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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Neocon who wrote (153150)	12/1/2004 6:01:43 PM
From: one_less	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 281500

She used the example of a Hum Vee. She said you can have your Hum Vee equiped with a 20 mile electic motor that would get most people where they want to go on a daily basis in the most desirable ride and you can equip it with a back up fuel cell engine for further travel. You can do all this right now. We are not ready to go to that expense but the technology is available. Aint gonna happen until the pressure is on. Her point was that if we wait too long it may not be a smooth transition.

To: Neocon who wrote (153150)	12/1/2004 7:02:56 PM
From: Michael Watkins	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Setting a decent pace for independence would be a good idea. I am not sure about a 15 year time frame, but there is already a shift to increased use of natural gas and coal, and nuclear designs have improved safety and made further investment more likely, so we may make more rapid progress than I would have guessed. Keep in mind that 60% of oil is used for transportation. The reason there is a push to these other fuels is because of scarcity and capacity. There is also another more mercenary reason - because these other resources are there, and because unbridled capitalism remains. In the case of coal, we are overlooking one problem for another. Clean coal is oxymoronic in the extreme. In the case of nuclear, there remain many issues. Perhaps these problems can be addressed, but the telling thing, for me at least, is that virtually no effort is being focussed on reducing consumption. When I see someone providing leadership on reduction and efficiency, then I will believe there are responsible adults in charge, not before. In the meantime, domestic production continues to go down, and foreign imports go up. Capacity utilization in the energy production and delivery system is close to extremes, even as consumption continues to trend up. Since capacity can't be turned on overnight, something will have to give and it isn't a 15 year time span we will have to make change happen, so I rather think change will be forced upon us all. By who or what remains to be seen.