What can we do to solve environmental problems?

[JimG]

I learned today that ethynol actual decreases gas mileage and is hard on the engine.

Theres boat ramps that offer no ethynol contained in gas so boaters can have better gas mileage.

Yes, ethanol is less efficient as a fuel than pure gasoline. We’d all get better gas mileage by not putting ethanol into gasoline.

 

[lynnvinc]

But why should we charge a fee for energy use, then give back some of it and dedicate some to reduction of the deficit? Why not just charge no fee, give back no dividend and institute a tax of that or some other kind to reduce the deficit? Or perhaps simply stop spending as much and institute no new tax at all?

Giving people a “dividend” out of their own money that has been taken from them is commonly referred to as a “Ponzi scheme”.

I would be totally skeptical, by the way, of the government getting its hands on any more money without spending it. Personally, and without in any way being critical of you, this whole thing sounds like one more government scam to squeeze yet more money out of an already burdened populace.

Yeah, you’re right – just internalize the externalities and increase dirty energy by, say, 200%, to pay off those who are suffering from it here and around the world and into the future for, say, 10,000 years…

That ought to do the trick. People just don’t have the spine to do the really right things.

 

[Do_Good_Then_Go]

These are excellent idea, esp with water shortages in many places. Also water involves energy to pump and heat it.

I just read something about smart water meters, which are being installed in some place. (I know I heard that some people are against smart electric meters, as they are harmed by cell phones, wireless computers, and other electronic signal devices; but I think the electronic water meters may not be so bad since the meters are usually away from the buildings & the harmful waves decrease exponentially with distance.)

Anyway there is the potential to be able to monitor water usage, which may help detect leaks, etc.

We were driving in our Ford Windstar today – which we use when we need to haul things – with the AC blasting, bec it is the dead of summer here, which means temps above 100F. Anyway I pointed out that we tend to reduce our AC usage in the Volt, since there is feedback about how much energy we are using and how fast the charge discharges with the AC. It’s not that we sweat like stuck pigs in the Volt (and, afterall, our electricity is 100% wind-generated, tho our electric co has asked customers to reduce usage if possible due to overall very high power demands in Texas during these heat waves – but our Volt charges during the nights, during off-peak times, so it’s not so bad). We do use the AC heavily in our Volt these summer month and ride in comfort, but just enough bearly comfort so that we don’t feel uncomfortable. With the Windstar we just tend to blast the AC without thinking about it much – until today.

I’m thinking if people could see how much extra gasoline they are using by blasting their car ACs, they might also reduce just a bit and be satisfied with the borderline comfort zone, instead of an arctic AC chill. I also thought of this – what if every appliance, light fixture, etc has a little monitor that told us how many watt hours we were using, maybe people would find ways to reduce so as to reduce their electric bill, if not “save the earth” – if such monitors were cheap and doable.

Wireless power monitors a bit like that are available here - they don’t measure each individual thing but the total changes depending on what you have plugged in and/or switched on. So you can measure your power use, say, during the day with lights off and only the fridge or whatever else is always on, and then turn each other item on in turn and see how it affects your total. You can see what happens when you turn the oven on, how keeping the TV in standby mode differs from turning it off at the wall, what does turning the air con up or down a bit do to your total power usage, things like that. Stand-by eliminators with a remote are great too because it’s such a nuisance trying to reach behind the TV to turn it off at the wall every time you switch off and apparently leaving things on stand-by uses quite a lot of power. I’m thinking about getting one of these monitors installed.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Yeah, you’re right – just internalize the externalities and increase dirty energy by, say, 200%, to pay off those who are suffering from it here and around the world and into the future for, say, 10,000 years…

That ought to do the trick. People just don’t have the spine to do the really right things.

Cite a responsible scientific source demonstrating that coal fired power has killed anyone in the U.S. Not some opinion piece, please. Actual statistics and demonstration of cause/effect relationships.

Then, please cite a responsible scientific source demonstrating that reducing energy use in the U.S. will have a worldwide effect on the environment.

Until you do that, none of the above assertions can be regarded as anything but ideological emotionalism.

 

[lynnvinc]

Cite a responsible scientific source demonstrating that coal fired power has killed anyone in the U.S. Not some opinion piece, please. Actual statistics and demonstration of cause/effect relationships.

Then, please cite a responsible scientific source demonstrating that reducing energy use in the U.S. will have a worldwide effect on the environment.

Until you do that, none of the above assertions can be regarded as anything but ideological emotionalism.

Why don’t you look it up yourself. I’ve been studying these things for years & am pinched for time & don’t have time right now to get my sources (plus we had a flood in our home so things are scattered in boxes).

