02 May 09 Renewable and Green Energy: The Future

By Jim

The following paragraphs summarize the work of energy experts who are completely familiar with all the aspects of energy. Heed their advice to avoid any energy surprises.

Economists from Jevons onwards have noted with perverse satisfaction that as economy cheapens, that cheapness extends the market, and that measures of conservation or economy therefore increase, or at least do not diminish, the consumption of energy?

Solar photovoltaic systems are moving beyond residential applications to large, megawatt-scale projects for utility and industrial plants. Toshiba will secure orders for large solar power generation systems by drawing on its competitive advantages. Solar energy is created by heat and light radiated from the Sun. The majority of renewable energy sources come directly or in-directly from the sun.

Renewables are more expensive. But the question is, more expensive than what? Renewable energy, “has been shown to generate three to five times more jobs per dollar, or yuan, invested, than comparable investments in fossil fuels”. Similarly, recycling creates 10 times as much employment as dumping rubbish in landfills, while the International Labour Organisation reports that worldwide move to energy-efficient buildings could create “tens of millions of new jobs”.

You may not consider everything you just read to be crucial information about energy. But don’t be surprised if you find yourself recalling and using this very information in the next few days.

Oil is subsidized too. When’s the last time Exxon sent an army and navy to the Persian Gulf to protect oil supplies or sent billions of dollars in foreign aid to area regimes? Oil prices were climbing to a peak of $140 a barrel. Climate change was embedded deeply in the popular consciousness, and companies and countries all over the world were accelerating efforts to create a lower-carbon society.

Perhaps instead of pandering to big-money power developers, the province might have looked more closely at micro-power solutions on a per-home or per-neighbourhood scale. But then, this nanny-state government knows what’s best for everyone, because those of us (in rural areas) stuck with the consequences will be outvoted by those (in urban areas) who will reap most of the benefits. Perhaps more damaging, capital needed to create, build and expand new businesses in the green sector may also disappear leaving good ideas, new technologies high and dry.

Smaller rivals might struggle to compete as tight credit markets make it difficult to finance projects. Smaller economies of scale favor the lower capital costs required for heating with natural gas – which is a much cleaner fuel to be replacing than coal anyway. Carbon sources are literally keeping us alive. There is no evidence that they have – or will soon have – a viable replacement in transportation fuel, and there is only one in electricity generation, nuclear, which green energy advocates also oppose. Carbon sequestration is not the same as carbon dioxide sequestration. One is a gas and one is a solid.

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