Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Energy Sources now and in the Future

[Wayne Tyson (landrest]

CoHo and RPD

Not to worry--technology (air-conditioning, etc.) will save us!

On the other hand, one searches in vain (at least I do) for the causes (Fred 
Flintstone) and effects of the Paleozoic climate--(oceanic 
currents/circulation, "explosion" of plant life, etc.). We could get 
hysterical about hysteresis, and no doubt human folly is in some part 
responsible for increases in atmospheric CO2, but the buffering effects of 
photosynthetic organisms may be an important element in the equation too. An 
excellent reason for not buying teak, mahogany, and other products that 
require the destruction of tropical forests, perhaps one of the most 
important CO2 sinks (the cheapest, easiest form of sequestration, just not 
technological?) in the world.

WT

"Technological progress is like an axe [machine-gun, ad nauseam] in the 
hands of a pathological criminal."  --Albert Einstein

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "R Philip Dowds" <rpdowds [at] comcast.net>
To: "Cohousing-L" <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org>
Sent: Saturday, July 16, 2011 5:55 PM
Subject: Re: [C-L]_ Energy Sources now and in the Future


> I have no doubt that many of the powers-that-be wish to emphasize the 
> continuing, possibly even perpetual importance of fossil fuels, 
> particularly oil and natural gas.  But to the extent we insist on these 
> resources as critical to our economic future ...
>   (a) we will support dictatorships, and bomb third world countries, to 
> ensure access to "affordable" supplies; and
>   (b) we will extract CO2 from the ground (placed there a by several 
> years of photosynthesis), and put it back in the sky where it came from, 
> returning our worldwide ecology to something closer to the atmospheric 
> conditions of the Paleozoic.  (When it was hot, and hard to breathe.)
>
> R Philip Dowds
> Cornerstone Cohousing
> Cambridge, MA
> On Jul 16, 2011, at 3:57 PM, Norman Gauss wrote:
>
> > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:TPES_outlook.jpg
> >
> > The Dept. of Energy has compiled a graphical representation of energy
> > sources now in the future.
> >
> > If you can display the above webpage on your computer, you will see that 
> > the
> > sources of energy are listed in order of decreasing importance as 
> > follows:
> > 1. Liquid (Oil mainly)
> > 2. Coal
> > 3. Natural Gas
> > 4. Renewables (Wind, Water, Solar)
> > 5. Nuclear
> >
> > Anyone who believes that non-fossil sources of energy are the wave of the
> > future should take a look at this chart.
> >
> > Norm Gauss