On Sat, Andy Hall wrote:

All of this is focus in completely the wrong area. All the time that
the U.S. continues
not to make much of a federal effort in terms of emissions control

The federal government doesn't own many fossil
fuel power plants. But both the coal industry and the
power plants have been spending fortunes cleaning up
coal to reduce pollution.

and
China is opening
a new coal fired power station weekly, all of this other stuff makes so
little difference
that it is a waste of time on environmental grounds.

There is a lot of USA bashing, but other than the
French nuclear industry, I see very little about what other
countries are doing to reduce CO2 emissions.

I would
suggest that efforts are turned
towards dealing with the major issues, and that does not include
getting GW Bush to sign up
for silly politicised nonsense like Kyoto, but for serious efforts for change.

Actually, the only really viable change can only come
from alcohol production from bio sources, there can be some
CO2 sequestration but not on the scale that would be needed
to make a difference.

Even if the case for CO2 induced global warming could
be demonstrated clearly and proven beyond doubt, there is
nothing much that can be done without people freezing or
giving up income.

There are ways to reduce energy use, like having
people move close to where they work, but there isn't
a power that can accomplish that.

Retired people could move closer to the equator,
and many do, but most can't afford to.

Solar energy is primarily a sub-tropic region
energy source, and is not being guided in the right
direction. Solar panels on the roof, especially
retrofitted, is not a good idea, on walls facing the
equator is a much better idea.
Just one leak caused by installing panels
on the roof, and all the savings for 10 years is lost,
roofs don't usually last more than 15 or 20 years,
so installing panels on a 10 year old roof is not
a good idea.

Bee-hive apartments may be energy efficient
with less outside walls, but not everybody is willing
to live in an apartment.
Really old buildings may be the most difficult
to heat, and the trend in the US is larger homes,
so nothing is moving in the right direction to save
energy.
But it is not the US that is most at risk,
countries with no energy reserves are in a crisis
condition, and have few options but to continue
to import almost all their energy needs.

It seems evident that for solar energy to
be affordable by the masses, there has to be a
large Do-it-Yourself effort, with the right ideas,
and a modular approach that can be done a
little at a time is better both for time, and the
up front cost.

Joe Fischer