Green Chip Living is a blog by Green Chip Stocks focusing on Green and Sustainable Living
Last week, my son, a college freshman, sat down to his first class in philosophy.
First, can someone tell me why philosophy isn’t taught in high school? Is there some reason we think we need to shelter kids from life’s great questions until they’re older? I never taught the subject formally, though I tutored quite a few undergraduates while I was in graduate school, which often caused me to wonder how I would construct my own “101” course if I happened to be in that position, and at what age group I would present it.
What happened when mankind evolved to the point, about 10,000 years ago, that we had a solid grasp on basic agricultural principles, and so no longer needed to roam, hunting for and gathering food in a nonstop life-and-death struggle? What happened when we started to look up into the heavens — and the questions started to flow: Who made all this stuff? Why are we here? What happens when we die?
I’d certainly get the kids into questions like that – “speculative philosophy” as it’s called. But I wouldn’t do so at the expense of “moral philosophy,” whose questions are different, though no easier: What is the nature of our responsibilities to others? What does it mean to say I have a “right” to do or have something? A “duty?” And from what do these rights and duties come? The bible? Our conscience? The mores of our group?
I bring this up because the debate about energy really unfolds along these lines. It boils down to this:
If we really don’t have a duty to anyone but ourselves, we can serve the world’s energy needs very well with fossil fuels. Yes, we’re running out of oil, but not right this minute. Yes, fossil fuels more generally are ruining our health and our environment, but they’re by far the cheapest way to power our civilization at this point in time. People who scoff at the idea of a duty to others say, “Look, we can generate baseload electricity with coal at about three cents a kilowatt-hour. If that creates a problem, that’s too damn bad. Until someone can beat three cents, we’ll burn coal. ”
Yes, there is no doubt that we can do that. But don’t all people have certain rights — and others among us certain duties — that make this a more interesting question?
I continue to be surprised by the bad and shallow analysis of renewable energy subsidies done by the mainstream media.
Most of it is due to bad research and lack of investigative and unbiased journalism. And many writers with little or no background in energy or cleantech, sensationalize an issue by taking a report from some biased think tank and presenting it as an unbiased analysis. Here is one example from a website ironically called Reason.com.
What the writer is saying is that Germany is spending massive amounts of subsidies to get a very little amount of power. Now here's what he missed:
1) He is not comparing the subsidies for solar with the subsidies of fossil fuels. Does he know that Fossil Fuel Subsidies globally amount to $550 billion a year, which is many times more than that given to Solar, Wind and other forms of renewable energy? .Even a developed country like Norway gives 5 times more subsidies to fossil fuels than renewable energy
2) He says that 18 billion euros is the cost of solar energy over 20 years . He conveniently forgets/does not know the basic concept of time value of money.
3) He does not consider the costs on health, pollution, mining deaths and other social costs of fossil fuel-based electricity. He forgets to mention the BP Oil Spill and the Fukushima Disaster.
4) He says it is cheaper to do energy efficiency than solar energy, a fact that is already well known. But will energy efficiency alone solve our global warming problems. Nobody doubts the fact that energy efficiency is cheaper, but you need cleaner power generation as well.
Mainstream media is woefully inadequate at presenting the problems we are faced with, particularly when it comes to a topic as complex and vilified as climate change. Taking a report and presenting it without a balanced opinion just makes it worse.
Read more on Pros and Cons of Renewable Energy here
Thanks to a handful of Russian and American investors, city streets in Russia will soon be equipped with 2,000 electric car charging stations.
Check it out. . .
I read an article this morning that highlighted some data released by BP and Exxon that suggests electric cars will only make up between 4 to 5 percent of the global market in 20 to 30 years.
Now I wonder how BP and Exxon came up with this data? (Insert sarcastic tone here)
Of course, I've also seen my fair share of questionably optimistic studies claiming that in 30 years, electric vehicles will make up 70 percent of the global market. I feel confident that both projections are extremely inaccurate.
The truth is, electric vehicles are likely to claim about 3 percent of the global market in about 10 to 12 years. And by 2042 (30 years from now), electric vehicles will probably represent about 15 percent of the global market.
Now I could be way off, too. But based on the first year sales of the Volt and the LEAF (which were quite impressive, despite what the media bullies and partisan slaves like to claim), the cost of oil production over the next 20 to 30 years, the projected decrease in battery costs, and just a more superior electric vehicle boasting 500-mile ranges and 10-minute quick charges, I find it difficult to believe that in 30 years at least 15 percent of the global vehicle market won't be electric.
In fact, I think 15 percent is actually quite conservative.
Let's face it: The internal combustion engine is an outdated technology. On a technological level, it simply cannot compete with what electric vehicles can offer. Now BP does expect the efficiency of combustion engines to double by 2030. And this would actually be a big deal if it wasn't going to happen around the same time the average range of an electric car will be 500 miles!
