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RE: Solving the US energy crisis - your opinions! - 8/3/2008 9:22:29 AM

msprudence

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I think that part of the solution to the US Energy Crisis to make certain that everyone is part of the solutions.

If every individual, every company and every decided right now to cut their energy consumption by 35%, we could do it.

Why would they do it? Offer tax incentives (like a 5% tax break across the board) to anyone who can show definitively that they have reduced their energy consumption by 35%- and offer significant rewards and credits to companies who put energy back into the grid.

How would they do it? If you needed to use 35% less energy this year than you did last year- you could do it. Increase your insulation so that there is less waste. More human driving power stations. Hook up gym cycles to batteries and power sources. Take all of the energy that millions of humans put into their workouts into energy we can use. Change water heater and floor heater to energy efficient models. Coordinate driving and drive 5 miles slower. Put in Solar and thermodynamic solutions. Cut back on Air Conditioning and heating so that there is no more than a 15 degree cooling in the summer and only raise the temperature to 68 in the winter. There are hundreds of ways people and companies can cut down on how much energy we use.

If we use 35% less energy as a group- we don't have a crisis anymore.

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RE: Solving the US energy crisis - your opinions! - 8/3/2008 10:25:53 AM

MmeGigs

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Energy is a really complex problem. As with many complex problems, when you plug up one hole another one seems to open up. For example, people are driving less so gas prices are coming down, but gas taxes that fund road and bridge projects are based on usage, and the drop in usage means there are fewer tax dollars available to fund these projects at a time when folks are really concerned about the safety of our bridges and are calling for the govt to get aggressive in making sure they're okay. It's not just a matter of safety - they figure that the 35W bridge being out in Mpls cost our economy $400,000 a day. The money to take care of infrastructure will have to come from somewhere. We're either going to have to raise gas taxes (something no one wants with prices going up), take the money from some other program (all of which are already being asked for years to do more with less and are also struggling with increasing prices for the things they need to provide services), or increase some other tax or fee to fill the gap. Or we can cut infrastructure spending and take our chances.

That's just one of the many problems that will need to be addressed in figuring out what we're going to do about energy. Any solution that has a chance of working has to be multifaceted - there is no silver bullet. What I'd like to see, in no particular order -

Conserve. We're already doing that, and it's getting prices to drop some.
Improve energy efficiency and push the use of energy efficient appliances, vehicles, etc.
Advertise the programs that are out there that provide money or tax credits for installing solar or wind. There's money out there for this - in some places the state will practically pay for the whole thing - but they're not promoting it.
Get together a diverse team with representatives from the oil industry, environmental groups, energy and tax policy groups, government agencies, energy consumers (both business and individual consumers) and other interested parties to really discuss the issue so all parties understand what the others' concerns are, put every option on the table, and have these folks come up with some ideas. We can't solve a problem if we don't really understand it.

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RE: Solving the US energy crisis - your opinions! - 8/3/2008 10:44:32 AM

caitlyn

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Sixty days without American money would be a serious thing for some, especially those outside the OPEC umbrella.

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RE: Solving the US energy crisis - your opinions! - 8/4/2008 10:44:42 AM

Amaros

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Thadius

As soon as that policy was announced OPEC would decrease production for 30 days to maintain the current supply vs demand price.

...which is why any solution that just continues to prop up our oil dependence is just delaying the inevitable - alternative sources will have to be found, and they are there - peopl ewill lose money, other people will make money - that's called capitalism. Propping up an outdated industry for protectionist reasons at some point crosses the line into corporatism, shich is far more damaging and irreversable than a some regulated and quarantined socialist subsytems synergystic with capitalist investment - public infrastructure, public schools, research, the military, etc., these things all create opportunities that can be leveraged through private investment.

The most alarming thing to me was the number of people who favored nuclear - which means the nuke industries PR campaign is succeeding. This all a ploy to maintain direct control over energy production and distribution - all heavily subsidized of course

The real problem here is the outdated grid, which cannot handle any more capacity, we already produce more electricity than we need, twice as much in fact, but half of it is lost in heat - micropower, which entails production close to the point of use can supplement domestic use making energy from existing large scale plants cheaper for industrial and peak uses.

