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article3168541.ece
for example, on reactor prototypes that use passive mechanisms to
increase safety margins, so that no active steps need to be performed to avoid a meltdown.
Look, nuclear isn't perfect, and will take considerable, intelligent, investment, to make it safer and to solve the nuclear waste problems, which aren't trivial. But really, where else are we going to come up with a significant source of carbon-free power?
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Question for City Dwellers
I actually have a question about the whole plug-in hybrid deal (of which I am very much in support).
As a resident of one of the country's major cities, I park my car on a street with a permit every day of the year and have no access to, say, a garage or other facility for which to charge up my hypothetical electric hybrid. What's the plan the handle such a situation in the inevitable future?
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A nice car that gets 35-42 mpg
My 2002 Toyota Corolla gets 35 city and 40 or more (my record was 44 mpg, but that was from Tahoe to San Francisco, pretty much all downhill). Nice car, comfy, happy at freeway speeds. I look around at all the huge gas guzzlers on the freeway containing one (1) driver, and I wonder what our national energy consumption would be like if everybody had cars rather like mine.
Sadly, newer Corollas get worse gas mileage. I think Toyota is trying to get the greener drivers to buy $22,000 and up Priuses. I wish some other manufacturers would build relatively simple (as in no major batteries, electric motors, computers, etc.) cars like my old Toyota.
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Very Naive
Cheap energy is about a lot more than just cars -it about everything in our economy. And where is the energy for "plugins" supposed to come from? Check out Nathan Lewis' work on energy inventory CalTech. A real eye opener, if you can stand it. There are no easy answers. Nothing is solved, but worse, the powers that be aren't admitting there's a problem yet. Disaster ahead.
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Pointless!
A pointless discussion!
The economics of supply & demand will condition our response to peak oil. Three billion new people want to use that oil. They will not volunteer to stay poor to keep the planet a degree cooler in the year 2100.
They also want to use a lot of coal. We will have to learn to adjust to any climate change in this century, regardless of whether the doomsday models are correct or not.
Massive change will not happen in the way Mr. Romm desires.
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Stabilizing climate requires near-zero carbon emissions
I admire Joseph Romm's optimism, but latest research shows that halfway measures won’t do the job. To stabilize our planet’s climate, we need to find ways to kick the carbon habit altogether.
More here:
http://tinyurl.com/3aonv4
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Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!
I think it was mentioned on the History Channel's program "Crude" that there was originally about 2 1/2 times as much fossil fuel in the ground as would be needed to bring the Earth's climate to a "tipping point" if burned. We are fast approaching or have already reached that tipping point. However, with an infrastructure and mindset built around a cars-and-trucks economy and our political leaders constantly touting the advantages of "global trade", we are caught in a physical and mental trap of our own devising. The transition to a sustainable post-carbon future requires such a revolutionary turnabout in culture, values, ethics, economics, and sheer physical change that I don't think it can be managed within the time remaining to avoid catastrophe.
No, the trucks and SUVs will just keep rolling down the highways as the arctic warms and droughts grip the planet. How else can we feed a huge and mostly urban society without mechanized agriculture and delivery systems? I honestly don't foresee any political leader willing to take this problem by the horns and tell the people the sacrifices they will have to make to survive.
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Editors choice
The 5th editors choice letter realy is at the root but no one will talk on it any where and i do write letters on it. Population. The population has more than tripled since i was born and statisticaly I have 15 to 20 years to go. If the population was still only 2 billion the subject would almost be a non starter. If we do not stop population growth and even reverse it we realy do not have a prayer on any number of subjects as well as oil. Timber is being harvested faster than it can be replaced. China alone in the next few years will use more wood building things than we have in this country in a number of years. An exact number I do not rember but it has been published. Water is right there with oil and timber. At 9 billion people we are out of a lot of stuff and why should I think it will top at 9 billion. I fortunately am an only child. My daughter the same. She will not have any. It is lonely but better than gasping for oxygen.