Nice try guys. But I think we'll just go ahead and continue to focus on progress.
TEDxWomen reporter Gayle Tzemach gives a very inspirational presentation on women entrepreneurs. Her take on this subject is one that serves as an indicator of where the global economy is moving.
Check it out. . .
More and more you hear about new “breakthroughs” with regards to internal combustion engines. They get more efficient and the cars fitted with them can achieve better fuel economy.
The question is, is this delaying, or even putting off the electric vehicle?
I think these “breakthroughs” are just small improvements; some final efforts to try and maintain the old status quo. Yes, for the immediate future, improving fuel economy on conventional cars can do a lot of good, especially if you consider that electric vehicles are not within everyone's reach today.
Baby Steps
The improvements for the internal combustion engine are small steps that should really have been taken a long time ago. But it is only now with the current awareness on fuel conservation, that engines have become more efficient.
Before there was no real, urgent need. So calling them breakthroughs is giving them a bit more credit than they deserve.
As well, I find the thought that the internal combustion will ‘win’ over the electric vehicle is amusing. Given the potential benefits of the electric drive train, there really is no reason to continue our reliance on gasoline and diesel. And let's face it: Ultimately, the only true ‘winner’ if you want to call it that should be the people who can enjoy a cleaner world and a car that's always full when you go to work in the morning.
Step One
For the immediate future, it is clear that the goal is simply better fuel economy. And right now, conventional hybrids are the best solution for the masses.
Sure, the electric vehicle can provide the goal of zero emissions and zero reliance on petroleum. But given that many folks still don't have easy access to electric vehicles (due to cost and production volumes) we will likely have to wait a few more years before we see more electric vehicles on the road. In the meantime, hybrids or vehicles with better fuel economy can provide a lot of consumers with an intermediate before the electric vehicle is ready to go on main stage.
Step Two
Once the electric vehicle market has matured a bit more, and these vehicles can provide a bit more range, and when the charging infrastructure is more widely adopted (and interoperability is a standard!), the big breakthrough of the electric vehicle will happen.
At that point it simply becomes a common sight in the streets, just like any other vehicle you see today.
This is going to happen. And it's going to happen a lot faster than most people realize.
To simplify where we are as a civilization and where we’re going with respect to energy consumption, economics, and environmentalism, it’s useful to postulate three broad “plans”:
Plan A: We continue on our current course. We ignore the fact that our population will soon be growing from 7 billion to 10 billion, and that an ever-growing percentage of that population is joining the ranks of consumers. Our leaders know that we’re in the process of driving off a cliff; they may lack basic decency, but they’re long on intelligence, and they exploit voter ignorance of this core truth as long as they possibly can. During this time, they and the extraordinarily powerful forces that elected them desperately look for new ways of extracting fossil fuels, while obfuscating the effects on global climate, ocean acidification, social chaos, war, respiratory disease, etc. The elite remain in power until the planet is in ruins.
Plan B: We aggressively adopt what Jeremy Rifkin and others refer to as “The Third Industrial Revolution,” which contemplates continued economic growth by focusing on renewable energy and the many other components of sustainability. As Rifkin conceives this, there are “five pillars” at play here: shifting to renewable energy, developing buildings as power plants, deploying hydrogen and other storage technologies, using Internet technology, and transitioning the transport fleet to electric, plug-in and fuel cell vehicles. Not to give anything away, but this concept is embraced by several of the people I interviewed in my second book, due out shortly: “Is Renewable Really Doable?”
Plan C: Although we’d probably love to believe in Plan B, we just don’t see it as a pragmatic reality. We regard the phrase “sustainable growth” as an oxymoron, and find a way to cut back on energy consumption and deal with a period of negative growth, because this is our only choice. Btw, this too is addressed in my next book, and it’s the core belief of Bill McKibben and many other great minds.
My job is to pull this apart, to unravel the issues that underlie each of the three major plans. And now may be a good time to thank you, reader, for being here, and offering your insightful comments as we work this through together.
Where does your food come from?
How is it grown?
How is your meat processed?
These aren't typically questions we think about while eating a spinach salad or biting into a burger. And sadly, that's what most industrial farming operations are counting on.
The fact is, our food system is one that is highly unsustainable. Through the rapid deterioration of our soil to the push to produce more meat at a cheaper cost, we are choking on our own progress.
Now there's an amazing movie called FRESH that highlights this very issue. But it also offers solutions that are actually being integrated right now. You see, this is not your typical, depressing documentary that focuses on the problem but offers no solution. In fact, I would argue that this movie offers those who care about sustainable agriculture, a sense of hope.
Normally, when I come across these types of documentaries, I include a trailer. But for the next few days, you can actually watch the entire movie for free right here.
I strongly urge you to check it out. It's truly inspiring.
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