Comments on: Energy efficiency now Part 2

By: walkwalkslow

walkwalkslow — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 10:22:28 +0000

We could be energy independent tomorrow. But then “the international community” would go mental and call us protectionists. btw, China has already labeled us as such. The current administration, as was the previous, is in no position to come through on the promises that form the foundations of their respective political campaigns and policies. Lip service.

That is all. Households need to wake up out there. And individuals need to begin solving things w/o always involving government.

By: hugegiantfrogs

hugegiantfrogs — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 09:38:31 +0000

Paul Jay is great.

By: navtel

navtel — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 09:20:20 +0000

going green is ok but the cost takes years to recoup, maybe never.. sometimes the so called facts they quote are not as accurate as what they should be.. you know what they say about people who figure.

By: egolayer13

egolayer13 — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 08:46:26 +0000

Capitalism is all about getting as much as possible for as little as possible. Right now, that’s in coal and oil. So long as the motive is profit, the concept of clean energy is nothing but a pipe dream. And capitalism — the profit motive — is inevitable so long as we vote away our own democratic, decision-making power up the hierarchy and allow corporate lobbyists access to that upper tier. Only direct democracy — participatory democracy — can break that top-down, profit-fueled system.

By: morelshaman

morelshaman — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 08:41:27 +0000

@egolayer13 I could not say it better. The hegemony of corporatism is the oldest problem & continues to be – there are waves of populism & oligarchy, but the elite control never fades entirely.
Corporations must be divorced from personhood & charters must be wrested from the most egregious scofflaws environmental murderers.

By: Paetaor

Paetaor — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 07:48:21 +0000

This guy thinks that the government can do something properly?

Name one think that the US government has done right in the past 30 years and there are 10 that they have messed up.

By: roullettechick

roullettechick — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 07:13:36 +0000

well, theyre pretty darn good at killing innocent ppl

By: Thizzmotion

Thizzmotion — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 06:26:24 +0000

the absense of government spending does not equate to a right course of action that propels society to the next level of human potential in terms of realizing peace and harmony.

if scientists have already agreed on the right course of action in terms of reaching energy independence, it doesn’t matter if it’s the government or private enterprise that executes it.

By: Thizzmotion

Thizzmotion — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 05:29:21 +0000

the schumpeterian entrepreneurial side of me says there is profit in renewable energy. as one of the first to do it, i have a first-move advantage to grab market share and to seek economic rent, intentionally. i can buy solar panels for cheap in china, become a major distributor of solar panels in america, work with a new age of electricians who will be the installers/repairers/maintenance servicers, work with marketing team who will show the energy savings, lobby congress for subsidy rebates…

By: Thizzmotion

Thizzmotion — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 05:10:28 +0000

coal and oil do not yield “as much as possible for as little as possible.” both are inefficient because they externalize heavy social costs beyond their profit margin. the total is actually a net loss from a global-optimization perspective. so long as governments protect private property rights, corporations have the legal power to accumulate wealth and use it to uphold the status quo. from a scientific/objective point of view, this situation is sticky, because we should move on to better energy