Energy Matters

"It's All Part of the Plan"

In the recent movie, The Dark Knight, the Joker explains that people don't care about certain things if "it's all part of the plan" of society. If cops, gangsters, or soldiers die, it's not a big deal since they are the people we expect to, but when civilians die it's news and we as society freak. He says that even if the plan is nuts, we are happy because at least we have one. This statement (along with his comment that gasoline is cheap) got me thinking about our global energy situation....because that's what I do.

T. Boon decides to invest in wind, and this becomes news. He said he did it because he is a businessman who likes making money and that the big money is going to be in wind power. But since massive investment into renewables is not the current paradigm, since it's not part of the plan, it's news.

But the paradigm is shifting. Efforts to open more places to drill in the US has become news which means its controversial and that is good.  The more society pauses to think about our energy policy, the better chance we have in doing the right thing.

Soon the plan will change. Especially if we adopt Al Gore's new 10 year plan of powering our nation using entirely renewable methods in 10 years (reminds me of another decade plan). Once our paradigm has shifted, new solar plants or wind farms won't be news worthy, except as small articles saying that all is going according to plan.

Then, most of the steps our society will take will be in the right direction. Now we are slowly orienting ourselves that way, taking two steps forward and one step back (establishing RE subsidies and letting them expire). But at least it is better than it was when every step our nation took was one to higher fossil fuel reliance and more environmental degradation.

We are at a point in American Society when we are transitioning from plan to plan. We are on the cusp of a paradigm shift if only we embrace the opportunity. We could stay the course, ignoring all market and environmental signals and go drill for oil anywhere and everywhere we can. Or we could change the plan and solve our fossil fuel addiction.

As the Joker (and the Washington Post) pointed out, things have changed and we can not go back to the way things were. Now we must ask ourselves what kind of a future we want and we must be bold and daring enough to dream of a brighter, healthier, and better future.

Politicians can offer us positive change and help lead us into this bright future, but no one person can bring us there. It must be a collective effort so I will not say that I Believe in Harvey Dent Barrack Obama, but I might be willing to admit that I Believe in The American People.

Is Energy Efficiency Fundamentally Good?

What if Global Warming didn't exist? What if oil and natural gas were renewable resources? What if there wasn't an energy crisis and what is the price per barrel of oil was perpetually $20? What if it didn't matter if you left you SUV idling for over 3 minutes or left the lights on when you left the room? Would it still be important to try to use less energy? Should we strive to be more energy efficient for its own purposes, or just as it affects the environment and our bottom line?

If we could save car-dependent suburbia, should we?

Is gluttony a sin because of scarcity or are their other reasons?
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I think energy efficiency should be pursued in these scenarios as there are other benefits that financial and environmental. One is health. America's car culture has contributed to our obesity problems. Cheap oil has allowed us to be very wasteful, but the human body is not designed to take in so much excess "energy". Cheap oil has allowed our calorie intake to rise and the calorie expenditure to fall resulting in weight gain and the problems attached to that.

Another advantage of energy efficiency is that it makes some things logistically easier. If a jet plane wasn't as energy efficient as it could be, it would require a lot of fuel which requires more space and fueling time which would make flying an even less enjoyable experience. Also, if generators were less efficient they would require more frequent fill ups. This might not be a big issue for campers or hospitals in the States who use the generators as back up, but this is a huge issue for the military. This is an issue because each time a fuel truck has to go to some remote base, it is a target. It is a target and thus requires a convoy to go with it (which in turn need more oil)*. So in this case, energy efficiency can save lives.

A third reason it could be good is for aesthetics. Waste can be very very ugly. Whether its landfills, oil spills or this guy from Monty Python's Meaning of Life (who eventually explodes from overeating), waste and gluttony can be hard to watch.

And a fourth reason is that by being efficient you can save time. For a very detailed book on the importance and the value of saving time (and a few other things), check out Cheaper By the Dozen.   

Maybe it is the profound impact that Frank Gilbreth had on my life, but I think that ignoring costs and climatic affects, energy efficiency should be actively pursued. But since we can't ignore Global Warming and Hubbert's Peak energy efficiency should be sought with the fervor of Mr. Gilbreth.

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*It's sort of like how China's increased coal use is driving its demand for oil higher. This is because coal is mainly trucked in China and not transported by freight train, and so the higher the demand is for coal the higher the demand will be for trucks and thus oil. The Chinese central government could slow that oil demand growth by encouraging trucks to become more aerodynamic.