Kudos to the US House of Representatives, which has passed a radical new energy bill, which aims to expand the use of renewable fuels and cut tax breaks to oil firms.
The draft law details support for "clean" energy sources like biofuels, wind, solar and geothermal resources.
Hopefully someone will do the arithmetic about realistic output levels from these sources.
If it passes in its current form, the bill will require all American utility companies to generate 15% of their energy from renewable sources by the year 2020.
It also calls for more stringent efficiency standards for lighting and electrical appliances.
Personally I think that higher fuel taxes would be (at least part of) the way to go.
Meanwhile...
The Democrats, who now control Congress, are taking on one of America's most powerful lobbies.
The oil industry has friends in very high places - not least inside the Bush administration.
Ethanol Scam: Ethanol Hurts the Environment And Is One of America's Biggest Political Boondoggles
From Issue 1032
JEFF GOODELLPosted Jul 24, 2007 1:36 PM
The great danger of confronting peak oil and global warming isn't that we will sit on our collective asses and do nothing while civilization collapses, but that we will plunge after "solutions" that will make our problems even worse. Like believing we can replace gasoline with ethanol, the much-hyped biofuel that we make from corn.
Ethanol Scam: Ethanol Hurts the Environment And Is One of America's Biggest Political Boondoggles
From Issue 1032
JEFF GOODELLPosted Jul 24, 2007 1:36 PM
The great danger of confronting peak oil and global warming isn't that we will sit on our collective asses and do nothing while civilization collapses, but that we will plunge after "solutions" that will make our problems even worse. Like believing we can replace gasoline with ethanol, the much-hyped biofuel that we make from corn.
Ethanol is just taking money from one company - Exxon, say - and giving it to another, say, Archer Daniels Midland.
What any politician with any balls would say is this: "America needs to dedicate itself to a new 'Space Race' that will result in energy independence for America. This program must seek to replace fossil fuels, and the infrastructure for delivering them, with fuels that are carbon neutral in 10 years."
Ethanol is perfect for politicians: It's green on the surface to appease environmentalists, and drives up the price of corn to make the farm lobby happy
freshprncebelair said:
Ethanol is perfect for politicians: It's green on the surface to appease environmentalists, and drives up the price of corn to make the farm lobby happy
freshprncebelair said:
Ethanol is perfect for politicians: It's green on the surface to appease environmentalists, and drives up the price of corn to make the farm lobby happy
BINGO
Quite. It's also a disaster in terms of food prices and biodiversity; that is, it makes the poor poorer. That's not going to solve anyone's problems.
freshprncebelair said:
Ethanol is perfect for politicians: It's green on the surface to appease environmentalists, and drives up the price of corn to make the farm lobby happy
BINGO
Quite. It's also a disaster in terms of food prices and biodiversity; that is, it makes the poor poorer. That's not going to solve anyone's problems.
In addition its just a bad idea to have energy competing with food.
SockPuppet
I'm lost
July 2006
AUG 05, 2007 05:11 PM