Re: Re: oil and socialism

[Gar Lipow <lipowg@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Michael -- there is not doubt that it will require time and resources to
implement such strategies. That is why enviromentalists campaigned to
start the transition to such technoligies back in 70's; if it had been
started then we would have been thirty years into the transistion. But
enough savings could be implemented quickly to at least prevent further
exacerbation of global warming. And yes all of these methods have
environmental costs. But these costs are a lot lower than the methods
they replace. For instance Windmills kill birds; does anyone doubt that
coal power plants kill a hell of a lot more birds (per KWH) than
windmills do?

We could still might be able to make the transition in time; I am not
optimistic that we will do so for poltical and social rather than
technical reasons. We have the problem that a series of bad decisions
still being made will collectively lead to horrible problems in the
future; this is the externality problem squared; in short we have the
kind of problem capitalism is least able to deal with -- short term
goods with external costs that accumlate catastrophically, and have to
be paid all at once in the future.

Michael Perelman wrote:
>
> Gar is certainly correct that many potentially energy-saving strategies
> exist.  However, implementation of these strategies also requires
> considerable amounts of fossil fuel.  In addition, implementation will
> require a good deal of time.
>
> For example, society could save enormous energy by redesigning cities to
> minimize transportation demands.  It could not, however, do so
> instantaneously.  Nor could we modernize the entire automobile fleet
> overnight.  Finally, keep in mind that some of these energy-saving strategies
> have problems of their own.  Not just hydroelectric power, but even wind.
> For example in California, the windmills are creating havoc for bird
> populations.
>
> --
>
> Michael Perelman
> Economics Department
> California State University
> Chico, CA 95929
>
> Tel. 530-898-5321
> E-Mail michael@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx