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Energy and You, or Global Warming
Nov. 3rd, 2016 08:00 am(The content below was pre-scheduled on account of me having an all-day meeting. Since I have a few minutes, I'd like to congratulate the Cubs, and note unlike last time the news of their victory was not telegraphed to the 46 states.)
(I'm such a true sports fan /sarcasm alert/ that when the rain tarp came out last night, I went to bed. I've watched more baseball this year then the rest of the decade.)
On my twitter feed, I linked to this video of Elon Musk's new solar house. Basically, his company has developed solar panels that can act as roof shingles. (Some other companies have similar products.)
One of the perpetual whines of the "we can't stop global warming" crowd is that if we don't crank out vast amounts of electricity our economy will stop. I call bullshit. First, Musk and others are coming up with ways to generate electricity with no carbon footprint. Second, our power consumption per person is going down. Flat-screen TVs, LED lights and related technologies use less energy. Third, even old-line power companies are reducing greenhouse gases (and their cost) by moving away from coal to natural gas.
If we (the global we, not the royal we) didn't have our heads up our asses, we'd be subsidizing these new technologies and paying for retrofits. That would create jobs and help the long-term climate.
(I'm such a true sports fan /sarcasm alert/ that when the rain tarp came out last night, I went to bed. I've watched more baseball this year then the rest of the decade.)
On my twitter feed, I linked to this video of Elon Musk's new solar house. Basically, his company has developed solar panels that can act as roof shingles. (Some other companies have similar products.)
One of the perpetual whines of the "we can't stop global warming" crowd is that if we don't crank out vast amounts of electricity our economy will stop. I call bullshit. First, Musk and others are coming up with ways to generate electricity with no carbon footprint. Second, our power consumption per person is going down. Flat-screen TVs, LED lights and related technologies use less energy. Third, even old-line power companies are reducing greenhouse gases (and their cost) by moving away from coal to natural gas.
If we (the global we, not the royal we) didn't have our heads up our asses, we'd be subsidizing these new technologies and paying for retrofits. That would create jobs and help the long-term climate.
