At 09:51 AM 10/10/97 +1000, jock mccardell wrote:
>jay
>i'm really directing this to all commentators on the question of 'the real
>bottom line' but am unsure as to how to do the broadcast so could you
>advise or relay or whatever
>
>some thoughts:
>to convert fossil fuel dependent economies to using known alternative
>forms of bulk energy eg say switching to grids of wind turbines etc, there
>is a substantial lead time to tool up for this transition plus the
>manufacture, transport, installation, commissioning, maintenance etc of
>this technology also consumes energy so the 'true' and total energy cost of
>the alternative energy generation technology needs to be identified and
>provision for this factored into calculations of when fossil fuels run out.
>
>conventional extrapolations from existing consumption rates with allowances
>for savings by 'thrift' and some bonus from 'breakthrough' technologies (a
>big ask) though logical overlook conversion costs which must also rely on
>existing sources of energy
>And will the new methods/techniques/appliances generate more energy than
>that consumed in their creation? we know the answer to that
>regards
You are absolutely right Jock. Conversion of electric utilities
from one type of fuel to another can take many decades. (WEC)
Moreover, utilities need to incorporate all those "externalities"
into their cost structure.
I personally have been involved in a lawsuit with our local
utility and the State of Hawaii for about five years now.
Some mainland utilities (esp. California) have been involved
in progressive planning for 25 years. The Cal State PUC ordered
their utilities to account for some "externalities" and implement
what is called "Integrated Resource Planning". (Too involved
for this list, but it is great stuff!)
But Hawaii is a very small state, somewhere around 1.3 million,
and top utility management went to school with the state's
bureaucrats -- they play golf together -- they're pals. So
Hawaii's PUC won't order our utilities to do anything they
don't want to do. Thus, our ONLY recourse is in the courts.
A lot of people belly ache about lawyers, but here in Hawaii,
lawyers are the only thing standing between the people and
a totalitarian corporate state. Every large economic
development is destined to wind up in the courts for years.
In theory, only good government can save us. But now that
government has lost the respect of the people -- including
yours truly -- the future really looks dismal.
Jay -- http://dieoff.org
