I don’t claim that alternative energy will never work, I’m simply saying it will not be sufficient to replace the massive amounts of base loaded power generation our economy requires. I think there’s no arguyment about that.

So, I still maintain that it makes no sense to adopt policies that harm the production and extraction of all our carbon-based energy assets!

1. Boosting energy efficiency. There were proposals for 90% efficiency at power plants; is this still realistically feasible? More importantly, less consumption of fuel will lead to less pollutants and greenhouse gasses. We need to use as much of the byproducts to our advantage as possible.

2. Boosting plausible alternative sources. Nuclear power may be an alternative, but we should try to capitalize off of all alternatives, hydroelectric, wind, AND solar.

3. We must use less fuel and natural resources IN GENERAL. We’re already raking the seas of their contents for our food supply; we won’t have to worry about the “fish” part of the equation in the GOP’s plan if there are none to harm!

This is not a party-line concern. This is a humanity concern. The GOP should know better than to ignore the earth’s pains for the sake of the almighty dollar!

The Ice Age canard is a LIE. I know the rightwing keeps saying it. It is a LIE. There were a couple of articles in magazines that posited the possibility but there was NEVER any scientific consensus or even close to agreement from even a FEW scientists that an Ice Age was happening. So you can keep this lie alive by regurgitating it on command but it makes you look dumb. We do NOT have enough oil in the US to make a significant dent in our huge demand. The ONLY thing ‘reining in’ the EPA will accomplish is make a LOT of profits for oil companies and destroy our ecology. It really is easy for the screechmonkeys to get you to spew out what they tell you to think. I would be embarassed if I were you.

I see you are still worried about “climate change” so what will you say when it becomes painfully evident in the near future that the earth is entering a COOLING period.

What, the temperatures are going up now to get a running start in the opposite direction?

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Tim Vaculik Says:

I’m old enough to remember the last climate change hysteria… when the conventional wisdom was that the earth was going to enter a new ice age soon! The government was even talking about taking measures to INCREASE global temperatures!!!

I don’t remember this; what I remember from that period was all of the talk about fluorocarbons and the ozone layer.

But even if so, one thing you have to understand about science is that it changes its mind as it gathers more data. That’s not a weakness. Rather, it’s a strength. We’re vastly more certain about the science today than we were then.

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Tim Vaculik Says:

Don’t you see? These movements come a long throughout history on a pretty regular basis, but their dire predictions NEVER come to pass!

I’m guessing you’re also one of those people who sneers at volcano monitoring.

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Tim Vaculik Says:

Like I have said before, solar, wind power and other forms of “clean” energy are great, but they simply cannot meet the energy demands of our economy! And they won’t be able to either.

Bush spent eight years talking about how new technologies were going to show up someday and magically fix everything, and in the meantime we should sit on our hands and keep burning as much petroleum as possible. So I guess it’s an improvement in terms of hypocrisy that y’all are now claiming that alternative fuels will never work.

But you can’t prove a negative, especially where technology is concerned. If we actually try to do it, we can do it. You’re just preaching the politics of failure again. America has given up on that.

KILL THE GOP.

Tim Vaculik Says:
I’m old enough to remember the last climate change hysteria… when the conventional wisdom was that the earth was going to enter a new ice age soon! The government was even talking about taking measures to INCREASE global temperatures!!!

You remember wrong. It’s a myth that there was ever any support for an ice age by the scientific community. There were very few, vocal people who warned of cooling but it was nothing like the consensus today regarding global warming. But don’t concern yourself with the facts, you go by your faded memories.

U.S. Gulf of Mexico 63 of the 114 mobile offshore drilling rigs in the U.S. Gulf under contract fleet utilization is 55.3 percent.

I say drill here and drill a lot! We need to develop the oil resources we have!

From what I gather the oil companies have actually reduced the number of wells…

Reading this blog at times leads me to believe that some of you don’t have a grasp on the reality of how our economy really works

I dont know why you keep saying that, many here have a good grasp on how the economy works. Many of us said we were in a recession while pundits, and the president [Bush] were saying the fundamentals of the economy were strong and denied being in a recession for months.

I read plenty of financial stuff, TYVM

True. I say drill here and drill a lot! We need to develop the oil resources we have!

Xisithrus, Well, I’m all for renewable energy, but not when the way it’s proposed would severely impact our economy.

When the price of gasoline rose above 4 [5 in some places] dollars a gallon it had a negative impact on the economy and its headed back up, almost 3 bucks a gallon in many places.

It takes significant amounts of high-capacity, base-loaded generation my friends and that means coal, natural gas and nuclear.

Reading this blog at times leads me to believe that some of you don’t have a grasp on the reality of how our economy really works and the absolutely vital role played by dependable, affordable energy!

Well, I’m all for renewable energy, but not when the way it’s proposed would severely impact our economy.

Tim Vaculik Says:

As a nation we are committing economic SUICIDE if we don’t fully exploit and develop ALL our energy resources, which includes fossil fuels!!!

Damn, I agree with Vaculick on this