[extropy-chat] FWD (SK) A skeptical look at green technology

[Damien Sullivan]

On Fri, Sep 30, 2005 at 08:01:28PM -0700, Terry W. Colvin wrote:

> And finally, when cars are the polluters, the pollution is spread across 
> all the roads. When it's a power plant, though, all the junk is in one 
> place. Nature is very good at cleaning up when things are not too 
> concentrated, but it takes a lot longer when all the garbage is in one spot.

On the flip side, a large stationary central source can afford better filters
than a small mobile source.  Modern cars may be pretty clean now for random
pollutants, but CO2 sequestration would probably work better at the coal
plant.

And I could see cases where a concentrated dump would be preferable to having
stuff spread out; one place to avoid, vs. having everywhere become a bit
worse.  Depends on the pollutant, but having all the DDT or mercury or lead in
one place would probably be an improvement... heavy metals don't really clean
up well.

-xx- Damien X-)