Re: [Biofuel] Nuclear Waste Of Time
An interesting thread. Maybe I can offer a perspective on this. I've spent many years in the Foreign Service, having lived in many places overseas, including Africa and Europe. I've seen America from the inside-out and outside-in. My observation is that the problem isn't that Americans aren't conservation-conscious or that Americans or American companies have a penchant for destroying the planet. The problem is that American society has developed, more by default rather than by deliberate design, an appetite for energy consumption. For example, almost without exception every place I've live abroad you don't need a car to go to the grocery store -- or if you do, you don't have to go very far. In the United States, unless you live in an intensely urban area, the necessities of life are spread out by many miles. We think nothing of getting in the car and driving 10 miles to the grocery store, and we're so used to it that many Americans can't imagine what it must be like to just walk down the street for the same thing. That's just one example, but what I'm trying to say is that America tends to give off an impression of being excessive and wasteful, but the truth of the matter is that while we are excessive by much of the rest of the world's standards, it isn't because Americans want to be that way, it's because that's all we know. Furthermore, I think perspective helps sometimes -- if you want to see REAL waste and ecologic corruption, go to Africa. I lived in Africa for over four years, and the level of ecological destruction that goes on over there makes Americans look like conservationist saints. For me, anyway, I intend to do everything I can to make a difference. My next house will have a rainwater harvesting system, solar hot water, and ground-source heat pump. I joined this list so I could learn how to produce my own biodiesel, so I can power my vehicles without burning up fossil fuels. -Steve Let's unravel. Climate change is only one of four interconnected and massive problems facing the planet. If the only issue we were worried about was climate change, maybe it would be worth considering nuclear power. But the problem is much bigger. The problem is embedded in the inefficiency and overconsumption built into the American economy, and by extension, the rest of the developed world. The pathway toward a sustainable future lies in the developed world becoming more energy efficient, while the developing world leapfrogs over the excesses of our present economic order. ___ Biofuel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://wwia.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuel archives at Infoarchive.net (searchable): http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/
Re: [Biofuel] Nuclear Waste Of Time
So true! But for this to work well enough to make a difference, significant changes would have to be made to the system of distribution of goods and services in the United States. Efficient rail transport in the United States, similar to what you might find in Europe, only works if the transport goes where people need to go, and if it is cost-effective. In Europe, the rail systems are heavily subsidized by the government, and the government in turn heavily taxes its citizens. Take the Netherlands, for example -- they have a fantastic public transportation system that can take you just about anywhere you need to go, and it's affordable. However, the country is already designed for such a system (stores are close to the city centers, and the cities are heavily populated), and the people pay so much in taxes (75% for some!) that tax evasion is a national sport. I'm not saying that it won't work in America, but I'm saying that it will work only in isolated areas or new developments built for such a thing from the ground-up. It may be idealistic to imagine well-designed communities in the U.S., but the realistic viewpoint is that this doesn't exist and probably won't for the forseeable future. I believe the answer is for us to find alternative sources of energy that are cheap enough that the average person will be interested. -Steve ...much of the inefficiency within the American energy grid is from transmission losses. Instead of nuclear, we need to invest in clean micro-generation of renewable energy distributed throughout well-designed communities that encourage light rail over cars. ___ Biofuel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://wwia.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuel archives at Infoarchive.net (searchable): http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/
Re: [Biofuel] Nuclear Waste Of Time
...much of the inefficiency within the American energy grid is from transmission losses. Instead of nuclear, we need to invest in clean micro-generation of renewable energy distributed throughout well-designed communities that encourage light rail over cars. Bravo!! Keith Addison [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: See also: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/02/politics/02nuke.html?oref=login The New York Times Washington Interest in Building Reactors, but Industry Is Still Cautious - May 2, 2005 http://www.tompaine.com/20050505/articles/imagine_enron_with_nukes.php Imagine Enron With Nukes --- http://www.tompaine.com/20050505/articles/nuclear_waste_of_time.php Nuclear Waste Of Time Beyond the slimy but pedestrian observation that the Washington Post is further handing its Op-Ed page over to industry shills, today's piece by Ambassador John Ritch, The Key To Our Energy Future , 5042501345.html is just short-sighted and wrong. Ritch wants us to believe that the only path to reducing carbon emissions is one where nuclear power generation is increased 10 times: To avert climate catastrophe, greenhouse emissions must be reduced over the next 50 years by 60 percent -- even as population growth and economic development are combining to double or triple world energy consumption. Every authoritative energy analysis points to an inescapable imperative: Humankind cannot conceivably achieve a global clean-energy revolution without a rapid expansion of nuclear power to generate electricity, produce hydrogen for tomorrow's vehicles and drive seawater-desalination plants to meet a fast-emerging world water crisis. This reality requires a tenfold increase in nuclear energy during the 21st century... The good ambassador apparently thinks there is a conceivable future in which energy consumption doubles or triples. There is none. On top of that false foundation, he then proposes a brute-force approach to our energy problems: If you don't have enough, you need to build more. Let's unravel. Climate change is only one of four interconnected and massive problems facing the planet. If the only issue we were worried about was climate change, maybe it would be worth considering nuclear power. But the problem is much bigger. The problem is embedded in the inefficiency and overconsumption built into the American economy, and by extension, the rest of the developed world. The pathway toward a sustainable future lies in the developed world becoming more energy efficient, while the developing world leapfrogs over the excesses of our present economic order. Investing heavily in nuclear energy will actually slow down the process of transitioning the American economy. Nuclear power is inherently a centralized energy source, and much of the inefficiency within the American energy grid is from transmission losses. Instead of nuclear, we need to invest in clean micro-generation of renewable energy distributed throughout well-designed communities that encourage light rail over cars. Reducing losses to transmission and reducing vehicle miles travelled during commuting times will save more energy than nuclear power generates today. It will also create a lot more jobs as America eliminates unhealthy sprawl and replaces it with attractive, friendly and safe communities. Or, we can just build a nuclear plant next to a poor minority suburb, sit in longer and longer traffic jams, pay higher and higher costs for distant housing, drive up the price of auto fuel, and encourage nuclear proliferation. All paid for with more industry subsidies financed by China. Thanks, but I'll pass. --Patrick Doherty ___ Biofuel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://wwia.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuel archives at Infoarchive.net (searchable): http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/ ___ Biofuel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://wwia.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuel archives at Infoarchive.net (searchable): http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/
