"The tree of cost/benefit probably goes deeper and broader than first meets the eye."
Along the same line of thought: How much additional residential sprawl or other dislocation-driven construction of new homes is driven by the ability of new homeowners to work at home, thus allowing for a comfortable degree of separation between home and urban centers? When this occurs, what is the energy penalty in terms of manufacturing and processing the materials needed to build those new homes and the civil construction projects needed to support them? To drive to and from them during non-working hours? The foregoing may seem a bit off the wall; it did to me. But, I recall seeing a compelling economic impact assessment after Katrina that cited these and other energy concerns, if not for identical, then for similar reasons, each coming from a scenario with similar dynamics. Of course, FEMA elected to acquire thousands of trailer homes costing $34,500 each that were never used, but that's another story, entirely. Except, of course, for the energy that it took to produce and transport the 10,000 units (of the $860 million total) that now appear to have found their final place of vegetation on an airfield in Arkansas. Not to conflate threads, but I'm sure that someone made his or her "numbers" in the making of that deal, too ;) |
