We’ll have to wait for the equivalent of martial law, and
even then, it will probably be too late.
The media just doesn’t get it. Witness headlines that try to connect high
gasoline prices with a boost in wind farms.
Really? Since when is electricity
a substitute for gasoline, unless you’re among the wealthy elite that can
afford an electric car, and even then, the majority of the electricity comes
from burning nasty coal. So much for “green”
driving.
Humans manufacture energy for three basic functions: transportation, electricity, and space
heating. Different energy feedstocks
produce a different mix of functional energy forms.
U.S. Congress and nearly all (if not all) State Legislatures
don’t get it. Congress has it’s balls
squeezed by the oil and gas industry.
But that’s only one reason for the absurdly illogical actions
(inactions) of Congress. They’re
collective IQ is about that of the shoe-size of Michael Jordan and it seems
that the only thing that gets their attention is how the polls say they’ll do
in the next election. Oh, and they love
to bicker. They live to bicker. National death by bickering.
State Legislatures are no better and are as equally lame in
their lack of concern about the energy future (or the future, period). Vision, leadership, and the common good are
not part of their lexicon. These values
really aren’t part of the voting public’s lexicon either, or we wouldn’t be
routinely voting these idiots into office.
Governance by popular opinion works well if you’ve an
educated populace. Think again about
that Wal-mart parking lot.
The American public doesn’t get it. There is almost zero concern about the
future. All that seems to matter is the
monetary price of something right now.
Screw the grandkids. Chuck them
out with all the non-monetary values.
This is Wal-mart’s model and look how well it’s been accepted! We’re enthusiastically willing to pay through
the nose in the longer run, if we can just get something for a few dollars less
right now. Look at most cars, major
appliances, or nearly everything else.
We, as Americans, are abysmally wasteful and could not care less. The piper will extract a serious price.
Witness the wanton consumerism over Thanksgiving and the
shameless greed of Christmas . . . or any other time.
And we blame the corporations for feeding upon this opportunity? Why blame the Morlocks for the culturing the
Eloi, if the Eloi insist on maintaining gross ignorance. OK, maybe the corporations could be more
responsible. But that doesn’t sell in
the market place as well as crap for cheap.
It wouldn’t work if our society wasn’t so hedonistic.
This is America. We
preserve our right to be stupid beyond belief and sacrifice our children and
heritage on the holy altar of immediate gratification. Not all nations are this way. There are many examples of a national
population saying enough is enough. We’re
going to do the smart thing and work collectively to face the hard issues and
come out ahead in the long run. This is
a totally foreign (yes, it’s a pun, too) frame of reference for America.
Renewable energy? The
lowest hanging fruit is using wood chips to heat clusters of larger buildings
(e.g. hospitals, municipal buildings, etc.) using distributed heat through a
pipeline system. It’s not a new idea by
any means (maybe that’s why it’s seldom on the decision table?) and there are
many good examples across the USA. These
distributed energy (DE) systems can be deployed in a couple different ways, but
the upshot is that they’re remarkably reliable, efficient, and have a tiny
environmental footprint when compared to anything else. Oh, and did I say they’re cheaper than
anything else? Can’t forget that.
For the millions of homes and buildings off the natural gas
grid, wood pellets are the next cheapest source of heat energy.
So, why aren’t these systems more common? Well, it’s not the way we’ve always done
it. The lemming syndrome. Do you remember that total lack of vision
among decision-makers? To make matters
worse, the oil and gas industry doesn’t like this DE and pellet idea. It could cut into their profits and market
dominance. So, they lean on Congress,
that then passes remarkably non-sensical policy, and forces agencies like the
EPA to create future-killing rules and regulations.
These systems also keep energy dollars local, provide
good-paying jobs, contribute to sustainable communities, greatly reduce
negative environmental impacts (e.g. less atmospheric carbon – the climate
change thing), help provide national energy security, increase the opportunity
for better forest management (products, habitat, resilience, etc.), and are
cheaper than anything else. I realize
that only the last benefit will resonate with most decision-makers and the American
public.
Legislatures have enacted and funded a plethora of
high-tech, high risk, and experimental programs to produce alternative transportation
and electricity energy (although even these are fading as the oil/gas/coal
lobbies choke-off creativity). They have
virtually ignored the heat component and, in fact, have actually discouraged
the cheapest and easiest of all renewable energy applications. That’s not to say that funding
ground-breaking work, for example, in gasoline alternatives is a bad idea. It’s not.
But failing to support, financially and otherwise, the easiest solutions
is nothing short of the high crime of social and economic suicide.
Good grief. We
deserve our fate. Too bad that the
upcoming generations don’t get to vote.
