The world can always use another profile of Amory Lovins -- here's one in The Economist. (Check out the nuke boosters in comments -- man, those guys are like spurned lovers. Let it go already.)
My skepticism about Lovins' rosy predictions is captured here:
Fine, but what about the specific criticism that any coming oil-price crash will completely undermine all efforts at forging a clean-energy revolution? ... Mr Lovins thinks that will not happen again, thanks to two forces reshaping energy that even a price crash would not wipe out: the need to deal with climate change and the energy-security concerns of a post-September 11th 2001 world.
The thing to note is that neither climate change or energy security militate directly for the kinds of solutions greens want. Green solutions are among the range of possible responses -- others including military adventurism, blunting the suffering of the poor via jingoistic nationalism and xenophobia, bunkering the rich into secure redoubts, and exploiting the resources of weaker countries.
Climate change and energy vulnerability will put the U.S. under stress. Perhaps that stress will open the establishment's eyes to the wisdom of resource efficiency and distributed energy generation. But I'm not as sanguine about that prediction as Lovins.
‘Heretic’ battles straw man
Do we need nuclear and coal plants for baseload power?
Comments
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Russ Posted 1:05 am
10 Sep 2008
But even though America has needed to deal with both of these problems for a long time now, it has not done so.
Unfortunately, as we see all the time at every level from the individual to the species, just because someone needs to do something is no guarantee he will do it. Failure is always an option. So Lovins is operating from the point of view of a desired outcome, not a certain one.
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amazingdrx Posted 1:34 am
10 Sep 2008
Without cheaper renewable energy, one dollar per gallon equivalent mileage to gasline, forget economic recovery.
OPEC's response to "drill, drill, drill"? They just cut production. We see how that strategery will work.
So even without GHG climate disaster consideredm renewable electricity is economicallty necessary.
Meanwhile the "lipsticked" one has just repeated her chef lie, along with all the others.
http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog John Schneider, Northern Wisconsin
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David Bradish Posted 2:13 am
10 Sep 2008
The only way we'll let it go is when he lets it go.
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sunflower Posted 3:53 am
10 Sep 2008
World changing technologies need long-term commitments and stable political support.
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Moira Posted 1:25 am
11 Sep 2008
The sooner decision makers wake up and understand we can't wait for the oil production peak to get serious, the sooner we can move beyond oil for good. For a science-based explanation of why oil prices can't fall far, the new peak model is here: www.evolvingenergyuse.com
-Moira
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