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bruortonI'm not a huge fan of the Silver Bullet Theory of crisis solution -- for example, that a single technology will save us from global warming. There are too many structural things that need to be changed for us to actually live within our means, habitat-wise; I also think that much of our structure itself needs to become decentralized, with everyone depending more on the food, energy, and community in the places they live.
That said, as far as large-scale power generation goes, concentrated solar power is the only thing I'd feel particularly inclined to support. I only happen to mention this because over lunch today I read an article describing the history and theory of CSP which included the amusing revelation that "Leonardo da Vinci's notebooks contain many designs for solar concentrators, including some for industrial purposes, because he worried about the destruction of the earth's vast forests in humanity's search for fuel." Gotta love that guy. 550 years old, and he still knows how to keep with the times.
That article, on the other hand, is a bit out of date. It was a link in an article today about the challenges to actually building these plants, one of which appears to be either Sen. Dianne Feinstein, or conservationists' concerns about building power plants in the fragile desert ecosystem... depending on how you look at it. Anyway, I really only bring this up to suggest (if reading about climate change issues appeals to you) to check out this blog in general. Joe Romm is one of those people who likes silver bullets, and wants to find ways for us to keep living more or less the way we do now, but nonetheless knows what's going on in the world of climate science, politics, and economics.
He's also the one who came up with my favorite line so far on the whole thing (I'm paraphrasing): "We're all Bernie Madoffs... we have constructed the grandest of Ponzi schemes, whereby current generations have figured out how to live off the wealth of future generations."
Now that's what I call staying on the rhetorical cutting edge.
That said, as far as large-scale power generation goes, concentrated solar power is the only thing I'd feel particularly inclined to support. I only happen to mention this because over lunch today I read an article describing the history and theory of CSP which included the amusing revelation that "Leonardo da Vinci's notebooks contain many designs for solar concentrators, including some for industrial purposes, because he worried about the destruction of the earth's vast forests in humanity's search for fuel." Gotta love that guy. 550 years old, and he still knows how to keep with the times.
That article, on the other hand, is a bit out of date. It was a link in an article today about the challenges to actually building these plants, one of which appears to be either Sen. Dianne Feinstein, or conservationists' concerns about building power plants in the fragile desert ecosystem... depending on how you look at it. Anyway, I really only bring this up to suggest (if reading about climate change issues appeals to you) to check out this blog in general. Joe Romm is one of those people who likes silver bullets, and wants to find ways for us to keep living more or less the way we do now, but nonetheless knows what's going on in the world of climate science, politics, and economics.
He's also the one who came up with my favorite line so far on the whole thing (I'm paraphrasing): "We're all Bernie Madoffs... we have constructed the grandest of Ponzi schemes, whereby current generations have figured out how to live off the wealth of future generations."
Now that's what I call staying on the rhetorical cutting edge.
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Exactly!
Date: 2009-05-01 02:40 pm (UTC)