KenG’s Recent Comments

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  Computers

  If you have a car less than 20 years old it is computer dependent. Surprisingly few are stranded by the side of the road. It is unlikely that any car, gasoline or electric powered, will be built in the future without almost complete computer control.On Ford starts marketing campaign to emphasize fuel economy in new hybrid posted 8 months ago 9 Responses

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  Look in the Mirror

  Randy C's argument contains value, but I think it is equally valid in reverse. Environmental groups also delay (increase costs and cause projects to be canceled), shout down oppponents (the science is decided, study only our side) and fog the arguments (what about the children). This is spin, this politics and all sides practice it.

  Citing Rachel Carson is ironic since she kicked off an over-reaction on use of DDT and indirectly caused millions of deaths from Malaria.

  Lomberg is a gadfly, but he is not a "denier". He raises valid questions about how we spend resources and what the final result is. I constantly see posts on Grist that indicate that global warming is inevitable without action that appears to be completely impossible on a global scale. If that's true, what option is there but Lombergs approach of dealing with it in the most cost effective way? Keep in mind that Lomberg is an economist and doesn't pretend to be a climate scientist and (at least when he isn't in front of the camera) he is approaching this as an economic/political issue, not a science/technical issue. On Gore declines to debate Lomborg posted 8 months ago 11 Responses

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  Paying the Federal Government

  There is some real life experience that may shed some light on why companies might be hesitant to pay the Federal Government to do inspections. The nuclear industry is required by law to reimburse the NRC for the time spent on review, inspection and regulation. In 2007, NRC time was billed at $258 per hour. If you have the option, you will obviously hire your own inspectors.On Who put the food companies in charge of food safety? We did. posted 8 months ago 6 Responses

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  Incentives

  Any incentive to reduce electricity use is going to have to be artificial or regulation based. The bottom line is that electricity is so cheap that there is no inherent economic incentive to conserve. If you separate the electric cost into the true cost components of generation, transmission and distribution and administrative overhead, the cost of generation is low enough that most conservation efforts don't provide much payback. For most consumers the current effective incremental cost per kilowatt is actually several times higher than the incremental cost to provide the electricity. Without adding some artificial or external cost, the true economics give the utility a strong incentive to generate more and the consumer no significant incentive to conserve.On Why the much-ballyhooed utility decoupling is inadequate posted 10 months, 3 weeks ago 16 Responses

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  What Does It Mean?

  The inclusion of the delay in carbon impact is cute, but does it have any real meaning? Only if you think there is a single solution to the CO2 issue. No single technology can substitute for existing carbon emitters. No single technology or combination of technologies can replace coal/gas/oil in the upcoming 5, 10 or 20 years. As a result, penalizing technologies that take longer to implement is a very artificial way to bias the evaluation.

  Also, the lifetime assumptions are suspect. Current US nuclear plants are almost all going to operate for 60 years and the next generation are expected to operate for 80 years, rather than the 40 years assumed. Wind lifetime is hard to evaluate. The turbines will probably be limited to 20 years or less but the foundations (a significant part of the CO2 footprint) may be able to be reused and last 100 years.

  I haven't had time to fully read the paper, but I think the uncertainty on the evaluation is very large.On They all crush 'clean coal': Stanford study, part 1 posted 10 months, 3 weeks ago 8 Responses