[ExI] climategate again

[Eugen Leitl]

On Sat, Dec 05, 2009 at 11:18:40PM +0000, BillK wrote:

> As Keith (I think) pointed out, the work that the world should be
> doing to alleviate global warming is work that the world should be
> doing anyway.
> And the work should have started 20 years ago.

It's more like 40 years ago, but 20 years would have been plenty.
 
> Even if global warming wasn't happening, the world should be moving to
> renewable energy sources anyway. Solar power, wind power, fuel cells,
> nuclear power, geothermal power, etc.

Precisely. We should be thankful for this depression, since fossil
costs are right now sufficiently high to pay producers for new
infrastructure, and simultaneously keep demand down. This won't
last, however. Considering how many terabucks are now down the
drain which could have been used for infrastructure work... 
 
> The entrenched energy industries of coal and oil are fighting tooth
> and nail to protect their industry and profits and delaying the
> transfer to alternative fuels as long as possible. One hopeful sign is
> that the oil industry appears to be diversifying as oil production
> starts dropping. So they will be supporting green energy once they
> become the new green energy industry and can profit from it.
> 
> The trouble is that it might be too late by then for large areas of the world.

We will not be able to bridge the gap with renewables. However, with
reduced demand that should be possible. Not exactly a picnic.

-- 
Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a> http://leitl.org
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