Uncle Genie's Energy Policy

CO2's not good for you!

Sorry, folks, it’s time to douse the campfire—carbon is so last century. Burning carbon produces CO2 and other waste products, which is why nobody likes to sit downwind from a campfire.

Carbon: oil, coal, natural gas and biomass

Oil is carbon. It’s a source-limited fuel poisonous to the environment in extraction, conversion and utilization. More oil means a more toxic world for all of us.

Oil is also a constant incendiary to international relations and a hazard to the causes of peace, justice and freedom. Despite any propaganda to the contrary, on this planet oil does little to prop up democracy; just check your globe. And even in existing democracies it tends to prop up corruption.

Investing in domestic oil production makes as much sense as moving Afghan heroin poppy cultivation to North Dakota or trying to corner the market on bald tires. Why bring even more of the risks of a dangerous moribund technology to our shores?

Wouldn't you rather chomp down
on this than stomp down on it?

Biomass is carbon. It offers, at best, a brief and conditional alternative to oil. More importantly, it is already reducing food supplies in a world which struggles with widespread starvation and is raising the cost of food for the rest of us. It will not do us any good if a failing BP were to be bought out by Kellogg’s.

Coal and natural gas are carbon. So what if they’re abundant? Dirt is abundant, but you don’t see us putting ketchup on it at dinner time.

Nuclear Energy

Nuclear energy is exponentially more dangerous than carbon. Unfortunately, the incalculable risks of accidents, of the waste products and of their disposal severely limit the potential of nuclear power generation under current technology. To pretend otherwise is just that—pretend.

Hydrogen

Hydrogen is not carbon. But it is abundant and clean. Which is why no one’s gangbusters about it. They haven’t figured out how to get filthy rich from it yet. Not surprisingly, the most popular form of hydrogen production proposed in this country uses—you'll never guess what—natural gas. Yup, carbon.

But there are other methods to extract hydrogen right from water, including using solar power and hydrogen itself. And since hydrogen technology development would be good for us, why should we wait for some multinational corporation to figure out how to make us pay through the nose for it? How about you and I go into the hydrogen business for ourselves? Maybe this is one of those situations where government—us working together—might be a really good idea.

One popular objection to hydrogen is its volatility, that is, its ability to burn or explode. We certainly don’t want to be carrying a flammable substance around in our cars, do we? Let’s just stick with 20 gallons of high octane gasoline or methane alcohol. Duh!

In fact, hydrogen lends itself to creative new technologies. One such method can store hydrogen as a non-volatile solid; it can even be chemically bound to the ultra-light framework of future cars and released only as required, eliminating the need for a fuel tank.

Domesticating Energy Production and Conservation

Backyard solar and wind
generating station.

Solar-based resources (sun, wind, hydro and tidal) are not carbon. They may have certain limits but also offer ideal possibilities for small-scale domestication (e.g., home and business solar and wind generators) perfect for tax-based incentives, outright grant support and patriotic fomentation (think WWII "victory gardens" and bond drives). And wind generators can’t be any more hideous than the forest of TV antennas we used to live with. Finally, wouldn’t it be nice to be selling power to the electric company?

Electric cars are a good idea, but if they depend on carbon based electric generation then we are merely robbing Peter to pay Paul.

Jobs, business and community development efforts should be combined with compelling mass transit planning and incentives. Hundreds of millions of internal combustion engines moving large populations of single individuals to work or other necessities every day is moronic. Save the car for vacations in the country.

You should listen
 to Uncle Genie.

Unavoidablele Conclusions

Will these alternatives be more expensive than carbon? In the short run, probably. In the long run, however, these are some of the alternatives we can live with.

The United States will never be able to assume a leadership role in the world economy until it takes a leadership stance in its own energy policy. Until then we're just blowing smoke.