Submitted to the Economist online debate August 19, 2008 12:47 by tony_was_here (comments page No. ..)
WRONG QUESTION! We have clearly exceeded our planet's carrying capacity and the CO2 problem is just one of the many consequences.
Our inheiritance of fossil fuels (FF) has given us cheap dense portable energy that can also be turned into petrochemicals and fertilisers. This allowed our population to grow hugely over the last 150 years. To mention just two other problems, topsoil and water aquifers are being depleted rapidly. The longer we postpone the population question the worse the outcome will be.
But returning to energy, we need most of all to achieve a mind change more than anything else. Most people in the developed world now expect as a right that things such as electricity will be available at the turn of a switch, food from halfway round the world in their local store, foreign holidays, new mobile every year... It is crazy to be able to move a two ton car with passengers for several miles at a cost of a few cents - how much would it cost to get someone to push you? The biggest gain can come from savings. We need to Reduce, Repair, Reuse and Recycle.
Since we cannot run the "Earth experiment" a second time we must take every action to reduce our CO2, so for starters ban the sales of new cars that cannot achieve 35mpg today not years in the future, more next year and impose a 55mph speed limit. That should ensure people get the message very quickly and doesn't need any new technology or capital just the will of the people. Oil is to valuable to be burnt moving SUVs.
Next have long term electricity tariffs that encourage the development of renewables, short term changes don't help. Electrify rail. Stop new airport and road development, with Peak Oil they won't be needed and the resources can be much better spent.
Any breakthrough technologies will take many, many years to scale so we can't rely on these in the short term but lets keep the research going.
http://www.economist.com/members/persona.cfm?econUId=2953939 all tony's articles
 under development > click to empower
|
back
ecoglobe 
the energy "crisis"
