Registered: Aug 2000
Location:
Posts: 631

CaliforniVindication «

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Location Location
Posts: 26385

Bullshit.

People seem to think that we can just wait until the last minute and then begin to develop these alternative energy sources. Hell, even if we don’t go solar or geothermal, it still takes a long time to build new dams or nuclear power plants.

So what, one day we'll all be living comfortable pampered lifestyles and the next day we wake up and find no electricity of any kind anywhere in the world and that society has reverted to being hunter/gathers living in the woods?

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Jul 2000
Location: A New England
Posts: 9168

Whis was an 'I told you so' article.

Please don't ruin it by posting in it.

Philistine.

------------------------
A closed mouth gathers no feet.

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Sep 2000
Location: The Bottom of the Toyem Pole
Posts: 9453

Ah, paintchips. You poor deluded soul.

I am not suggesting *quite* the scenario you posit there, but pretty close. Instead of one day, imagine an extremely hot summer followed by an extremely cold winter, worldwide. Instead of one state suffering from power shortages, the whole world runs into this problem. Economies begin to falter as productivity cannot be sustained.

It is possible to imagine a really perverse scenario. In the case of a massive power outage, perishable food disappears due to lack of refrigeration. Once the shit starts to hit the fan, panic breaks out. People freak and society basically falls apart for a little bit. Eventually people get it put back together, but its tenuous with an overall air of panic. In the meantime, power plants are built and the energy crisis continues. Due to the panic though, the public isn't willing to tolerate the development of alt. source; they want power now! Traditional energy generators are built, which consume our dwindling stocks of fossil fuels. Eventually these run out and the energy grid collapses.

Remember what happened during the oil shock 1970s? Think about what it would be like if it was electricity, not oil, and worldwide, not just in the US.

When I consider rising energy use, 3rd World development, and population expansion, I don't see how current energy production can stand up. The infrastructure for alternative sources is not there. We will not be able to make the transition without a lot of problems.

I need to find out what percent of our current energy comes from fossil fuels, hydro, nuclear, and other.....

------------------------
All Hail Eris!!

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Location Location
Posts: 26385

And you don't think that at this very moment, there are scores of scientists and engineers and what not researching into alternative energy sources?

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Sep 2000
Location: The Bottom of the Toyem Pole
Posts: 9453

How many is a score anyway? I hope a lot, because they have a lot of work to do to take up the slack when fossil fuels drop out.

In 1999, the United States consumed about 100 quadrillion Btu of energy. (This is a great number, btw, because it makes percentage comparisions a snap.) Of this total, 81.557 (81%) was fossil fuel, either oil, natural gas, or coal. This incidentally is about 25% the world total for fossil fuel consumption.

The other 19% went came from nuclear power (8%), hydroelectric (3.5%), and renewable (7%). Only problem is that the breakdown of renewable energy by type doesn't add up to that total. Either they neglected to mention about half of the renewable energy sources (outside of geothermal, wind, solar, and wood&waste) or their total number is off. In that case, renewable energy only accounted for a little more than 4%.

On a slightly encouraging note, BP reports that worldwide energy consumption only grew by .2% in 1999. This is due in large part to the state of the Russian infrstructure and the Asian economic meltdown that year.

Hopefully you are right Paint, and the scientists are waiting in the wings with a renewable resource that will replace 80% of our current power needs without a corresponding change in infrastructure, etc. I also concede that my pessimism is based on looking at American energy use. I don't know where it all goes, but if everyone else is striving to attain an American style/ standard of living, there is no way that energy resources can support that.

(I got this info from http://www.nef1.org/ea/eastats.html and http://www.bp.com/centres/energy/wo...consumption.asp and from http://www.bp.com/centres/energy/wo..._in_review.asp)

------------------------
All Hail Eris!!

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Oregon. America.
Posts: 2076

And you don't think that at this very moment, there are scores of scientists and engineers and what not researching into alternative energy sources?

Actually Paint, if you don't mind my jumping in, there is next to zero funding for any science and research for alternative fuels. The government won't give any for two reasons:

First, and most obviously, the government is made of oil money. Oil people aren't about to destroy their own industry to save the planet because they're all too comfortable living above we the scum of these united states.

Second, nuclear power was a big government project back in the 70's. After three mile island, chernobyl, and people's general distaste for anything atomic post WWII, americans refused to support nuclear as an alternative. So we let the programs die, we cut all funding for it, and demonized (and still demonize) it as the great bringer of death rather than an efficient and potentially safe power source alternative.

I say potential because many prominent scientists argue that had we been pumping an equal amount of the original funding into researching a safe nuclear energy, then we would have a fucking fantastic power source right now. Nuclear works, is almost totally safe, and all the bugs that we were so affraid of back in bell bottom days would have been weeded out by research and development. Instead though, we've totally removed the potential to fund nuclear programs, and what could be a sollution to our problem is still dressed as a devil from our past.

Oh, and Nutrimentia, you rant with a flow and consistency that marks a good writer/aesthetic. Cheers, and keep up the column.

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged