In an article posted by David Sydiongco January 20, 2013 on Slate.com it asks the question, Will American Embrace Clean Energy by 2050? The most direct and simple answer is, NO.
The article references a panel discussion that took place at Arizona State University titled, “The Future of Energy: Brown, Clean or In Between?” Good title but the gist of this panel that wasn’t mentioned is that industry expects the Federal Government to step in and pay, footing the bill while they end up reaping the full benefit of clean energy on their bottom line. How did I come to this conclusion?
Panelists consisted of former Shell Oil President John Hofmeister, director of the Stanford University’s Atmosphere/Energy Program Mark Jacobson, and documentary filmmaker Peter Byck. Byck made a documentary film called, Carbon Nation.
Let me work backwards. Carbon Nation is a well intentioned documentary offering more solutions and much less finger pointing. Kudos to Byck. The film mentions pine borer beetles but what so many people fail to do is go back far enough to see what, not just a warmer climate, has lead up to the problem – lack of diversity in the forests. Here in Colorado where I live there use to be 58 native species of trees. Non-pine trees were cut down to build homes, for heating and cooking. What was left were pine trees who quickly exploited the opening in the canopy and took over creating a mono-crop of trees. Without diversity the beetle is able to exploit the huge amount of food available to it and now things are getting warmer it is able to do it for more months each year. Climate change started with the cutting down of the world’s forests which left next to nothing to take up the increasing amount of carbon being released.
The energy solutions he offers are the same ones that have been talked about for more than a decade – biodiesel, ethanol, algae and so on. I will say this only once – We Can Not Grow Our Way Out Of Future Energy Shortages or Replace Oil! It is elementary math all you have to do is do it to see exactly the same thing. Carbon Sequestering is a joke and only a way to make schleps like you and me pay more for industries mistakes and waste (externalities). Plant trees! They are a far better answer to carbon sequestering. A number of other topics the film covers I won’t bother with because if part of the answers provided don’t work, the rest are not real answers to the pressing problem of our need for energy.
Next in line is Mark Jacobson. This professor has published on climate change and the topic of energy. In his website biography it mentions ideas like hydrogen fuel cells, air pollution from various sources, and on. What his biography sounds like is that he is pushing the same old industries and ideas that have not panned out. Hydrogen Fuel Cells will never make it mainstream. 1) Wherever you plan on getting the hydrogen from is going to be expensive, very expensive; 2) hydrogen is an energy carrier not an energy source(!); 3) fuels cells are expensive, not recyclable and need frequent replacement (have you heard of the million dollar fuel cell car – no, look it up). I would think a professor would have done his homework to find the same information I did but then again no one said a professor is smart just because they have a title.
Lastly we come to John Hofmeister the former Shell Oil President. He now has his own website and company promoting the same old, same old stuff – we need more affordable cleaner energy. whatever that means. What kind of energy? The website and his non-profit doesn’t get very specific when it comes to the energy choices. Yet it asks for donations. Looking at the tags I see biofuels, federal energy policy, oil as some of the main topics. Yet there is nothing new on the website since early 2012. Hm, makes we wonder what the real purpose of the website and company are about.
Why is it universities and colleges bring in industry speakers that push the status quo? Why isn’t there someone who thinks outside the box, outside mainstream – like me? I guess people like me rock the boat too much, get people thinking, bring things to light that industry would rather keep in the shadows (hydrogen economy that will never be).
I have never said that electric cars are bad or like RMI promoting carbon fiber for building cars shouldn’t happen. They are both very good ideas, just 30 years late. You see what people who promote electric cars or the use of carbon fiber never address is the other parts of the car still dependent on petroleum that everyone overlooks. People have so focused on the fuel that the rest of the car jus doesn’t seem to exist so no one sees the many items made from petroleum and that is why I say electric cars and cars made with carbon fiber are a failure. There will be a day in the near future when individual car ownership will decline and eventually disappear altogether.
The article ends with this idea: we need better national leadership. I say we need better, smarter more involved people, not leaders who are bought on the open market of corporate America. We need people who will turn off their TV, get off their behinds and do something to move us forward as individuals and collectively. We need people who act at the personal level and then come together under a cooperative to force the energy issue creating solar farms, small helix windmill farms and so on. As a cooperative people can buy at discount making it much more affordable. If local energy companies refuse to follow the lead people are setting then they should collectively take the energy company to court – maybe even taking over ownership.
It will be people not corporation or government that will move us forward. It has always been people in the past and is the only answer for a sustainable future.
People are slowly waking up – just a little too slowly. If you are interested in hearing what I have to say – hire me as a speaker on anything sustainable. Email me.
[ The referenced article was found here: Slate is published by The Slate Group, a Division of the Washington Post Company – http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2013/01/28/john_hofmeister_mark_jacobson_peter_byck_speak_at_the_future_of_energy.html %5D
Priority Sustainability 