Posts Tagged With: Energy

Carbon Offsets & the Environment

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The Economist has a good post on why carbon offsets aren't a pass for consuming bad energy. I've stopped publicly advocating for environmental change, mainly because I fly a lot and consume lots of energy. My family's home is located about fifteen minutes drive from anything, which I bug my parents about constantly. I will continue to advocate for the Pigou Club, higher carbon taxes, and consumption taxes on our nation's roads.

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Global Warming

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There are two issues here that come in separate yes or no votes: 1) The Earth is getting warmer. 2) Humans are causing the earth to get warmer. I don't know if anyone denies anymore that the Earth is getting warmer. Whether or not this is because of humans is still subject to (some) debate. The most credible refutation of 2) I've heard so far is that the earth is getting warmer because of a warm period that comes roughly every 3000 years. So be it. In 100 years, as I understand it, half of Bangladesh and most of Manhattan will be underwater, human causes or not. This requires action. Send scientists to the Netherlands, do whatever you have to. The Earth is warming, human cause or not. We need to start building dams or enacting cooling measures fast. My own opinion is that it might be too large a coincidence the Earth started warming around the time of the Industrial Revolution. It's better to prepare for global warming and be wrong than assume it's all a big hoax and watch millions drown in low-elevation areas.

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Clean Nuclear Power?

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If this was a diet program on a late-night infomercial, I'd turn it off immediately. Cheap energy with no harmful side effects like pollution or meltdown? Uses existing nuclear waste, and by-products are only radioactive for hundreds of years, compared with millions? I got pretty excited when I read this article about a new nuclear technology using a fuel source called thorium, which doesn't meltdown and promises clean energy. Apparently there will be a full-scale prototype working in Russia in the first quarter of 2008. Sounds great, but I couldn't find any discussion of verification of the claims or of possible consequences of the technology.

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Why Don’t Americans Care More About Energy Waste?

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David Houle with an article on ThoughtMechanics about how Europe conserves energy regularly, and Americans conserve when they're reminded, or when it's convenient. As I commented below the article (I'm copying it straight because I'm lazy), I think part of the American problem, not an excuse for it, is our sense of Manifest Destiny and our desire for low density. In Europe houses are built closer together (because they were built in 1850) and almost every town has a main street built just for pedestrians, with no road and little parking to be found. These encourage energy conservation, whereas that hallmark of American shopping, the strip mall with a parking lot in front of every shop, encourages people to get in their cars. Look at Phoenix, Arizona - it’s huge and keeps expanding outward, never upward. America will get its head out of the ground if it can accomplish smarter design and higher density.

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I want to move to Singapore

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Alan Webber with a dumbed-down editorial in USA Today about Singapore that nevertheless gets the point across - Singapore runs government the way it should be, as an entity conducive to economic development and long-term growth across the country. While Singapore is busy subsidizing hybrids and making energy conservation a priority, we're busy discussing flag burning, extending the Voting Rights Act, and defeating a gay marriage amendment.

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