Recent California brownouts are not from lack of production capacity, but from the fact that production actually has to be taken offline to avoid blowing the whole grid - you simply cannot add any more lage scale capacity that has to travel any distance to the point of use, coal, nuclear or otherwise, and other than replacing several nukes that are due for decommissioning (at taxpayer expense, because the industry, which was required to save enough money to cover the costs of decommissioning, didn't), there is no reason to build any, and in fact if they do get built, they can't be used.

Read this: The Energy Web

Meantime, speaking of public investment in basic research and alternative energy sources: 'Major Discovery' from MIT Primed to Unleash Solar Revolution.

Do you suppose anything will come of this, or will it get buried?

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RE: Solving the US energy crisis - your opinions! - 8/4/2008 10:51:34 AM

philosophy

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FR
.....i think it was Thadius who hinted at the idea that no single action will suffice, it has to be a whole mesh of things. It's the difference between solving the problem with one giant leap, or in a series of steps. The first step, it seems to me, is to immediately reduce demand for energy as much as possible. This buys time for subsequent steps. Designs for energy efficient homes exist now, so make it mandatory for all new build to use such designs. There are myriad ways to reduce domestic useage. We can all utilise them.
The Green Party have had an interesting slogan for some time, "Think global, act local". Whether or not one agrees with the Green Party's agenda, that slogan is highly apposite to the current situation.

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RE: Solving the US energy crisis - your opinions! - 8/4/2008 11:06:40 AM

fluffypet61

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OK, so everyone wants to save the world. Let me for a moment be selfish. i don't care how much anybody else has to pay for anything.
For myself - retired on Social Security and a small pension - i will do things to cut MY expenses. If gas doubles, i will cut my car trips in half (my car gets 45+ miles per gallon). If electricity goes up, i will change my thermostat setting. If it gets really hot, i will go read in the apartment clubroom or go to the Senior Center. If my rent goes up, I will get a roommate. If grocery prices go up, i will buy more store brands instead of name brands and cook more from scratch.

Just curious ... what does the OP drive and what gas mileage does it get?

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RE: Solving the US energy crisis - your opinions! - 8/4/2008 11:49:32 AM

Rule

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Population reduction by birth control. In its simplest, crudest form no more than one child per woman.

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RE: Solving the US energy crisis - your opinions! - 8/4/2008 12:49:50 PM

Vendaval

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Hello fluffypet61,

I drive a compact Hyundai that can take me from here on the Central Coast to LA or the SF Bay Area on one tank of gasoline. Eventually I would like to drive a hybrid, not sure what make and model yet.

I walk whenever possible here in town, car pool with friends to events, combine shopping trips, purchase organic and environmentally responsible products as much as financially possible, recycle and redistribute containers and furniture, switching the electrical lights over to the energy efficient ones as the old ones wear out, etc.

This summer we have been washing most of the clothes on the cold/cold cycle and hanging the lighter weight fabrics on a clothesline to dry. The jeans and heavy towels still go in the dryer to dry faster and to keep them softer.

Regards,

Vendaval

quote:

ORIGINAL: fluffypet61
Just curious ... what does the OP drive and what gas mileage does it get?

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RE: Solving the US energy crisis - your opinions! - 8/4/2008 5:25:12 PM

UncleNasty

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Several folks have echoed an agreement with Bull about holding our elected officials accountable.

My question to all of you is "How many of you own, have read, and also have an understandning of our US Constitution?"

If you want to know the limits and disabilites of the gubmint that is the place to look. Read it and use it.

Uncle Nasty

PS I make no claim to be a constitutional scholar, just a constitutional student. If you really want to gain an understanding of it read the annotated version.

Also, I have several copies scattered about my home and one in each of my vehicles. I call an office at the state capitol every monthe and they send me 10 copies for free which I pass out to anyone that either wants one or that I think needs one.

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