High Priests |
But for the topic, there is little to distinguish the high priests
of energy telling us it is sinful to use energy from the Taliban telling
the beleaguered Afghanis that it is sinful for women to show their faces
in public.
Citing the wisdom of Amory Lovins, Berman and O’Connor tell us that using energy is morally wrong. [Amory Lovins’s wisdom]: “For over 90 percent of energy uses, electricity is an indefensible luxury.” Berman & O’Connor (1996)
|
Pollyannas |
“… 50% solar by the end of the century” Denis Hayes (1978)
“Solar. Do you want me to give you a book that shows how realistic solar is? We’ve got windpower, biomass, photovoltaics, tidal — all kinds of technology.” Ralph Nader (1997)
|
Puppeteers |
Cheerleaders and Pollyannas are one thing; puppeteers are yet another.
Their incessant drumbeat tells us that the only obstacles to solar energy
are political, and they seek to coerce and manipulate people by any and
all means available to adopt solar energy. Some prefer carrots.
Others prefer sticks. All are manipulative.
Here are several examples. “Simply by creating the incentive of higher energy prices, perhaps through a higher gasoline tax, the government could encourage considerable movement toward efficiency…” Paul & Anne Ehrlich (1991)
|
Statistical Smoke Generators |
Bill Clinton developed a plan to use taxpayers’ money for a feel-good,
do-nothing solar project (see Fig. 18). This case is such an egregious
example of lying with statistics that it deserves special mention.
The chart in Fig. 18 was trotted out to impress the audience.
“Speaking at the United Nations Thursday, Clinton called for photovoltaic panels to be installed on rooftops as part of his plan to reduce dependence on fossil fuels that are believed to cause global warming. ‘By capturing the warmth, we can help turn down the Earth’s temperature,’ he said.” Boston Globe (June 28, 1997)
Let us have a hard look at the data. Carbon dioxide-induced global
warming will raise the temperature of the Earth somewhere between zero
and 5 ºC during the next century. Choose a number. Any
number. Call it  , (“delta-T”),
the increase in temperature.
According to the Kyoto Protocol, by 2010, the US is required to reduce
its CO2 production to 7% below 1990 values, amounting to 30% of the otherwise
expected 2010 CO2 production rate. Therefore, Kyoto would be responsible
for reducing Trifling, you say! Indeed, but what about solar roofs? The
amount of CO2 reduction [see Fig. 18] to occur as a result of
the Million Solar Roofs Initiative is supposed to be 3.5 million tons,
a mere 0.06 percent of the 6000 million-ton US CO2 production (Fig. 19).
Therefore, we can reduce the earth’s temperature by 0.0029 ºC if you
chose the extreme 5 ºC for |
