Government Math

[timkona]

Re: Government Math

As a renter, here are the things you can do to become more energy efficient.

1) Change all light bulbs to CFL.
2) Buy a new, small, car, that get's terrific gas mileage, or is a hybrid.
3) Get new, energy efficient appliances, especially Refrigerator, which is a huge energy use.
4) Take shorter showers, with less hot water.
5) Talk to landlord about solar H2O, or even Solar Power. He might listen.
6) Plant some veggies on the lanai.

I could go on and on. Alternative energies need more than lip service and good intentions.

[joshuatree]

Re: Government Math

As a renter, here are the things you can do to become more energy efficient.

1) Change all light bulbs to CFL.
2) Buy a new, small, car, that get's terrific gas mileage, or is a hybrid.
3) Get new, energy efficient appliances, especially Refrigerator, which is a huge energy use.
4) Take shorter showers, with less hot water.
5) Talk to landlord about solar H2O, or even Solar Power. He might listen.
6) Plant some veggies on the lanai.

I could go on and on. Alternative energies need more than lip service and good intentions.

Except for #5, I don't see how the others translate to choosing to use alternative energy as per your previous post? All the items except #5 listed is about energy conservation and I support, but it has nothing to do with choosing alternative energy?

[timkona]

Re: Government Math

Perhaps #2 fits the bill.

Conservation and alternative energy use go hand in hand.

So which of those suggestions do you currently use?

[joshuatree]

Re: Government Math

Perhaps #2 fits the bill.

Conservation and alternative energy use go hand in hand.

So which of those suggestions do you currently use?

They do go hand in hand but just don't see where you're going with renters as an excuse in terms of choosing alternate energy.

Tim, I noticed you tend to switch gears by asking the other poster what items they are currently doing to deflect an argument.

All my lighting fixtures use CFLs, been that way since 1983, though back then it was circular FLs. I own a compact car but take public transit to go to work to save myself the stress of traffic and gas. I've switched the landlord's fridge to a smaller late model because I don't have a need for a large one. I don't have a lanai to grow veggies. Landlord does not want solar because they are barely getting by on their own mortgage and can't afford it. I hope that satisfies your curiosity.

[salmoned]

Re: Government Math

There are a lot of people who are willing to be early adopters for environmental reasons. They know it won't save them any of their hard-earned income but they're willing to personally pay the price because they know that individual efforts count. It's like those who volunteered to fight in WW II: they knew they might not come back and they might not share in the fruits of victory. But they all felt it was an important effort to support an important cause.

As more people commit, our society gets greener. Building electric cars isn't any worse than manufacturing internal combustion vehicles. And the batteries are almost 100% recyclable.

How appropriate to compare alternative energy to WWII. Just as those who first enlisted to become cannon fodder were among those who least aided in the effort then, so 'first adopters' of alternative energy are among those who least aid the effort now. Propaganda campaigns are counter-productive toward efficiently and intelligently addressing problems.

Conservation is the first step, not alternative energy. Conservation includes NOT building those new houses and not growing the population (or the economy), as well as cutting back on personal and public energy use. In fact, the most meaningful step we can possibly take right now is toward reversing our millennia long population growth spurt. No matter how efficient we become, if we don't stop this growth it will only slightly extend the timing of our eventual collapse, not prevent it. As long as we remain 'growth oriented' on a finite planet there is no rational basis for hope.

[Composite 2992]

Re: Government Math

How appropriate to compare alternative energy to WWII. Just as those who first enlisted to become cannon fodder were among those who least aided in the effort then, so 'first adopters' of alternative energy are among those who least aid the effort now. Propaganda campaigns are counter-productive toward efficiently and intelligently addressing problems.

WHAT?! You dishonor the memory of those who gave their lives early in the war! Fortunately for the free world there are hundreds of thousands of individuals who have a greater sense of duty than you.

Go to Pearl Harbor and tell the survivors that to their face. Better yet, tell that to any Marine who is often the first to the fight.

This is getting off topic and downright insulting.

[salmoned]

Re: Government Math

Honor and dishonor is a matter for knaves and thieves to decide after the fact. It's not really off-topic, since it's so often decided by government 'mathematics', rather than being either an innate or objective quality. We, the living, may decide honor and dishonor among and between ourselves with some purpose, perhaps, but those decisions can hardly be of much account to the dead. Better the dead decide among and between themselves how their honor and dishonor is finally adjudicated, than for you or I to pass judgment, one way or the other, on their doings.

[GeckoGeek]

Re: Government Math

Conservation and alternative energy use go hand in hand.

Depends on how you define it.

Conservation is born of the same concerns that lead to alternative energy use.

Conservation can bring consumption down to the level that alternative energy can support it.

But does conservation cause or support the development of alternative energy? No.

In the end, the two are completely separate things. In fact I'd say that conservation reduces the pressure to develop alternative energy.