Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post

shakran · 07-01-2009, 07:39 AM

Yeah, actually, I did read it.

There are parts I like, and parts I don't.

I'm pleased to see that electrical generation units, as the bill calls them (EGU's, otherwise known as power plants) are going to be required to recapture a large percentage of their carbon emissions. I'm not only thinking of my wallet next year, but of my health when I'm 70.

I'm equally pleased to see that there will be a push toward making utilities figure out how to use renewable energy sources to generate their power. This is, however, going to require some citizen involvement, else the utilities might just try to raise rates without actually making any changes to their power generation strategy. It's going to put them between a rock and a hard place, really, because they either have to build new plants which run on renewable energy, a cost which would be passed on to consumers, or they have to raise rates to cover the energy credits, which would also be passed on.

That said, we've been frolicking with cheap energy for more than 2 centuries. The bill is going to come due at some point, and the longer we wait, the more that bill is going to cost. Those who advocate leaving things as they are are advocating a strategy of "wait until the coal or oil runs out, and then panic while the country is plunged into darkness until someone brings online technologies that we should have been investing in years ago." That's not really the sort of long term energy plan that I think is particularly intelligent. We have to switch some time, and the longer we wait the more it's going to cost us, so we might as well start now, while we still have a little time to move at a rational pace rather than having to fast-track it.

I'm not terribly thrilled about the biofuel requirements for vehicles. I think ethanol is a giant scam that cannot work unless we intend to tear down every building in the country, plant all of the land with corn, and then find a landmass that's half the size of the country and plant it with corn too. Burning our food is not the future for energy, no matter how much the corn farmers want you to believe it is so they can sell more corn.

As far as the "zomg they're gonna make us spend tons of money to retrofit our houses," well, that's just a bunch of fearmongering from the talking heads.

The actual program will work somewhat like efficiency incentive programs work now. As it stands now, if you replace your windows or your water heater with something that meets certain energy efficiency standards, you can get a rebate from the government. This program will work very similarly.

Under the program, you can get a free energy audit of your house. The audit will give you a list of things to do to achieve a 10 percent energy use reduction, and to achieve a 20 percent energy use reduction. If you follow the 10% prescription, you get $1,000. Follow the 20%, you get $2,000. And if the 20% reduction recommendations that you followed actually achieve a 20% energy use reduction, they'll give you an extra grand. Further, you get $1,000 for every 5% reduction you pull off beyond the 20%, up to half of the cost of retrofitting the building.

After doing all that, if you decide to take steps to reduce your water use as well through more efficient appliances (like showers and toilets) you will get up to $1,200 to help you with that.

You are not required to do any of this, but if you do, you'll get some cash to help you out.

Not quite as scary as Hannity would have you believe, is it?

07-01-2009, 07:39 AM	#50 (permalink)
shakran Tone.	Yeah, actually, I did read it. There are parts I like, and parts I don't. I'm pleased to see that electrical generation units, as the bill calls them (EGU's, otherwise known as power plants) are going to be required to recapture a large percentage of their carbon emissions. I'm not only thinking of my wallet next year, but of my health when I'm 70. I'm equally pleased to see that there will be a push toward making utilities figure out how to use renewable energy sources to generate their power. This is, however, going to require some citizen involvement, else the utilities might just try to raise rates without actually making any changes to their power generation strategy. It's going to put them between a rock and a hard place, really, because they either have to build new plants which run on renewable energy, a cost which would be passed on to consumers, or they have to raise rates to cover the energy credits, which would also be passed on. That said, we've been frolicking with cheap energy for more than 2 centuries. The bill is going to come due at some point, and the longer we wait, the more that bill is going to cost. Those who advocate leaving things as they are are advocating a strategy of "wait until the coal or oil runs out, and then panic while the country is plunged into darkness until someone brings online technologies that we should have been investing in years ago." That's not really the sort of long term energy plan that I think is particularly intelligent. We have to switch some time, and the longer we wait the more it's going to cost us, so we might as well start now, while we still have a little time to move at a rational pace rather than having to fast-track it. I'm not terribly thrilled about the biofuel requirements for vehicles. I think ethanol is a giant scam that cannot work unless we intend to tear down every building in the country, plant all of the land with corn, and then find a landmass that's half the size of the country and plant it with corn too. Burning our food is not the future for energy, no matter how much the corn farmers want you to believe it is so they can sell more corn. As far as the "zomg they're gonna make us spend tons of money to retrofit our houses," well, that's just a bunch of fearmongering from the talking heads. The actual program will work somewhat like efficiency incentive programs work now. As it stands now, if you replace your windows or your water heater with something that meets certain energy efficiency standards, you can get a rebate from the government. This program will work very similarly. Under the program, you can get a free energy audit of your house. The audit will give you a list of things to do to achieve a 10 percent energy use reduction, and to achieve a 20 percent energy use reduction. If you follow the 10% prescription, you get $1,000. Follow the 20%, you get $2,000. And if the 20% reduction recommendations that you followed actually achieve a 20% energy use reduction, they'll give you an extra grand. Further, you get $1,000 for every 5% reduction you pull off beyond the 20%, up to half of the cost of retrofitting the building. After doing all that, if you decide to take steps to reduce your water use as well through more efficient appliances (like showers and toilets) you will get up to $1,200 to help you with that. You are not required to do any of this, but if you do, you'll get some cash to help you out. Not quite as scary as Hannity would have you believe, is it?