🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <aktxd.6571$ry.4615@fed1read01>, HawkCW4 <HawkCW4@cox.net> 
wrote:

> EskWIRED@spamblock.panix.com wrote:
> > In ne.politics W. K. Mahler StreamABill Media 
> > <williamkmahlerNOSPAMHERE@nospamtheremahlersfinitedot.com> wrote:
> > 
> > 
> >>who'd nuke us without my permission for what?
> > 
> > 
> > Hopefully, Bill, nobody.
> > 
> > 
> > 
> >>them there windfarm activisits, pro and con.
> > 
> > 
> > I think that renewable energy is an important national security issue.  
> > I'd rather pour money into renewable energy than pour money into buying 
> > guns and bombs to defend oil.  The windfarms are not an impact-less 
> > addition to our energy production.  But then, neither is the 
> > importation 
> > of foreign oil.
> > 
> > IMO, we neeed to stress conservation and renewable sources, and we need 
> > to wean ourselves, as quickly as possible, from oil.
> > 
> 
> I'll bite.  What would you suggest a reasonable source would be?  Seems 
> folks don't want oil, coal, nuke, wind or anything else I can think of. 
>   So then, what do they want, other than to bitch at what we do have?
> 
You quite reasonably point to the Not In My Backyard (NIMBY) syndrome, 
as well as the consequences of both reasonable and unreasonable 
environmental legislation. It's not, of course, just the supply side. 

One of the unfortunate problems is car prices keep going up, so there's 
more and more incentive to keep older, less fuel-efficient cars. The 
energy efficiency of cars tends, however, to get simplified to slogans. 
Some larger vehicles actually do justify their use, for handling large 
amounts of cargo or children, for snow clearance in appropriate areas, 
especially with people physically unable to shovel snow. Clearly, the 
last is not a particular problem in the South. 

ALthough I'm not an engineer in the field, my understanding is that some 
of the newer solar technologies are dropping in price, such that they 
are, or plausibly will be, at least capable of being a meaningful 
adjunct to residential power. Again, the biggest problem is the capital 
expense of retrofitting them to existing homes, and the second biggest 
is the incremental cost of adding them to new construction.  It may well 
be that adding $20,000 (a hypothetical number) of solar converters to a 
new house will save a great deal over its lifetime, but that additional 
cost, without offsetting subsidies, may reduce the number of purchasers.  
Hopefully, there are econometric models that are producing some 
reasonable idea of strategic directions here.