Keeping our priorities straight

[desrt]

http://www.nbcnews.com/science/environment/justices-rule-against-epa-power-plant-mercury-limits-n383831

"The justices split 5-4 along ideological lines to rule that the Environmental Protection Agency failed to take cost into account when it first decided to regulate the toxic emissions from coal- and oil-fired plants."

Because we wouldn't want to step on the 'rights' of a corporation by putting the health of those pesky humans ahead of somebody's bottom line.

[brice1967]

Of course a 3.0 and 4.0 don't bother you.  No way is that a sign of something....

[desrt]

The sections on seismicity and geochemistry give some realistic pros and cons of local geothermal. I live within line of sight of one of these plants and 3.0 - 4.0 earthquakes don't bother me. So yay for cheap clean power. It's funny how we can frack on public lands, we're living in the middle of a man made mass extinction, but we can't tap geothermal because of extremophile bacteria. I think geothermal needs better lobbyists.

http://www.geysers.com/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Geysers



Vance:

I haven't heard that Calpine is losing any money.

http://www.calpine.com/

[Vance2335]

Cleaner energy has proven not to be so cost effective. Let I remind you of Solyndra.

[brice1967]

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/the_green_lantern/2010/10/could_yellowstone_power_my_home.html

There are some of the pros and cons of geothermal energy near Yellowstone.

I don't know of one person using this resource in the region.  Its been tried and there were obvious repercussions.  Maybe you wouldn't see them as important as the burning of fossil fuels.

[brice1967]

Yeah, geothermal.... did you ever wonder why there is a cap on the majority of geothermal hot spots?  No?  I do... kind of like the fossil fuels you hate so much.  The stuff is probably best left alone.

[el_em_en_oh]

(maybe a BIT of an exaggeration, but you get my point. Oil & Gas is everywhere, and their lobbgy is too big. They ain't goin no where)

[el_em_en_oh]

" I'll happily read a book by candlelight. You can use a hand cranked generator for your Nintendo."

He says as he happily types away on his computer, which is powered by electricity, on the internet, which is powered by Domain Name Servers (DNS) all over the world, which are powered by fossil fuels.

Get a cluie... the entire global economy is centered around fossil fuels & energy generater BY fossil fuels. There's no single industry that I cannot tie back to fthe Oil & Gas industry, in less the 2 moves. Kinda like that 7-degrees of separation thing... i can tie ANY industry back to Oil & Gas in 2 degrees or less.

Pr0n industry (adult films)... what does that have to do with Oil & Gas you ask? MANY of the filmakers rely on investment from wealthy individuals to make their films. Where did these wealthy individuals make their money? In the stock market, which i HEAVILY influenced by the mighty BARREL. Oil & Gas = Pr0n

[desrt]

Oh, I'll let you have a barrel or two to make me some plastic. Certainly not an all-or-nothing, one-dimensional thinker. And all the tech for solar concentrating has been around for a hundred years, except for the deep charge battery for that electric car. Can't deny Americans the right to turn up their noses at public transportation. Solar concentrating only takes the ability to bend shiny metal into a parabola, a steam turbine. and lots of sunny real estate - and we've got plenty of that between LA and El Paso.
Oh yeah. And the ability to ignore the whimpering of the coal and oil barons when they complain they're down to their last billion.

As for where I live, 60% of the electricity is zero carbon emission geothermal. Given your proximity to Yellowstone, you could have had clean, cheap geothermal electricity decades ago.

[brice1967]

I think the nation is 80-85 percent dependent on fossil fuels.  Then I think you have to take a lok at the fossil fuels burned in order to make the items necessary for alternative energy, the computer youre using, the phone you've got, the shoes you wear, the tires, dash, carpet, hoses, belts etc your car uses....  You're really going to limit yourself when you find a place not at all dependent on fossil fuels, then you'll have to find a way there.

[brice1967]

Yeah, Texas *****.  You should move to where they dont use fossil fuels.....

[Barb135]

We have no choice here... we take the power company that serves our area or have no power...

[desrt]

My experience in Texas was that having a 'choice' in electric companies is a crock. I never heard of it making more than a couple dollars a month difference on your bill and you still get your power from the same sources.
Moving back to highly-regulated, alternative-energy-using California, I wouldn't have been surprised to pay more for electric. Pleasantly surprised to pay 1/2 - 1/3 of what I paid in free-market, fossil-fuel-burning Texas. I guess if you listen long enough to the Cheney Coal Cartel's propaganda, you start to believe it.

[Barb135]

Having come in contact with EPA's rules and regulations on way too  many occasions, I have to admit they do get a little high on themselves and get carried away with their demands; however, we all know (or at least should know) that chemicals floating around in the air isn't good for any of us.  

EPA needs to take a lot of their rules and regs back to the drawing board and make them something that, both, people and businesses can live with... Businesses have the power that's fed to them by their power company; I don't know about where you live, but where I live, we don't have a choice in power companies... we take the one that serves our area or we don't have power.

[desrt]

If your business can't generate clean power, step aside and let someone else do the job. If no one can figure that one out, I'll happily read a book by candlelight. You can use a hand cranked generator for your Nintendo.

[brice1967]

Or keep the lights on.

[Vance2335]

Or maybe just maybe it is to keep business open.