Current congressional Republicans are ignorant of the energy situation....

Today's post: Wednesday, 2-23-2010

We need an 80% reduction in fossil fuel use by 2050 to avoid the worst global warming effects. And, practically speaking, we need to also double our electricity generation and double the useful work done per unit of electricity & other energy sources as well during that same time to have a decent economy.

At some point, the oil that we’ve been using to power much of our economy will begin to run low enough that our world economy will shrink due to lack of supply or excessive costs or both. Kuwaiti scientists recently predicted peak oil in 2014 – just 3 years from now.

And, once the demand for oil picks up again with the apparent economic recovery or supply begins to plateau or drop, the prices will again go back up. That will cause more hard times economically unless we have enough alternative sources of energy to turn to.

Today’s post:

Current congressional Republicans are ignorant of the energy situation....

Or at least they act like it in congress.

Earlier this week TIME online news had this story:

Environmentalists Warn of Natural Debt as Budget Cuts Loom

TIME Tues 2-22-2011 By BRYAN WALSH

In his article, he presents the idea that we may be living beyond the level of the Earth and its biosystems to recover from our use and continue to work right in the same way that financially it can be damaging in the long run to use up capital gradually instead of only living on the interest or dividends.

Here’s a brief quote:

"....the very politicians who are so worried about the public debt - and who want deep spending cuts now to save our future, whatever the cost - utterly dismiss the idea that we could face an equal crisis of natural debt. Politicians like Boehner and Ryan order us to tighten our belts immediately, but they utterly deny the climate and resource crisis the world faces. In fact, the Republicans in Congress are going well beyond simple denial - they're now using their budget to erode America's ability to prepare for that very scary future.

The Republican budget would cut the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) budget by one-third - $3 billion - and would prevent the agency from setting any limits on CO2 and a number of other pollutants. It would eliminate U.S. funding for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - which would save all of $12.5 million.

It would cut Department of Energy budgets that promoted renewable energy by $1.7 billion - a 23% reduction at a time when the U.S. is in a clean-energy race with China. The National Science Foundation budget would be cut by $395.5 million.

"This is probably the single most irresponsible bill I have seen either Chamber of Congress pass in the more than 20 years I have been in Washington," wrote Dan Lashof, the director of the Natural Resource Defense Council's climate center.

To which the Republicans would respond, We face an unprecedented fiscal crisis, and tough choices have to be made.”

What this misses entirely is that cuts that increase the future costs for energy and which cut into the reliability of our energy supply are dramatically more dangerous to our economy than cuts elsewhere.

Cuts that reduce our increasing energy sources other than coal and particularly other than petroleum threaten to cause truly grave increases in costs and even catastrophic downturns in our economy.

Whatever is cut must NOT be things that will prevent increasing our other sources of energy.

We can cut elsewhere if we must though that won’t be popular either.

But we also must not only leave alone but increase spending on things that increase energy efficiency, increase our usable supply of sustainably produced energy and electricity, education for jobs actually in demand and which support the economy, and small business formation and venture capital.

If we continue to spend on those, we will create jobs and the economy will be strong and able to keep growing. That will enable us to restore the other cuts.

Here’s why cutting things that sharply decrease our dependence on oil and on coal to some extent and cutting things that decrease energy efficiency programs and increased production of renewable energy will cause economic disaster.

1. Bright, well educated, grade school children know that once scientists measure things enough and in enough ways, the conclusions they come to are quite reliable.

The work has been done to show that:

CO2 release from our vast and so far fast-increasing burning of fossil fuels is a primary driver for global warming and that global warming is real and continuing.

Global warming doesn’t just increase the mean global temperature, it produces increased numbers and severity of extreme weather events. (This means that both things like the recent floods in Australia and Pakistan and the heat waves and fires in Russia, Greece, and Oklahoma in the United States AND the recent and repeated massive snowfalls in the United States are all products of global warming.)

Further, such extreme weather costs lives, costs money to deal with, and disrupt the economy. Not stopping global warming means these costs will all increase.

If global warming continues, most countries in the world with important cities on their coasts, will face massive costs to relocate or to dam off the rising sea levels.

Lastly, if you can’t grow food, you starve. If global warming continues enough, our ability to grow crops will be threatened.

2. Even if we could somehow get away with pretending these events from global warming are going on and will get worse if we do nothing, our economy will still stay in recession or go back to it or even collapse if we continue to rely on petroleum for transport.

Much of the world’s oil is in the Middle East including a frighteningly large percentage of the oil those of us in the United States use for gasoline and diesel fuel now. The recent events may wind up improving things there in the long run if we are lucky and God is merciful. But, in the short term anywhere from a quarter to all of that supply may be shut off.

USA Today had a headline this week that gasoline prices of $5 a gallon will arrive by early summer, just 4 months from now, and may well happen because of the events in the Middle East.

Second, peak oil is predicted now by Kuwaiti scientists for 2014, just 3 years from now. There will still be oil available to be sure. But the combination of increasing costs to extract oil and increased demand from increases in population and attempted increases in living standards will combine very soon to drive the cost of gasoline even higher.

It’s well to remember that our recent sharp downturn was triggered by the increase of gasoline prices to about $4.50 per gallon.

If we don’t have transport SOON that either needs no oil or much less oil, we will be in serious trouble.

That means that for both preventing huge costs from global warming and for a reliable energy supply for all transport that avoids huge cost run ups, we need to continue programs that begin to limit the use of oil and to massively increase renewable energy and energy efficiency and the amount of all electric vehicles and of plug-in hybrids.

I understand that many Republicans take political contributions from the oil industry. Understandably, the oil businesses don’t want restrictions and increased costs.

But once all members of congress take the oath of office to serve in the congress of the United States, their JOB is to serve the interests of the entire country and to be well and accurately informed about the risks it faces.

The current crop of Republicans in congress flunks that test in my view. Every single one who voted for the cuts described above, should resign or change the votes they make.

They are either ignorant to the point of incompetence &/or failing their responsibility as members of our congress.