US consumers will become less of a driver of world economic growth over time as Asia comes into its own economically. India and China will eventually drive the world economy, not the US. We will still play a part, as will Japan and the EU, but the future is East.
As for technological innovation in burning fossil fuels, we have made tremendous advances over the last ffity years, and those advances will continue. Take coal. In a coal-fired power plant, coal is burned in a big furnace. The heat boils water flowing through conduits through the furnace. The water becomes steam which shoots through the conduits and powers a turbine, which (coupled with a magnet and a coil) creates electricity. Simple, but dirty. In newer coal plants, the process of burning the coal is far more refined. Fluidized-bed plants pulverize the coal into powder and shoot it into the furnace with tiny nozzles, much like a shower head. The way the fuel is introduced helps to create a very hot spinning vortex in the furnace, a "fluidized bed" of coal, rather than a traditional bed of coal siting on the bottom of the furnace. The fluidized bed burns hotter and results in a far higher percentage of the fuel being consumed in the furnace. This process had two effects. First, you generate more electricity with less coal. Second, you emit fewer pollutants into the atmosphere, because more are consumed in the process. A newer, still experimental (last I checked) technology is pressurized fluidized bed coal technology, where the entire furnace is encased in a chamber that is pressurezied to several atmospheres of pressure. The higher pressure results in even more of the fueld being consumed, furthering the two benefits. There are other advances in emissions control as well- filtering particles from the smoke stack using water, for instance. And those technologies are largely available in commercial use today. For oil, we know that internal combustion engines only gainfully use a percentage of the fuel they consume, and there is plenty of room for advancement there. On 5/10/06, Vivec <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > What will be the effect if the biggest bunch of consumers on the > planet suddenly start spending less and saving? ;-) > > And this article is some nice, positive speculation. > Unless you can show me these wonderful technologies that will > revolutionise the way we burn oil and therefore extend this finite > resource. And note, the article doesn't say anything other than oil > resources *are* finite. > > On 5/10/06, Gruss Gott <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > One way or another, future Americans will be saving for their own > > retirement, rather than continuing to pass the bill to the younger > > person to their left. This is not as big a financial change as it > > might seem: There was never anybody to pick up the bill but ourselves. > > What will change is behavioral incentives -- to plan, to adjust > > individual consumption and savings to take account of the future. > > Savings foster growth. Taxes (the current way of financing retirement) > > retard and discourage growth. In 1992, the median retiree over 70 had > > just $8,659 in financial assets -- less than if he had put away $1.70 > > a week during his working life. > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:206452 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
