Disappointing to see the thoughtless nuclear boosterism from the Reg, I suppose it goes along with the anti-AGW line they pull out now and again for unexplained contrarian reasons. To respond to jore and common sense, of course growth is finite, but remember that in addition to growth through expansion, there is growth through efficiencies (productivity). There is no reason we can't maintain a steady or shrinking environmental footprint, while still having improving efficiencies - if that is what we prioritise. These articles stating renewables can't cope with infinite growth are garbage. Consider how well fossil fuels will cope with infinite growth, as they must also fail. The only possible solution is to adopt a model that does not rely on a continually growing ecological footprint. Personally, I am optimistic. I have seen my household power use decline by 1/3 with LED lights and smarter use of appliances, and have coupled this with solar panels that generate more than 2/3rds of the remaining power use. I have more roof space to do the same when I get an electric car. And while I understand if you are an aluminium smelter you have limited options to reduce power use, but nearly every business is not an aluminium smelter, and the vast bulk still have substantial opportunities to conserve energy. There are even businesses (Ecosave is one I saw) that package up the energy saving devices/systems and take their fee out of the ongoing saving, so it costs nothing to save energy.
Regards, Michael Skeggs _______________________________________________ Link mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link
