I just read this article and it made me think.
Intel’s former C.E.O. Andy Grove says high-profile plans by Boone Pickens and Al Gore don’t tackle the single most dangerous energy issue facing America.
I like that they point out that Al Gores plan will have zero impact on global warming because if we don’t use the oil somebody else will.
Chances are it will be used by India and China. Compared to us they have no emissions standards so it might actually make the global environment worse to not have the US using 25% of the worlds oil. It is the law of unintended consequences.
We are starting to see the huge problems with Ethanol - Who knew burning your food was a bad idea? If you are not up on this issue spend a few minutes on the Corn Based Products Guide and then think “wow all of that stuff just got way more expensive”
So most intelligent people agree Ethanol was a bad idea. (You will still see it pushed for a few more years because of politics) So what do we do? What is the solution? Who knows but here are a couple examples.
Solution: Electric Cars
Every Car on the road is either a full electric or a hybrid. This will dramatically cut down on the amount of foreign oil needed reducing gas prices but more importantly improving national security by not giving money to scary countries.
Problem: Batteries
Nasty little things filled with all types of crazy exotic metals and other dangerous mumbo jumbo, you have to figure out a good way to recycle old batteries. The bigger potential problem is sourcing the materials. It always starts with mining and as we know that really messes the place up. The other problem is that US environmentalists will never let us mine those materials here so really we just shift our dependence from scary middle east countries to some other scary place.
Solution:Wind Power
Lots of wonderful jobs for people who didn’t go to enough school. Farmers can make money selling power and we don’t have to burn our food for fuel.
Problem:pray for wind
The wind doesn’t follow energy demand curves. This has to be a backup to something more dependable
So this is what I would do:
Screw the Coal Miners - start building nuclear plants as fast as you can so that electricity is cheaper than sun shine. We will figure out what to do with all of that radioactive waste later.
Everything is a Hybrid Law - yeah batteries are bad but Muslims are really scary. CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) hybrids would be a good solution for now. Oh yeah and they should all plug in because that would save a ton of petrol.
Wind, Solar, Geothermal - They are all nice but until they are cheaper than nukes I don’t want to hear about it.
Doing this would help cut our foreign oil addiction and we would be safer. The planet would still be screwed in the long run. At the danger of sounding ignorant. I am not totally sold on the global warming arguments. I like have clean air and water so I don’t fight the movement but I have major doubts about the “science.”
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