Any opinions of this article? He seems to be more optimistic about salvaging some of our existing infrastructure and relying more on alternatives than say some here on peak oil dot com, so I would appreciate your comments. Thanks.
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'M')T: What would you say is the piece which is distorting the market the most?
I think fossil fuels may be as big as they come, both in terms of scale and in terms the difference between them in terms of of prices and costs. How do you calculate costs of climate change -- I mean, the costs go up -- and the real question is whether civilization will be able to manage the kinds of problems that will develop. There's another way of looking at this, and I haven't really thought about it much or written about it yet, but what we have seen in recent decades is the emergence of serious threats, or problems, that are difficult to manage. For example, the HIV virus. Most industrial countries have succeeded in holding adult infections rates under 1% of the population. A lot of developing countries, especially in Africa, were not able to. And those societies are being decimated, today. I mean some villages are almost missing a generation. The grandparents, the kids, and not very many in-between. Food security is suffering in those countries.
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world changing or just an out of touch optimist?
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world changing or just an out of touch optimist?
by MrBill » Mon 05 Feb 2007, 05:11:09
The organized state is a wonderful invention whereby everyone can live at someone else's expense.
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Re: world changing or just an out of touch optimist?
by MrBill » Mon 05 Feb 2007, 05:40:53
compare and contrast it with this article on coal mining in China.
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'C')hina's environmental spending is far behind that of the developed world. Anti-pollution equipment is often antiquated or malfunctioning. Only 20 per cent of China's coal-fired power plants are using scrubbers, or coal-washing devices, as opposed to 32 per cent in the United States. And with the economy booming, the government is planning to build another 500 coal-fired plants, on top of the 2,000 that already exist.
Despite state edicts in support of energy efficiency, China continues to waste colossal amounts of coal and other energy sources, consuming three times more energy for every dollar of national output than the global average.
Chinese authorities admitted last month that they had failed to reach their official targets for reducing pollution and cutting energy consumption in 2006. And they admitted this week that China had failed to improve its international ranking on environmental quality over the past three years. China still lags far behind most other countries, a government report said. Small wonder, then, that China has failed to tackle the global-warming issue in any serious way. China today is still consuming 40 per cent of the world's coal production, more than Europe, Japan and the United States combined. And by 2030, China will account for more than one-third of the increase in greenhouse gases.
A canary in the Chinese coal mine
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'C')hina's environmental spending is far behind that of the developed world. Anti-pollution equipment is often antiquated or malfunctioning. Only 20 per cent of China's coal-fired power plants are using scrubbers, or coal-washing devices, as opposed to 32 per cent in the United States. And with the economy booming, the government is planning to build another 500 coal-fired plants, on top of the 2,000 that already exist.
Despite state edicts in support of energy efficiency, China continues to waste colossal amounts of coal and other energy sources, consuming three times more energy for every dollar of national output than the global average.
Chinese authorities admitted last month that they had failed to reach their official targets for reducing pollution and cutting energy consumption in 2006. And they admitted this week that China had failed to improve its international ranking on environmental quality over the past three years. China still lags far behind most other countries, a government report said. Small wonder, then, that China has failed to tackle the global-warming issue in any serious way. China today is still consuming 40 per cent of the world's coal production, more than Europe, Japan and the United States combined. And by 2030, China will account for more than one-third of the increase in greenhouse gases.
The entire article is bleak on the prospects of reining in climate changing CO2 emissions, but I found this statistic the most telling.
Only 20 per cent of China's coal-fired power plants are using scrubbers, or coal-washing devices, as opposed to 32 per cent in the United States. Huh? How can the developed world be holding China's feet to the fire over global warming when only 32% of US coal fired plants use scrubbers themselves? If we, collectively, cannot afford to pay the equivalent of 25% more for the latest coal emissions reducing technology then how do we expect the developing world to afford it? Ridiculous!
The organized state is a wonderful invention whereby everyone can live at someone else's expense.
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Re: world changing or just an out of touch optimist?
by Tanada » Mon 05 Feb 2007, 08:04:53
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MrBill', 'T')he entire article is bleak on the prospects of reining in climate changing CO2 emissions, but I found this statistic the most telling.
Only 20 per cent of China's coal-fired power plants are using scrubbers, or coal-washing devices, as opposed to 32 per cent in the United States. Huh? How can the developed world be holding China's feet to the fire over global warming when only 32% of US coal fired plants use scrubbers themselves? If we, collectively, cannot afford to pay the equivalent of 25% more for the latest coal emissions reducing technology then how do we expect the developing world to afford it? Ridiculous!
Only 20 per cent of China's coal-fired power plants are using scrubbers, or coal-washing devices, as opposed to 32 per cent in the United States. Huh? How can the developed world be holding China's feet to the fire over global warming when only 32% of US coal fired plants use scrubbers themselves? If we, collectively, cannot afford to pay the equivalent of 25% more for the latest coal emissions reducing technology then how do we expect the developing world to afford it? Ridiculous!
The 68% referred to in the article are the plants that still exist which were built before the passage of the clean air act, they were grandfathered in as it were. All of the plants built since the Clean Air Act are much much cleaner to run, though they still have all the problems associated with the digging millions of tons of coal out of the ground and not reclaiming the land very well.
Also in terms of generating capacity, most of those dirty plants in the 68% are small scale generator's compared to the modern plants that are replacing them, one modern genset is typically in the 600-750 MWe range whereas the grandfathered sets are almost all in the 150-300 MWe range. IOW as the old plants are decomissioned as being to old to maintain on a cost basis you can replace each pair or set of 4 of them with one new genset.
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Alfred Tennyson', 'W')e are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
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