It’s quite common knowledge that acid rain from N2O and SO2 turning in to nitric and sulfuric acid harms lakes, soil, forests, property and lungs. It’s quite common knowledge that local air pollution from coal burning and ICE vehicle driving causes health problems. And then there is the issue of global warming impacts and harms.

I’ll get the sources when I have more time…maybe in a few weeks.

If we cannot keep our own pollution that we cause within our cubicle of airspace that belongs to us and choke on it ourselves, without harming others, then we should be ready to help those whose airspace has in part been violated by the emissions for which we are responsible. It sort of think that would be the Christian thing to do, since its even the Christian thing to help others in need who have not been harmed by us.

 

[anilorak13ska]

I’ve mentioned the interfaith organization GreenFaith before. Just thought I’d share a link to the Roman Catholic statements on the environment from the website. Our parish has initiated a 2 year certification program aiming at greening the parish and helping our community. We are supposedly the first Catholic church in Virginia to take on this initiative. I hope that it gains ground soon.

greenfaith.org/religious-teachings/christian-statements-on-the-environment/catholic-
statements-on-the-environment

 

[Ridgerunner]

Why don’t you look it up yourself. I’ve been studying these things for years & am pinched for time & don’t have time right now to get my sources (plus we had a flood in our home so things are scattered in boxes).

It’s quite common knowledge that acid rain from N2O and SO2 turning in to nitric and sulfuric acid harms lakes, soil, forests, property and lungs. It’s quite common knowledge that local air pollution from coal burning and ICE vehicle driving causes health problems. And then there is the issue of global warming impacts and harms.

I’ll get the sources when I have more time…maybe in a few weeks.

If we cannot keep our own pollution that we cause within our cubicle of airspace that belongs to us and choke on it ourselves, without harming others, then we should be ready to help those whose airspace has in part been violated by the emissions for which we are responsible. It sort of think that would be the Christian thing to do, since its even the Christian thing to help others in need who have not been harmed by us.

Possibly I can be of help here, because I have looked it up.

I have looked online quite a bit at those sites which claim that people are sickened or killed by coal emissions. Every one I have seen is adamant that coal emissions cause cancer, allergies, asthma, etc, and give numbers that vary widely as to the casualties.

But not one purports to fill in the blank between “coal emissions exist” and “X number of people have asthma”, for example. They just leap from the one to the other. I grant it would be tough to do really sound research on the subject. Lots of people have, for example, reactive airway disease. It does take very careful provocative testing, however, to know exactly what those people are reactive to.

If, for instance, we look at a city the electricity for which is coal-generated, and find that there are “X” number of people with asthma. We really can’t leap from “coal generated” to “asthma” simply because the two are observable. It has been discussed here before that reactive airway disease can be caused or triggered by a significant array of things, some of them very widespread. Our homes are full of chemicals, out-gassing plastic, paint and sheet rock. We bathe ourselves in perfumes of all sorts. We spray our yards with 2-4D to make them green and pretty, then throw it into the air when we mow our lawns.

But the difficulty does not excuse drawing conclusions by “leap of faith”, particularly when those conclusions can lead to imposition of severe hardships on people generally.

Parenthetically, N2O is mostly produced by nature. Among human sources, far and away the biggest source is the use of fertilizer in agriculture. Stationary combustion sources are only about 6% of that which is produced by fertilizing fields and not much greater than the N2O produced by forests.

And, of course SO2 in rain is neutralized by limestone substrata. Its main source is volcanic activity, but other significant causes are biological decay and forest fires. Among the man-made sources, fuel burning is the greatest, but not the only, cause.

 

[lynnvinc]

I’ve mentioned the interfaith organization GreenFaith before. Just thought I’d share a link to the Roman Catholic statements on the environment from the website. Our parish has initiated a 2 year certification program aiming at greening the parish and helping our community. We are supposedly the first Catholic church in Virginia to take on this initiative. I hope that it gains ground soon.

greenfaith.org/religious-teachings/christian-statements-on-the-environment/catholic-
statements-on-the-environment

That’s really great.

Here’s another important Catholic statement:
usccb.org/issues-and-action/human-life-and-dignity/environment/global-climate-change-a-plea-for-dialogue-prudence-and-the-common-good.cfm

 

[tomarin]

Possibly I can be of help here, because I have looked it up.

I have looked online quite a bit at those sites which claim that people are sickened or killed by coal emissions. Every one I have seen is adamant that coal emissions cause cancer, allergies, asthma, etc, and give numbers that vary widely as to the casualties.

But not one purports to fill in the blank between “coal emissions exist” and “X number of people have asthma”, for example. They just leap from the one to the other.

(shortened by Tomarin)

Interesting post, RR. I’ll have to take a look at this.