21 Century Energy or Business As Usual? - By Larry Furman
Lawrence J. Furman, earned his MBA in Managing for Sustainability at Marlboro College, writes on energy, sustainability, and systems dynamics.
21 Century Energy or Business As Usual?
NY Times Special (Business As Usual) Energy Section
Clifford Krauss’ “Can We Do Without the Mideast?” sets the tone for the “Special Energy Section” in the NY Times, March 31, 2011. “The path to independence – or at least an end to dependence on the Mideast – could well be dirty, expensive and politically explosive.” Or maybe the section is an April Fool’s Day joke?
There is an article about the demand for new nuclear power installations in “China, India and other regions” (like Pakistan and Iran). Matt Wald’s article about carbon sequestration suggests that it is far from proven technology, but we know it will be expensive. This is not news. While there are ads for renewable energy, one by an oil company, the other by Scotland, there are no articles about wind, solar, hydro, including small hydro and marine, geothermal, and the negawatt virtual turbines of conservation and efficiency.
Krauss cites President Nixon and the 1973-74 Arab oil embargo, President Carter “calling an effort to reduce our dependency on foreign oil “the moral equivalent of war,” President G. W. Bush, Krauss said “called oil an addiction.” And President Obama said, “We cannot keep going from shock when gas prices go up to trance when prices go back down.”
