We organize about what is important, and what we can effect positively. My preference: social well-being. Individual/families/communities/regions/macro-regions. As I’ve written previously, I’m a gadfly on two prominent modern socio-environmental concerns. 1. Global warming – My feeling is that it is obviously occurring, and human induced, but that there is literally nothing that I or even [...]
Archive for the ‘Energy policy’ Category
What do we organize about?
Posted in Energy policy, Ethics, General economic, Regional Economy, Sustainable Economics on June 13, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Nukes
Posted in Energy policy, Sustainable Economics on March 13, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
The word from Japan at this moment is that two nuclear plants have experienced at least partial melt downs, and exhausted some radioactive material into the atmosphere, though not the full blown toxic cloud that is possible in a complete meltdown (when radioactive groundwater under the plant boils and exhausts to the atmosphere, then blow [...]
The Economic Necessity of Regionalism
Posted in Energy policy, General economic, Land Use, Regional Economy, Sustainable Economics on February 27, 2011 | 1 Comment »
In economic thought, those that advocate for free markets often speak in terms of the “rational actor”. That presumes that those purchasers with disbursable assets consider their personal or strategic needs and analyze and rationally choose their best option (delaying purchase, or choice of product/service/supplier). And, it assumes that providers of goods and service, analyze [...]
Reduce Fossil Fuel Consumption!!
Posted in Energy policy, Transportation on October 1, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
1. Technology chosen 2. Utilization 3. Settlement design 4. Population These are multiplying principles, significant and complete. The two largest uses of fossil fuels in every society, are for space heating and transportation. Using transportation as an example. If we: 1. Construct and choose technology that doubles the average fuel mileage of vehicles (private, public and [...]
Oil Prices – What to Expect?
Posted in Energy policy, General economic, Sustainable Economics on September 21, 2010 | 2 Comments »
I watched a film yesterday, “Blind Spot”, published by the Media Education Foundation, on Peak Oil. I’m more than familiar with the peak oil thesis, and it most often represents my thinking, that as a society we are utterly addicted to oil, and that the world is in a status of net depletion relative to [...]
My initiation into the engineered life
Posted in Energy policy, Ethics, General economic, Space heating and lighting on July 21, 2010 | 8 Comments »
I’ve had severe medical problems before and been the beneficiary of scientific advances in medical treatment. (I had a non-cancerous growth on my inner ear in 1996, called an “accoustic neuroma”, which required 11 hour surgery, and artistically sequenced immediate and subsequent recovery. It didn’t save my hearing though in one ear. That’s just gone [...]
My prediction for economic “improvement”
Posted in General economic, Space heating and lighting, Transportation on July 15, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
It won’t come immediately, likely even soon. There is still a downward drag on home values due to a still large inventory of unsold homes and many homes in foreclosure. There is still a bubble in business to business economy, money chasing after activity and profits. (Thats where the highest compensation is and that is [...]
Thoughts on the Oil Spill
Posted in Energy policy, Regional Economy, Space heating and lighting, Sustainable Economics, Transportation on April 30, 2010 | 3 Comments »
The oil spill is big news. A gamut of “drill-baby-drill” advocates have oil on their faces. Its real. The standards for offshore shelf drilling will increase dramatically throughout the globe, and particularly in the US. To the extent that standards and costs then increase globally, including affects on drilling in on-shore but environmentally sensitive areas, the long-term supply [...]
Again – Simplify
Posted in Energy policy, Simplicity, Transportation on March 2, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Every description of sustainability that I’ve heard includes some element of “live and let live”, translated into “live with a smaller ecological footprint”. In the business world, if you look at annual reports of the largest publicly traded corporations, nearly all dedicate some portion of their reports to proving that they are good corporate citizens, [...]
I’m a Gadfly on Climate Change
Posted in Energy policy, Land Use, Sustainable Economics on February 28, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
I had two experiences yesterday touching directly and indirectly on the global warming/climate change discussion. I’ve been an advocate of the preventative and responsive solution for/to global warming (and peak oil) for decades, but am not an advocate for either of the reasons. The over-arching reality is that climate change is natural, necessary, real, unavoidable. [...]
