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<\/a>All eyes on Cancun<\/p><\/div>\n
At a slightly lower level the December 2010 issue of the Atlantic carries the lead article \u201cWhy the future of clean energy is dirty coal\u201d<\/a> by James Fallows. \u00a0The title sets my teeth on edge (as it is intended to), but the article is a persuasive analysis and argument. \u00a0\u00a0The key points that struck me:<\/p>\n The Atlantic - December 2010<\/p><\/div>\n Fallows refers to David MacKay\u2019s \u201cSustainable Energy- Without the Hot Air\u201d<\/a>, which I cite a number of times on these pages.\u00a0 While I very much endorse MacKay\u2019s approach and findings, the specifics are for the UK.\u00a0 Sometimes that makes the problem seem even larger than it is for a sun-rich country like the US.\u00a0 Fallows quotes some UK statistics like \u201cif the windiest 10% of the entire British landmass were completely covered with wind turbines, they would produce power roughly equivalent to half of what Britons expend merely by driving to work each day\u201d.\u00a0 But without doing the math (something that Mackay urges continually) we can\u2019t know how this applies to another country.<\/p>\n The MacKay approach has been used by Dr. Peter Seligman of the University of Melbourne to generate an Australian specific version<\/a>, and it should really be done for the US as well. [Would anyone like to sponsor my sabbatical?] Although this book by Ted Trainer<\/a> may get close \u2013 more comment once I have read it (It is available to read online).<\/p>\n If wading through Mackay is too much here is a BBC interview he gave in 2009<\/a>. <\/a><\/p>\n BBC<\/p><\/div>\n By the way, and so I keep an even approach, in the same Atlantic edition and as a sort of footnote to the Fallows article is a piece by Andrew D. Blechman<\/a> on the use of very dirty brown coal in Germany.\u00a0 That part of the German energy story is usually hidden.<\/p>\n The lack of any significant energy planning or legislation is just one example of the current impasse in the US government.<\/p>\n Which brings us to our practical level back in New Jersey;\u00a0 we are busy bringing the year to an end.\u00a0 Energy audits, quality control test-outs and the masses of the behind the scenes data entry and government paper work are keeping me busy.\u00a0 The installers are scrambling to finish installations, of boilers, furnaces, and insulation before the end of the year.\u00a0 And we don\u2019t know what the incentives situation will be like come January 1.\u00a0 Wouldn\u2019t it be nice to have some certainty!\u00a0 Even energy executives in the US would welcome a climate bill to provide a predictable future.<\/p>\n Among all that dead-lock individuals are doing their bit.\u00a0 I meet people every week who really want to improve the efficiency of their homes, to save money, gain comfort \u2013 but also because they feel they need to do something to get ahead of the game.<\/p>\n In the November 2010 of the Journal of Light Construction<\/a> David Pill writes an article on building a \u201cnet zero\u201d house in Vermont \u2013 not the warmest state \u2013 using relatively standard building methods, but with spray foam everywhere.\u00a0 A heat recovery ventilator<\/a> is of course necessary in such a tight house.\u00a0 Energy comes from a wind turbine, and from the grid when required.\u00a0 Heating is radiant from a ground source heat pump.\u00a0 The author claims that construction costs are comparable to custom construction homes in the area.\u00a0 As usual there is argument about that claim, and it really is very difficult to compare.\u00a0 One would have to specify identical houses, with the same level of fit-out, especially in kitchens and bath rooms to make a comparison.\u00a0 Some of the comments are on the JLC site.\u00a0 [There is a fee to see full \u00a0JLC articles online]<\/p>\n Let’s hope for a more energy active 2011.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Individual action on the ground, but inaction at the top<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-728","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/energyrealist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/728","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/energyrealist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/energyrealist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/energyrealist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/energyrealist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=728"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/energyrealist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/728\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":736,"href":"https:\/\/energyrealist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/728\/revisions\/736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/energyrealist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/energyrealist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/energyrealist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/energyrealist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/Atlantic-magazine-clean-coal.jpg\" "\\"Atlantic")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/energyrealist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/not-possible-182x300.png\" "\\"not")
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<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/energyrealist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/german-drown-coal.jpg\" "\\"Industry")
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