*Slides yet another counter-token from the "Global Warming is a Hoax" to "Global Warming is Real".*
WARNING: Rant! Sorry but I feel this needs to be said. Move it over to it's own thread if you feel it deserves it.
Really, there is sufficient evidence. I wonder why people keep on arguing against it. Maybe because corporations don't want to spend any money on upgrades... or more like the Big Shareholders want to keep on lining their pockets and damn the consequences. Much like the root causes of the current recession. And people say that big business doesn't need to be regulated. Funny thing is most of the people that say that are, again, the Big Shareholders.
I mean, really, it's not gonna hurt America to seriously go green. Pollution levels will drop (which is a good thing even if Global Warming is not an issue), jobs will be created, people will start buying things, and the economy will prosper. And let's not forget the simple fact that when pollution levels drop that Americans will become healthier which is less strain on the Health system ergo improving the economy by the simple fact that healthy Americans = productive Americans = paid Americans = Americans buying stuff.
How many more reasons does Corporate America really need?
And before someone launches into tirades about how Corporate America is looking into green solutions... let me enlighten you. A Salaryman once took an old-ass POS Pontiac Fiero, put an ass-load of batteries and an electric motor into the thing. The result was a zero-emission daily driver with a range of seventy-five miles. Perfect for getting to and from work with side-trips to run errands. If some J-Random-Nutter can do it, then the American Car Companies can do it even better and put a reasonable price tag on it. No need for special infrastructure or any other BS. Just a simple battery charger at home does the job just fine. Sure, the electric bills go up and so does demand for power... but that's a far better option.
As for power... I'm all about the Nuclear option. And don't bull-shit me about how nukes have their hazards. We all are aware of those hazards and they can be managed very effectively, thank you very much.
Behold the amazing story of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant of Niigata Prefecture, Japan. This power plant has a whopping seven reactors, all of which are active. The plant has been rattled by a few major earthquakes, but the most notable was in 2007 when a shake-up exceeded the designed limits. Fortunately, the reactors held up superbly, with only a few miniscule radiation leaks in the subsystems. By miniscule, I mean that the measured releases of radiation were all literally fractions of what the human body produces. The worst thing that happened was not radiation-leak related: a transformer for Reactor Three caught fire and it took a few hours to put it out. Afterwards, a series of inspections and modifications to the reactors took place to ensure no future earthquakes would cause any leakages. All inspections came back positive and it was agreed that the operators of the plant were doing everything in their power to ensure that this would not happen again. That is by reinforcing the reactors to such a degree that even some of the inspectors thought it a bit excessive.
Nuclear power is safe as long as it is managed properly. There are no emissions and most spent fuel can be reprocessed. That which can't... well, what came from the earth shall be returned to the earth. Preferably deep underground where there are no water tables to be irradiated.
(BTW: Did you know that once upon a time before human-like critters roamed the Earth there was a place in Africa that was a natural boiling-water reactor? No kidding. It's even featured in APOD. Fission is a natural occurrence, so environmentalists should quit bitching. Even my own mother who is a big-time naturalist took a round-turn on nuclear energy when she heard about this.)
Transmission can be done with super-conductive power lines. Don't cry foul - it's feasible. Expensive, yes, but so was the Interstate Highway Project. And honestly I think America needs another major infrastructure upgrade - the benefits for the economy alone in the long run are huge. Bonus: get a two-for-one deal by using liquid hydrogen as your coolant - transmit energy in two high-efficiency forms!
None of these things are revolutionary in and of themselves. Battery powered daily-drivers: the province of do-it-yourselfers. Nuclear energy: so old-hat that we weren't even the first ones doing it. Industrial Cryogenics and Superconductivity: now commonplace.
Why the hell can we not get our act together and do something good with this stuff?
Stupid Big Shareholders.
WARNING: Rant! Sorry but I feel this needs to be said. Move it over to it's own thread if you feel it deserves it.
Really, there is sufficient evidence. I wonder why people keep on arguing against it. Maybe because corporations don't want to spend any money on upgrades... or more like the Big Shareholders want to keep on lining their pockets and damn the consequences. Much like the root causes of the current recession. And people say that big business doesn't need to be regulated. Funny thing is most of the people that say that are, again, the Big Shareholders.
I mean, really, it's not gonna hurt America to seriously go green. Pollution levels will drop (which is a good thing even if Global Warming is not an issue), jobs will be created, people will start buying things, and the economy will prosper. And let's not forget the simple fact that when pollution levels drop that Americans will become healthier which is less strain on the Health system ergo improving the economy by the simple fact that healthy Americans = productive Americans = paid Americans = Americans buying stuff.
How many more reasons does Corporate America really need?
And before someone launches into tirades about how Corporate America is looking into green solutions... let me enlighten you. A Salaryman once took an old-ass POS Pontiac Fiero, put an ass-load of batteries and an electric motor into the thing. The result was a zero-emission daily driver with a range of seventy-five miles. Perfect for getting to and from work with side-trips to run errands. If some J-Random-Nutter can do it, then the American Car Companies can do it even better and put a reasonable price tag on it. No need for special infrastructure or any other BS. Just a simple battery charger at home does the job just fine. Sure, the electric bills go up and so does demand for power... but that's a far better option.
As for power... I'm all about the Nuclear option. And don't bull-shit me about how nukes have their hazards. We all are aware of those hazards and they can be managed very effectively, thank you very much.
Behold the amazing story of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant of Niigata Prefecture, Japan. This power plant has a whopping seven reactors, all of which are active. The plant has been rattled by a few major earthquakes, but the most notable was in 2007 when a shake-up exceeded the designed limits. Fortunately, the reactors held up superbly, with only a few miniscule radiation leaks in the subsystems. By miniscule, I mean that the measured releases of radiation were all literally fractions of what the human body produces. The worst thing that happened was not radiation-leak related: a transformer for Reactor Three caught fire and it took a few hours to put it out. Afterwards, a series of inspections and modifications to the reactors took place to ensure no future earthquakes would cause any leakages. All inspections came back positive and it was agreed that the operators of the plant were doing everything in their power to ensure that this would not happen again. That is by reinforcing the reactors to such a degree that even some of the inspectors thought it a bit excessive.
Nuclear power is safe as long as it is managed properly. There are no emissions and most spent fuel can be reprocessed. That which can't... well, what came from the earth shall be returned to the earth. Preferably deep underground where there are no water tables to be irradiated.
(BTW: Did you know that once upon a time before human-like critters roamed the Earth there was a place in Africa that was a natural boiling-water reactor? No kidding. It's even featured in APOD. Fission is a natural occurrence, so environmentalists should quit bitching. Even my own mother who is a big-time naturalist took a round-turn on nuclear energy when she heard about this.)
Transmission can be done with super-conductive power lines. Don't cry foul - it's feasible. Expensive, yes, but so was the Interstate Highway Project. And honestly I think America needs another major infrastructure upgrade - the benefits for the economy alone in the long run are huge. Bonus: get a two-for-one deal by using liquid hydrogen as your coolant - transmit energy in two high-efficiency forms!
None of these things are revolutionary in and of themselves. Battery powered daily-drivers: the province of do-it-yourselfers. Nuclear energy: so old-hat that we weren't even the first ones doing it. Industrial Cryogenics and Superconductivity: now commonplace.
Why the hell can we not get our act together and do something good with this stuff?
Stupid Big Shareholders.