Not really sure if Bill deserved a standing ovation for this. He didn't actually tell us anything new other than his nuclear interests and he was pretty vague on the details. Bill's heart is in the right place but a little misguided. Unfortunately, not all of Bills 5 energy miracles are sustanable or practical.
The problems with his approach (and of most governments) is that everyone seems to be focused on solutions that are decades away from being a reliable source of alternative energy. The green initiatives such as wind and solar are the *ultimate goal*, but unfortunately won't be ready as a replacement fossil based energy sources for at least another couple of decades at best. Investment sould continue in these areas but they are not going to fix our problems now or in the short term. Carbon capture is a false economy, and is an idea that IMHO should be obandoned straight away. What are we going to do, dig one hole after another to bury our waste? How much is that going to cost? How much energy is required to store the co2 in the first place? It certainly doesn't get their itself. What benefits do we get from carbon capture if it takes more energy to store it, costing god knows how much in infrastrucure and maintenance and produces no net benefit to the consumer or the economy? Not a miricle in my opinion. The real miracle would be if governments would finally stop coming up with schemes that only encourage us to coninue with our bad habits and start investing in technologies that make our "current" energy services more efficient. Recyclying energy from factories and mining operations (which we have plenty of) is far more productive that any renewable energy source we currently have. By doing that we produce more net energy, without actually using more fossil fuels to generate the same amount of energy, and thereby reduce the amount of carbon dioxide we generate. Its a huge discussion, but if people like Bill (who made him an expert in energy matters anyway?) start talking about miracles, then we would be best served talking about miracles that can help us now, not in 40 years when alternatives are at a level to replace our dependance on fossil fuels. Personally, I don't think we can wait that long. Steve
