Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Energy Is a Problem of Consumption, Not Production

There is no such thing as clean energy. First, there are always costs to energy production, even among the so-called green sources. Hydro power destroys estuaries. Solar power robs the land of heat and sunlight. Wind energy kills birds.

And generally, the use of energy itself is a problem. Generating electricity adds heat to the Earth's system, or at the very best, moves heat from one place to another. Taken on a large scale, this alters climate patterns.

Instead of looking for cleaner sources of energy, we should be looking for ways to use far, far less energy. Converting to alternate energies costs a lot in terms of both money and resources (which then has other environmental impacts). Conserving energy can cause an immediate reduction in emissions without any investment of money or resources.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Dick Cheney would disagree.