Manufacture of renewable energy generation systems, not just for a few
countries, but for the world, is a colossal opportunity.
In certain countries such as India and Africa, small, self-contained
systems, such as for pumping irrigation water, or powering comfort fans,
can work wonders. For countries such as the US and Canada, renewable power
such as solar energy is quite inadequate. Power sources such as small
hydro, where to some extent the power output is consistent, is attractive,
as is biomass to some extent. But in order to capitalize on biomass, there
have to be some logistical structures in place.
P.
At 02:37 PM 3/15/2006 -0500, you wrote:
Horace Heffner wrote:
With the right policies we can have have economic activity like never
before - and all to the good side. Vehicle replacement with energy
efficient vehicles is a huge economic opportunity.
I disagree. This will only call for the construction of some production
lines, which is not a big deal. The cars will be replaced as the old ones
wear out, which means there will be no increase or decrease in economic
activity.
Building a new energy infrastructure is a huge opportunity . . .
This would be expensive! And worth it, we hope.
. . . especially in housing tetrofits.
Not such a big deal. In the U.S. $1,000 per house would do wonders.
$10,000 per house would improve that by much.
Manufacture of renewable energy generation systems, not just for a few
countries, but for the world, is a colossal opportunity.
Yes indeed! CF, on the other hand, would cost less than nothing, and CF
all by itself would only reduce economic activity, not increase it. If we
end up consuming the same amount of energy with the same set of machines,
we reduce the world economy by $2.8 trillion per year, and add nothing.
That outcome seems unlikely to me. The money people save is likely to go
somewhere else instead.
- Jed
