[ExI] Wind, solar could provide 99.9% of ALL POWER by 2030

[spike]

-----Original Message-----
From: extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org
[mailto:extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org] On Behalf Of Eugen Leitl
>...

>>... Spike points out, cars will become more economical, especially when

>...Cars don't enter the equation. They're almost irrelevant in terms of
total energy.

Disagree.  Reasoning: cars are so close to our everyday experience, they
have an important collective psychological impact on society.  If we are
comfortable we get conservative.  If anything messes with our transportation
experience, we are immediately uncomfortable, and we drive change.

About twenty years ago there was a series of very low rainfall years.
California put all these conservation measures in place, but of all oddball
things, one of the measures that had the most impact was that restaurants
were asked to refrain from bringing the customers a glass of water unless
the prole specifically asked for it.  The restaurants gladly complied: it
saved them money and time.  It had no measurable impact on water usage, but
it did penetrate collective thinking, because it made us a little thirstier
when dining out, which focused attention on something we wouldn't have given
a second thought: that the reservoirs were getting dangerously low.

My notion is that if our Detroits go SLOWER (evolution-forbid) it draws
attention to that which is easy to ignore so long as we have a local petrol
station providing as much octane as we wish to purchase.    Like the missing
water glasses at the restaurant, a little bit of savings has a leveraging
effect on our collective thinking.

spike