Posted on 02/23/2007 12:00:55 PM PST by neverdem
"Offsets are like indulgences."
Good one!
Nah, the Chinese manufactured ones go for about $2 each.
I'm waiting for someone to publish the exposé on this scam. I haven't seen it yet.
Surely there is one honest, diligent, intelligent journalist out the... or, maybe not. ;-)
"And even if we figured out how to process cellulose into ethanol efficiently, only one-third of our greenhouse gas emissions come from transportation."
2/3rds of CO2 comes from power plants of various types, 50% in electrical utilities, most of that from coal.
5899 million metric tons in 2005 total from all uses.
1900 million metric tons from transportation.
Electrical generation was 2245 million metric tons in 1999. 1787 million metric tons from coal.
By shifting electricity generation from coal / fossil fuel plants to nuclear power plants, we can reduce the US emissions by 50% and end the 'threat' of our CO2 emissions creating a serious concern.
By further leveraging nuclear-base electricity as an energy source for transportation (think plug-in hybrid), we can further reduce CO2 emissions by another 50%.
For CO2 generation numbers, see :
http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/1605/gg98rpt/carbon.html
http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/aer/pdf/pages/sec12_5.pdf
"But we go broke paying $7 for light bulbs instead of fifty cents."
Not so. They last longer and save energy, so they also save money. Plus we can get the box of 8 from Sams or Home Depot for about $8.
A fellow church goer is the Traffic Engineer for Mesquite TX. He convinced the town council to approve the conversion of 26 traffic lights at major intersections to the new LED bulbs. This was done in 2002. Electrical consumption cost was cut in half and maintenance even more since he doesn't have to plan for his maintenance crews to be changing light bulbs every three to four months. The extra money is going to the school and playground budgets!!!
Care to post a sort of executive summary??
My "To Read" list is already full out past the theoretical expiration of my birth certificate, and the likelihood that Crichton will get bumped into a Top Ten slot on a single sentence recommendation is practically zero. Give me some red meat upon which to base a decision.
Thanks for the links.
Excerpt of the book on his web site:
Why Politicized Science is Dangerous
On a related subject - his speech on "Aliens Cause Global Warming"
Decades ago, socialists all across the globe realized that in order to keep their lame governments propped up, they needed to extract dollars from the "evil american capitalists"..............non-profits, foreign aid, International Monentary Fund, World Bank, United Nations, etc., etc., etc., etc.................add carbon credits to the very long list......
Thanks for the Crighton links. He has said that global warming proposes to spend $600 trillion and that we have higher priorities.
I believe it was on Hannitty today, that the scare in the seventies was of global cooling.
The big concern at that time was that food would be more difficult to grow, and there would be famine across the land.
Now that the climate crisis du jour is global warming, does that mean that food will be easier to grow?
I haven't heard anyone address this, but the answer is yes. Increased carbon dioxide and increased temperature leads to increased water vapor which results in increased precipitation, and better crop yields in a longer growing season.
The answer to the panickers is simple: "I'm not worried about global warming; it means more food!"
The dirty little secret about compact fluorescents is that they're only economical if left on for long periods, and not used like normal.
I once replaced every light in my house with CF's, at no small cost. After replacing about 25% of them within 6 months, anything I hoped to gain from energy savings was gone.
I currently use them only in areas where the light is only turned on and off once a day. They last about two years.
Thanks for the links; the summary of the book, and the speech, were both quite outstanding.
bump
Thanks for the ping.
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