Clutz
Tells us when we're offset.
- Joined
- Jun 7, 2002
- Posts
- 2,483
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- 13
At the risk of bringing an entirely new issue to the table of "turn it off/leave it on" which may not be wanted - but there is the issue of conservation.
Last time I checked, we had less than 90 years of energy reserves left in the world, including all of the oil reserves that are known, but are not yet economically/technological feasible to access, as well as the type of uranium that can be processed for nuclear powered electrical plants, at current energy usage rates.... except energy usage rates are expected to explode in the next two to five decades - primarily because of the development of China's and India's economy.
How much power does turning off an amp/cd player make? I don't know - it may not be a lot. However, if cars and trucks fuel efficiency was improved a mere 10-15%, we would see huge reductions in the amount of carbon emissions produced, as well as a general improvement in the economy. People may be happy driving SUVs- but the fact of the matter is, paying $65 to do the exact same function (for most people) as $15 is BAD for the economy, because that is still $50 that could've been spent elsewhere. THat $50 per vehicle per week will still be spent in the long run, and the oil companies wiull still end up selling all of their oil, it will just take them a bit longer to do it.
It really doesn't take a huge change in our way of life to make a substantially positive impact on the environment. Turning off TVs, turning off lights, replacing lights with high efficiency tubes, etc. We do not require radical, and new expensive technologies to make a huge difference, at least in the short run which will help our odds at making it to the long run.
Apparently, on average, 1 kilowatt of electricity translates into approximately one kilogram of carbon released into the atmosphere. It's staggering.
It's been a long time since I've done any work on environmental economics, and I would not describe myself as a tree hugger at all - it's just in the long run, I think it makes good economic sense to conserve.
Sorry- I'm a theoretical biologist and I work on issues related to biodiversity and conservation (as well as a variety of other issues not at all related to conservation, biodiversity or ecology). I just thought I'd pipe in with that.
Last time I checked, we had less than 90 years of energy reserves left in the world, including all of the oil reserves that are known, but are not yet economically/technological feasible to access, as well as the type of uranium that can be processed for nuclear powered electrical plants, at current energy usage rates.... except energy usage rates are expected to explode in the next two to five decades - primarily because of the development of China's and India's economy.
How much power does turning off an amp/cd player make? I don't know - it may not be a lot. However, if cars and trucks fuel efficiency was improved a mere 10-15%, we would see huge reductions in the amount of carbon emissions produced, as well as a general improvement in the economy. People may be happy driving SUVs- but the fact of the matter is, paying $65 to do the exact same function (for most people) as $15 is BAD for the economy, because that is still $50 that could've been spent elsewhere. THat $50 per vehicle per week will still be spent in the long run, and the oil companies wiull still end up selling all of their oil, it will just take them a bit longer to do it.
It really doesn't take a huge change in our way of life to make a substantially positive impact on the environment. Turning off TVs, turning off lights, replacing lights with high efficiency tubes, etc. We do not require radical, and new expensive technologies to make a huge difference, at least in the short run which will help our odds at making it to the long run.
Apparently, on average, 1 kilowatt of electricity translates into approximately one kilogram of carbon released into the atmosphere. It's staggering.
It's been a long time since I've done any work on environmental economics, and I would not describe myself as a tree hugger at all - it's just in the long run, I think it makes good economic sense to conserve.
Sorry- I'm a theoretical biologist and I work on issues related to biodiversity and conservation (as well as a variety of other issues not at all related to conservation, biodiversity or ecology). I just thought I'd pipe in with that.
