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Sounds Good to Me

Posted in July 10th, 2008

Here’s something I found while surfing the web. At last, a rational energy proposal! If only it came from one of the presidential candiadates.

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mandarine said,

in July 10th, 2008 at 11:42 pm

Sounds good to me too, but there’s a caveat: you cannot actually get rid of the gas power plants, as they are the only ones to offer sufficient reactivity to take over when there is no wind. So the wind saves you gas, but not the infrastructure of all the gas powered plants and distribution, which is a bit disappointing.

I find that too many people are trying to find ways of not changing our energy habits, when the easiest and cheapest energy resource we can tap into is conservation.

But I do love wind power, and I believe than once we have changed our habits and consume 90% less (e.g. telecommuting, carpooling, local food systems, organic ag, solar hot water), wind power will be the right thing to have.

mattathiasingh said,

in July 20th, 2008 at 6:50 pm

You’re completely right. Changing habits has to be at the center of any energy policy, because our energy consumption has completely exceeded rational and sustainable levels. But at the same time, we can’t completely stop driving anytime soon– yes, there are ways to cut down, but our society has been built so thouroughly around the automobile, especially in the US, that along with conservation we need a very specific push to find a way to stop using oil while still using cars– because just as you pointed out, infrastructure is also a major part of this equation, and our infrastructure is a massive highway system.