Friday, September 09, 2011

 

Agreeing with James Hanson

I know this is a dangerous path to start agreeing with the Ur-Father of Warmie true believers, but if he's right...

Here's James Hanson about a month ago on the possibility that renewable energy will power the future. He's about as optimistic as I am, even using disparaging terms for belief in the fantasy. You think I'm kidding? See for yourself:

Can renewable energies provide all of society’s energy needs in the foreseeable future? It is conceivable in a few places, such as New Zealand and Norway. But suggesting that renewables will let us phase rapidly off fossil fuels in the United States, China, India, or the world as a whole is almost the equivalent of believing in the Easter Bunny and Tooth Fairy.

This Easter Bunny fable is the basis of ‘policy’ thinking of many liberal politicians...


There's more:

Because they realize that renewable energies are grossly inadequate for our energy needs now and in the foreseeable future and they have no real plan. They pay homage to the Easter Bunny fantasy, because it is the easy thing to do in politics. They are reluctant to explain what is actually needed to phase out our need for fossil fuels.
He's even sane in the footnotes:

Renewable energy such as windmills and commercial scale solar power are not entirely “soft”, in the view of many people, i.e., they have an environmental footprint. Also, because of their intermittency, they require dispatchable back-up power, which is commonly provided by gas, thus degrading the ability to reduce carbon emissions.
But his big finish is to believe in the chimera of anthropogenic, CO2 forced, Armageddon producing, global warming by pretending that CO2 has a hidden cost, when it has none to speak of. No one is right all the time.

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# posted by Roger Fraley @ 12:29 AM
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