March 23, 2007

Pressure cooker

It's all about the money stupid....

So remember when I posted that letter about the environment and the "pop science" behind the latest trend of global warming fear mongering?

Remember when that goofy commenter told me I needed to go back to school. He listed physics? Isn't that a bit odd since I was only linking to a letter about "pop-science", but here is an article that is doing the math that person doesn't want to hear. Every time we go greener, we have to rely on our old manufacturing industries to take us there. You know...the ones who are evil. So in this article we hear about the nickel being produced for hybrid cars. Now I've never been a fan of hybrid so I already had a hate on for them. Serious now...the full electric car was a great idea and yes it would have impacted the economy in a massive way. However old business models can't be new business models and we should have made the change to the electric car when it had momentum.

So the hybrid showed up, it was hyped to be "the greenest car around". Sure, emissions wise it does a good job, fuel standard wise it did a good job (anyone else question how in early 1960 we were years behind the soviets in space tech then suddenly in late 1960 they supposedly sent a man to the moon but we haven't been able to increase our fuel economy by an equal amount of progress?

So we have these hybrids, what happens when they die? 7yr battery life for most of them...do they go to the landfill? Do you have to buy new batteries?

It's about a slick as the disposable toilet brush...now you don't have to get your hands dirty and you don't have to keep it sitting around. Only...did they have to manufacture new equipment for that plant? Is it made out of recycled materials? Does the new plant and process emit emissions? More so than the old toilet brush factory?

These are the things we need to think about. Not just moving green because some washed out politician thinks he's green. He owns a company he can buy pollution credits from to offset his own consumption...can anyone else do that? We need real hero's, real solutions. Not cash cows...how much of an environmental footprint went into the making and distributing of the thousands of movies he sold? As he points to cars, did he wonder how much damage he was making when he ordered his DVD covers from china? I doubt it...it's short sighted thinking.

It has to be thought out, it has to be sustainable. Why would you trust the same companies who ruined the environment with the solutions? Doesn't that seem weird? You made them rich and then you realized they were evil and now you embrace them and make them even richer. There is no world standard for green; however we can be assured that large corporation follow no standard aside from profit. Clean air acts for 2050 are not the answer.

Sustainable tech like solar panels must come down in price, yes they cost a lot to manufacture and I'm sure their processes are environmentally destructive in ways I have no knowledge about...but they provide a sustainable alternative. Does it cost more to make them or is it more damaging then coal burning for electricity? I don't know...these are the things I'd like to find out.

Post articles that deal with things like this if you like, I'd like to read them

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You've done it now Danger Dan!!!