[Popsyche]

While reading Chris's Orson Scott Card essay about J/K Rowling in the Rhinotimes, this article came up, which has some pretty strong views in it about the nice folks here in the USA.

Please discuss!

Cars or Starvation? : Welcome to Rhinotimes.com Greensboro

[noodles]

Why are we subsidizing the useless ethanol system? Politics. Congresswights from the ethanol-growing states are behind the program because it means immediate cash to farmers and voters in their states. Shame on them for starving people in other countries just for the sake of fat-cat contributions and votes. Do they really think their continuation in office is worth the death of a single child in Bangladesh?

I wish the panel at presidential debates would ask questions phrased this way.

"Senator McCain, you have labeled yourself 'Mr. Straight Talk'. Having said that, do you think it is a good policy decision to starve to death children in third world countries for the sole purpose of creating profit for corporate farms and votes for Congressmen in the largely Republican agricultural states?"

Global warming – or, I should say, climate change? A phony, a bugbear exploited by cynical liars like Al Gore for their personal benefit.

The coming collapse in oil? This is one that is visible, obvious, provable.

Our presidential candidates are all claiming that they'll adopt genuinely harmful, stupid, unfair and ineffective treaties like Kyoto to solve the nonproblem of carbon emissions.

There is where he just lost me. For all the research he did, one would think he might have come across CO2 levels, rising global temperatures, retreating glaciers, nude mountain tops, and shrinking polar ice caps.

[Popsyche]

Originally Posted by noodles

I wish the panel at presidential debates would ask questions phrased this way.

"Senator McCain, you have labeled yourself 'Mr. Straight Talk'. Having said that, do you think it is a good policy decision to starve to death children in third world countries for the sole purpose of creating profit for corporate farms and votes for Congressmen in the largely Republican agricultural states?"



There is where he just lost me. For all the research he did, one would think he might have come across CO2 levels, rising global temperatures, retreating glaciers, nude mountain tops, and shrinking polar ice caps.

I figured this would happen. He creates some divergent opinions here. Thanks for chiming in!

[noodles]

Originally Posted by Popsyche

I figured this would happen. He creates some divergent opinions here. Thanks for chiming in!

Oh, I've know this about him for a while. Sometimes, I see his Mormon background creep into his writing. He has a lot of opinions I don't agree with. I'm just amazed to see someone who hates oil, despises Republicans, thinks farm subsidies are stupid, disagrees with ethanol, and is horrified by poverty and starvation in the third world, yet thinks global warming is a myth. It completely surprised me, I went back and read it three or four more times.

[dpm]

^ that part was just bizarre to read. Even if you accept climatic change as being a natural phenomenon, which it is, there is no doubt we are accelerating the process.

I'm also wary of nuclear solutions. Take Australia for example, we've got a massive coastline (tidal power), a huge amount of sunlight, and ridiculous amounts of essentially barren land (geothermal, wind, solar, whatever). I'd like to see a legal requirement for all new buildings to have a minimum of solar production to start with. Those who have done so willingly are often producing excess energy beyond their needs and selling it back to the power companies.

[noodles]

Oh, I agree. I had to read the nuclear bit twice, too.

I'm of the opinion that siding and shingling need to die. We should be coating the surface of every single building with solar panels. It should just be required by law.

Why does everyone want the same brick and siding of the past? We're here, in the 21st century. I'll excuse the lack of flying cars, but I demand my futuristic, shiny buildings and electric bubble cars

[Zepp88]

Originally Posted by noodles

Oh, I agree. I had to read the nuclear bit twice, too.

I'm of the opinion that siding and shingling need to die. We should be coating the surface of every single building with solar panels. It should just be required by law.

Why does everyone want the same brick and siding of the past? We're here, in the 21st century. I'll excuse the lack of flying cars, but I demand my futuristic, shiny buildings and electric bubble cars

I prefer stone built houses (not brick, fucking stones and timbers! ) ....but...covering the roof with solar panels would be cool.

[dpm]

Right on. Another point here - compulsory, and potentially government subsidised, solar panels on domestic dwellings would lead to more rapid development of the technology, increased efficiency etc.

You know what really makes me scratch my head (apart from headlice )? Why aren't the oil and coal companies with their endless budgets pumping it into the renewable energy technologies? They know the end is inevitable, why not corner the market in it's infancy?

[Bound]

Originally Posted by noodles

Oh, I agree. I had to read the nuclear bit twice, too.

I'm of the opinion that siding and shingling need to die. We should be coating the surface of every single building with solar panels. It should just be required by law.

Why does everyone want the same brick and siding of the past? We're here, in the 21st century. I'll excuse the lack of flying cars, but I demand my futuristic, shiny buildings and electric bubble cars

In my area we've actually been involved in a lot of energy efficient home projects. All you have is an electric bill. That and now that modern electrical controls can properly manage the systems well, they're now becoming practicle. Plus with the poor housing market, well drilling companies are desperate for work. No problems getting some cheep wells drilled. Now if you can kill your electric bill, you're all but self-reliant.

I just finished wiring a 12 unit condo complex which is essentially built out of high R value foam legos. That's right, they're pretty much legos. You stack em together and pour concrete in them. That coupled with high efficiency gas boilers I think peak energy costs per unit will run around $40 month for a 1100 sq ft unit

My boss also builds houses and the last 5 he put up have gone through a high efficiency changeover. We've abandoned conventional insulation and adopted spray foam, which has twice the insulation factor. That coupled with new high efficiency gas boilers brings peak energy costs to $53 a month for a 3000 sq foot house. That's more than half of what it costs to heat my 1000sq foot apartment.

We're doing a geothermal system for the next one.

You're going to see more and more geothermal coupled with photovoltaic's. Especially here in Mass. The government here has a compensation package for people who install arrays. I think they'll reimburse up to 30% of the initial install price. Plus if you install arrays which are capable of backfeeding the local electrical grid, and your systems yields enough output, your entitled to compensation from the electric company.

Plus most of this stuff is modular now, so you can add in 5000w panel banks as you can afford it. Pretty neat.

Don't look for your government to help us our. But we're certainly going to use what we have at our disposal to help kick this sucker off.

Plus- the more these building applications become the norm, the more available and affordable it will all be.

[dpm]

^ that, sir, is fucking awesome