Thinking Critically About Society's Use of Energy
If you’re looking for some critical thinking on our civilization’s use of energy (including renewables) you may want to check out the writings of Ozzie Zehner.
It’s clear that Zehner has a lot of this correct. In particular, our paradigm for transportation that was forged in the 20th Century will not work in the 21st, and yanking out an internal combustion engine and replacing it with an electric drive train is not an effective response.
But does a new paradigm lie in our immediate future? Not if the entrenched interests who control energy and transportation have anything to do about it. These are forces of unimaginable scale that are hell-bent on business as usual: everyone owning his/her own shiny new 4000-pound behemoth, preferably fueled with a liquid that can be sold in the traditional manner. Do not expect them, or our elected “leaders” whom they control to make more than token efforts to promote any form of sustainable transportation.
If you think that’s a paranoid hyperbole, note that less than 1% of the 14 million passengers who flew into or out of Los Angeles International Airport last year used public transportation to do so, because it’s incredibly slow and inconvenient; it may as well not exist at all. Are we to presume that’s an accident? That people wouldn’t rather leave their cars at home or work and ride to and from the airport? Give me a break.
That’s not an accident, folks; it’s design. Disgusting, but true.
Zehner’s larger point is also completely correct: our per-capita consumption of energy for all purposes is outrageous.
Having said that, he overestimates the unintended consequences of efficiency, solar, wind, etc. While it’s true that there is no free lunch, these items are vital components of our overall energy solution, if there is to be one.
IMO, overconsumption of energy is the peril we face.
I live between two small <2K towns and I get to watch the traffic while I play with my computer. I see rush of traffic at around 8 a.m., again at noon and then 3 to 4p.m
These folks are going home for lunch!!!! I know quite a few of these people. Car pooliing is non-existant.
A change in the hearts and minds of citizens is required before we can get a handle on this problem. If the price of gas doubles and the traffic remains the same, I would have no problem with seeing another doubling. Eventually peole will get the message that our planet is not the private playground for those who have dollars.
Reducing energy consumption is not the solution to our energy problems; it is only a part of the solution and, on a global basis, it is doubtful that consumption can be reduced. We need MORE energy, not less, if people living in poor areas of the world are to be lifted out of poverty and if the problem of water shortages is to be solved.
It is also true that replacing fossil-fueled cars with electric cars will not solve problems, but it is part of the solution. There are situations where only private cars will do the job. There will always be people who have to live in areas where public transportation will never be practical, or who will have to travel at times when it is not economical to operate public transportation. For them, electric cars should become practical. But private cars should be phased out as the PRIMARY method of transportation in urban areas.
Simply increasing the price of gasoline would probably be politically impossible since it would be (correctly) seen as a tax increase. But it may be politically possible to shift a large portion of the tax burden from the income tax to a tax on fossil fuels. The shift could be done in a way so that it would not be seen as a tax increase and, to prevent the problems which would be certain to occur if the shift were made suddenly, it could be phased in gradually to give people time to adjust to the change.