Better Living Through Chemistry

Guest post by Man of American Dissent

After having seen the film "An Inconvenient Truth", I came to the conclusion that I really needed to get some perspective on the issues at hand, especially with regard to fossil fuels. Lucky for me I found my salvation on TV with a 30 second spot produced by America’s Oil and Natural Gas Industry (API) which directs the viewer to their *cough* facts *cough* on fuel website.

What a lot of foresight and planning these folks have done! Their website offers all the information about energy that one could ever possibly hope for. Consider the following slide from a link I stumbled upon at their site. EnergyRealism.org. They sound like they must be part of the reality based community.



I got to thinking about what they were saying.

Fertilization Effect. It must be good. We all want to live in a rich and fertile environment, right? Or is it remotely possibly that they are full of shit?

Moderately warmer and Moderately wetter. All things are good in moderation, no? I guess I’ll have to get the book to find out exactly what they mean.

Reduced diurnal cycle. I suppose that artificially modifying the daily cycle of temperature increase and decrease could be beneficial. Here’s to the efficiency of modernization!

Greater Wealth. Hmm…I just can’t seem to figure out how this one works. The more energy prices go up the less $$$ I seem to have in my poor-tfolio. I guess I shouldn’t pay much attention to that though.

Enough about that stuff. “Facts” on fuel has a full report on energy. They almost talk a good game in some spots, with statements like they’re “investing in alternatives” and “…there is substantial activity in end-use and non-hydrocarbon techonologies. These applications will play a growing and important role in the future, an energy cornucopia that promises a new chapter in the history of the energy industry”. I must however confess that I’m looking to buy some lovely riverfront property in Brooklyn. Can you guys help me out here?

One of the most striking elements of the report is in the forecast of US energy demand with data from 2004 and projections for 2030 factoring in 34% growth. There’s a nice pie chart and it breaks down as follows:


__________2004____2030 Outlook_____________

Oil..................40%................40%
Gas..................23%................21%
Coal.................23%................26%
Nuclear..............8%..................7%
Renewables........6%..................7%



I guess we know what the results of Dick Cheney’s secret energy task force meetings are. It would probably make sense to just go ahead and drop the frivolous lawsuits around that. Based on these numbers, if we’re only going to see a 1% increase in the use of renewable energy combined with a reduction in our output of Greenhouse gases, serious trouble is ahead. This video really highlights what these guys are thinking.




Carbon Dioxide is certainly an important part of the cycle of life, but it's obvious that the Petroleum Industry has no intention of changing the status quo. Excessive greenhouse gas emissions are just fine, natural gas and synthetic gas are what's on tap to provide our energy. Just more of the same. They get rich while the rest of us choke on it. The CATO institute says it nicely in their Renewable Energy Not Cheap, Not “Green” report alternative energy sources, wind in this passage are "competing against improving technologies and the increasing abundance of natural resources". Increasing abundance of natural resources? How’s that even possible with depletable energy sources? EnergyRealism.org has a "Functional Theory" that should put any of those concerns to rest.

In his film, Al Gore says that we are about to enter an age of consequences. What will our response be? We are up against a powerful and well organized establishment that is (obviously) not about to let the way they do business be changed in any way. We need to take every action we can, no matter how small. Recently my wife and I bought a new (to us) car that we will be running on B100 Biodiesel. I bicycle to and from work every day. We've switched every lightbulb we can to compact flourescents and our appliances are energy efficient. We're teaching our children to be responsible with the energy that they use. If we all put a drop into the bucket it will get full.