Better yet, learn more.

As we run out of oil and coal we will find alternatives. Were climate change not an issue we would move to renewables out of necessity eventually.
The problem is that climate change is happening so rapidly that we can’t wait.

Well, we can wait but we’ll pay a huge price for our lagging.

The CO2 we’re pumping into the atmosphere is accumulating. It doesn’t stay up there for a year or two and fall out. We are changing the way our climate and weather operate. The new climate will not be so much fun.

The majority of American citizens are already concerned about climate change and are willing to see money spent to combat it. But due largely to gerrymandered redistricting the minority swings more weight than it should in Congress.

The number of climate scientists who have predicted things happening too quickly is very small. Overall climate models have predicted slower change than what we’ve observed. No one was predicting the first summer melt out of Arctic sea ice for a hundred years or go. Now we’re looking at a very possible melt out before 2020.

It’s too bad you don’t believe that climate change should be the major reason to move off fossil fuels. That tells us that you don’t understand what we’re doing to ourselves.

But when is the real question. How much more pain will we subject ourselves to before we insist that the government do something to slow climate change?

Put another way, how deep will the water have to get in our cabins before we insist the captain start the crew bailing?

I have little doubt that we’re on our way to a ~100% renewable grid and transportation system. But we’re moving way too slowly. We should have listened to Jacobson and Archer in 2009 and now have the first 3 or 4 years of a 20 year transition behind us. We don’t yet have the “first year” work done.

The government makes money on resource development but probably spends more on the external cost of fossil fuels. Add in the cost of our three oil wars and there’s no “probably” about it.

Moving off fossil fuels would cut government expenses.

Charging EVs for road use is reasonable. It would be nice if governments held off for a few years as a way to encourage sales, but in the long run drivers should pay for road use.

We’ve got enough wind and solar capacity on line to allow us to build more while using no fuel. We can look at that in terms of bootstrapping wind/solar manufacturing. We’ve used all the fossil fuels necessary to maintain the industries and now we’re building fossil fuel replacement.

“I don,t believe a tax on carbon would have much effect on usage and may take dollars away from the very people who can invest in clean power and away from the poor.”

The idea is not to use a carbon tax to cut consumption, but to cut sourcing. Make electricity from fossil fuels more expensive to utilities so that they turn to renewables

We can do that and use the revenue from the carbon price to subsidize the cost of electricity for all consumers which would mean hurting neither the poor nor the overall economy.

With every lump of coal we burn we make our climate problem worse. We need to force generation away from fossil fuels and increase efficiency at the same time.

Coal plants won’t be closed quicker than backup generation is in place. Keeping the grid operating 24/365 is the number one priority.

Coal dropped to 36% in 2012 but moved back up to 40% in 2013 due to higher gas prices.

Solar and wind already generate more electricity per year than it takes to manufacture the year’s worth of solar panels and wind turbines.

What we really need is a price on carbon. Start it low and ramp it up over a few years until coal and natural gas, even in paid off plants, are more expensive than new wind and new solar. Make it high enough so that a few years from now storage would be cheaper than using natural gas.

But Americans are not ready to put a price on carbon. We haven’t done a good enough job of educating people about the true cost of burning coal and the dangerous cost of climate change.

Hopefully we’re not like my uncles who didn’t heed the warnings and didn’t stop smoking until after they had emphysema.

It’s the potential ability to spin that into a tale of “clean coal” which can be used to extend our use of coal.

Natural gas will die an easier death because it is dispatchable.  If there is available fuel-free electricity available on the market then buyers will grab the fuel-free first.  NG use will dwindle over time.

Coal plants are not dispatchable.  A utility which owns a coal plant and doesn’t need additional generation isn’t going to consider building wind or solar to save fuel costs since they’ve got to keep the coal plant running anyway. 

They won’t be able to save appreciable money with renewables and will argue that their “clean coal” is just as clean as the next guy’s natural gas plant.

An odd definition of democracy.

As described, this would make coal about as clean as natural gas. “[A]n awful development” is not the characterization that comes to my mind at the prospect of reducing US coal power emissions — more importantly, reducing China’s coal emissions — by 30% for $10/t_CO2.

“4. Legislators are aware that while (cutting) the PTC would cost
U.S. jobs, removing incentives from the oil and gas industry is
unlikely to do so.

“[Cutting oil and gas incentives
won’t result in] a loss of jobs in the industry because of the profit
margins. I think it would be hard to argue that if the PTCs weren’t
extended, there would be no job impacts. I think there would be. There
would be a loss of green jobs.”

5. The political base for renewables differs from that of the fossil fuel industries, but that is changing.

“Renewable energy has bipartisan support. The oil and gas industry has
strong support in certain states. In Congress, it’s better to have a
handful of really strongly motivated people than a lot of more tepid
support,” Kelliher said, but “in North Dakota, Republican or Democrat,
they know the wind industry is important to the state,” he added. “We’re
starting to see some of that same kind of regional support that’s
strongly motivated and that’s really important in Congress.”””

http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/ten-insider-tips-on-what-renewable-energy-can-expect-before-the-next-electi/

Yes, that reality has only dawned on me recently. Not a pleasant thought.

P.S. I made a a long reply several hours ago. It went to moderation because I included some links. Can you set it free, please?

”
VW earlier said it plans to locally produce the zero-emission EV
model in China between 2013 and 2014 through its Chinese joint ventures.

VW expects China to lead in the global EV market by 2018 under a
blueprint to mass produce EV as part of its global E-mobility strategy
unveiled in March 2010.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology certified
FAW-Volkswagen’s electric vehicle under the Kaili brand on May 3,
according to VW’s statement.

“The Chinese government has been encouraging joint ventures of
foreign car manufactures to develop indigenous brands,” the statement
said.

VW is among car makers rushing to produce green cars amid the growing
global awareness of environment protection and energy efficiency. In
2009, VW signed partnership deal with BYD to jointly develop hybrid and
electric cars powered by lithium-ion batteries.”

http://business.globaltimes.cn/industries/2011-05/654338.html

Daimler (the folks who make Mercedes) also has a partnership with BYD to produce EVs. Renault has partnered with Nissan to build EVs.

Europe and Asia are going on without us.