Is Our Energy Policy Broken?
In response to my piece about the regulation of the electrical utilities and the providing of incentives for clean energy, frequent commenter Dennis Miles writes:
There is an old saying I learned about 45 years ago, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” I have found on occasion that an “improvement” caused more difficulties as the situation had many more interactions, perhaps some not documented of which we were initially unaware, but the improvement knocked it off kilter. Eventually I learned to repair equipment based upon the previously working design, and not to “redesign the wheel.”
I hear this a lot, and I admit there is a certain truth to it. In fact, this is the main reason that the migration from fossil fuels is such a challenge; looked at a certain way, we’re trying to solve a problem that doesn’t exist. We have reliable and inexpensive electricity, and many people say, “Well, that means it ain’t broke.”
But I’m not sure you’ll get too much agreement from the families of the more than 13,000 people who died of lung disease last year because the aromatics of coal, or the parents of the hundreds of thousands of children who were rushed to the hospital with acute asthma. We could go on and talk about the incredible levels of devastation to our climate, our oceans, and our biodiversity – but here you have long-term effects, in a world (or at least a country) that is quite short-term focused.
In the end, it’s a debatable point – one that comes down to one’s definition of “broke.”
speaking of the wheel,how many changes have you seen in your lifetime?I remember,before low profile,before radials,they had inner-tubes.
A 100 years ago the model A had wooden spokes,
before that wagon wheels went across America,and it’s fair to say someone is designing next years model,with better threads,better rubber,and grip
Looks like the wheel gets reinvented every 30-50 years,it was never broke,but got better,Humm.
Why not improve something because you can ?
Looking around the world the best potential for green energy that is 24/7,and easy , is coastal.
It is ocean power,tidal energy,low head turbine
going 24/7 is possible,it’s being done,just not enough of it,and nobody talks about it,so I will
and hope you join in.
And my comment about not fixing what isn’t broken was about these items And I quote:
1,)Invest in smart-grid as the enabler of a modern and efficient energy network
2,)Offer incentives that minimize consumption, especially on-peak
3,)Retire coal plants as quickly and as practically as possible
4,)Replace them with a combination of renewable energy and storage
Of these #4,) is a best choice.
#3,) ignores the fact that all is required is adding natural gas burners in place of coal “Stokers” cleans up the exhaust out the smokestacks considerably.
#2,) transition to time of day rate and market a home level power storage unit in a separate appliance the size of a washing machine but with a ton of batteries inside.
and #1,) Smart grid technology has been around since the early 1980’s however the electric utilities are unwilling to install what was up to recently not too expensive,but made no additional profits, now I feel the utilities are hoping clean tech will give them a reason for the taxpayers to finance the improvements they have been avoiding for 30 years, didn’t want and can now make millions for the stockholders in dividends as what smells like, looks like, and will pay back like a windfall!!!