I'm on a conference call, listening to Jeff Immelt, CEO of GE, chat with Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, about energy.
I don't have a recording, but I tell you, Immelt sounds more and more like a standard greenie -- he's stumping for a national RPS, 10-year extension of renewable tax credits, and a price on carbon. And he keeps insisting that it's not particularly political. "Energy is easy," he says.
Then again, Al Gore (who apparently is also in the room) asked him directly about what's blocking this stuff in Congress, and he basically dodged. "Partisanship," blah blah.
There's a word, Jeff. It starts with an R. Try saying it!
Also, Immelt says if he had to list the first five things he'd invest in, it would be: renewables first, power storage second, natural gas third, big baseload like clean coal fourth, and conservation fifth. Flip that last one up to first, and you could do worse.
Making buildings more efficient: rationalizing retrofit markets
Making buildings more efficient: looking beyond price
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Russ Posted 6:29 am
17 Sep 2008
Then again, Al Gore (who apparently is also in the room) asked him directly about what's blocking this stuff in Congress, and he basically dodged. "Partisanship," blah blah.
There's a word, Jeff. It starts with an R. Try saying it!
It shouldn't be political (Hansen has been saying the same thing).
But the Reps politicize this for the same reason they politicize everything else: by now all they represent, all they are, is greed, violence, and nihilism. Burn Baby Burn.
So the only way they can win elections is by turning everything into a political wedge issue. Everything is directly part of or adjunct to the culture wars.
Thus drilling and AGW holocaust denial have a richer significance than being "just" energy or environmental issues. They go to the core of a furious, mindless, really childish reaction to the end of this fat, arrogant, globally belligerent way of life their kind has become so used to. This is "reaction" in its purest form.
So nothing will be dealt with on its merits. Otherwise we'd long ago have shifted to a renewables-based grid and electrified mass transit as the energy/transportation base, and installed a rigorous carbon price, which by now we'd hardly even need.
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GreyFlcn Posted 8:51 am
17 Sep 2008
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And then slapped a CO2 point-of-wholesale surcharge on Coal, Oil, and Natural gas.
And then be done with it.
No reason to make it a logistical nightmare, fraught with corruption, and needed oversight.
-David Ahlport
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cheflovesbeer Posted 4:07 am
18 Sep 2008
Wait, I have it they could buy a network to spread the news. Or better yet they could use the two cable networks they already own(CNBC,MSNBC) to push for more renewable energy tax credits. Plus they own NBC.
What is the purpose of owning the media if you are not going to work for your bottom line?
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