I encourage everybody to read. Wasting energy is bad for
the economy.
-- Jim
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http://climateprogress.org/2008/04/24/recycled-energy-a-core-climate-solution/
Recycled Energy - A core climate solution
Probably the least understood major climate solution is the simultaneous generation of electricity and heat, called cogeneration, combined heat and power (CHP) or recyled energy. You can read the basics here.I have proposed one "stabilization wedge" of CHP ( here). Some people, like my friend Tom Casten of Recycled Energy, think it could be multiple wedges. He is probably right - when you consider that the energy now lost as waste heat just from U.S. power generation exceeds the energy used by Japan for all purposes.
<snip>
Here's a few excerpts:
The strategies we need to avoid climate catastrophe are not about imposing the heavy hand of government on the marketplace, but rather are about leveling the playing field, and giving an extra push to low-carbon technologies.
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So, my fundamental message is that the climate debate has got two very big flaws in it. Number one, it assumes that this is going to cost us money. This is a fantastic economic opportunity.
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Monica Trauzzi: But becoming green can also be expensive for companies, you know, becoming more energy efficient, using renewables, just the start-up cost can be expensive.
Tom Casten: Well, this is what gets debated on both sides and they're both wrong. Our mission in life is to profitably lower greenhouse gas emissions. We raised a billion and a half dollars for that mission and we didn't get the money because our investors were looking for green wash. We got the money because it is an extremely profitable area and there's a reason for that. If I give you a bit of background, 42 percent of all of our greenhouse gases come from making electricity. Another 27 percent come from making heat. So, 70 percent almost of what we put out as greenhouse is from heat and power. Do you ever hear anybody talk about how can we improve electric generation? It's the elephant in the room. It hasn't improved since Eisenhower.
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We could take the 42 percent of carbon dioxide that comes from electricity and cut it in half and save $70 billion. And yet we're having an argument between conservatives and liberals about whether we can afford greenhouse gas reduction.
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The thing that frustrates me so much is that the reason we ought to be addressing greenhouse gas is an economic imperative. The economy is really taking a hit from the high price of fuel. If we only burned half as much fuel we could keep jobs here.
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Tom Casten: I've dedicated my life, since 1975, to reducing greenhouse gases. I have a great respect for my friends in the environmental community, but I think they're making a mistake. Most people don't think about the future. Those of us that do are in the minority. I don't think we're going to solve greenhouse gases if our message is you have to sacrifice in order to get there. It won't sell. It won't be emulated. If the United States is truly able to lead the world, and we have to do it, we need to use our brains to show how we can profitably reduce greenhouse gases.
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It will make him the lowest cost producer of silicon in the world. He is going to open up an additional furnace and pull silicon production back from China and hire more people, because he can make silicon cheaper.
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