Renewable Energy, Enviros and New Job Creation

FOX News ^ | 4/15/2004 | Steven Milloy

[wjersey]

The global warming controversy took a new twist this week. Global warming handwringers are now trying to make it a "jobs" issue.

"Investing in renewable energy such as solar, wind and the use of municipal and agricultural waste for fuel would produce more American jobs than a comparable investment in the fossil energy sources in place today," a new report from researchers at the University of California at Berkeley states. The report was accompanied by a call from a coalition of environmental activist and labor groups for a 10-year, $300 billion program to increase the nation's use of renewable energies.

[wjersey]

If the report comes from Berkeley, I'm sure it must be correct - NOT.

[Iron Matron]

Investing in renewable energy such as solar, wind and the use of municipal and agricultural waste for fuel would produce more American jobs than a comparable investment in the fossil energy sources in place today

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S T F U! (or just F U Berkely) The oil & gas industry is the LARGEST EMPLOYER there is next to the Government itself. Furthermore, if the STUPID enviroNUTS would let up on domestic production, we could add thousands of jobs OVERNIGHT!

Research in to alternative energy is just that: Research. Research alone does not create a stable energy source, which is the point! It will be many years before some new technologies are viable, in the meantime, Berkely should just EAT whats coming out of their mouths!

[Jack of all Trades]

Just think of the jobs created if the U.S. decided to build 400 nuclear power plants. Say buh-by to Middle East turmoil, the trade deficit, global warming alarmists.

[Lowcountry]

Probably not coincidentally, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson issued a joint recommendation this week for more renewable energy use in part to "create lasting jobs."

Those are the same kind of bureaucratic jobs that never go away because the goal is unatainable.

[antiRepublicrat]

Who cares about a comparatively measly 240,000 jobs that only might be added over the next 16 years?

Lemme guess: Probably each of those 240,000 employed people.

I'm all for renewable energy, when it's scientifically and economically feasible. Sandia has a solar design out there using heliostats and molten salt that runs much more cheaply than current ones (about the cost of coal in some setups), has less environmental pollution over photovoltaic, and produces power 24 hours a day.

[ckilmer]

Probably not coincidentally, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson issued a joint recommendation this week for more renewable energy use in part to "create lasting jobs." The Berkeley researchers say that increasing renewable energy use, mostly agricultural biomass burning, could create as many as 240,000 new jobs by 2020. That's compared with only about 75,000 new jobs if the nation sticks to fossil fuels, according to the researchers.
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there's more going on here than meets the eye. Schwartznegger's chief economic advisor is Warren Buffet. Warren's son Howard is an investor in a company called "Changing World Technologies"; it looks very much like this company has figured out how to make biomass conversion to oil water and minerals ECONOMICAL--as it has not been before... They're doing it now in missouri at a conagra plant for $15 per barrel(there have been a half dozen or so posts on this at FR in the last year or so. i'll put some links at the bottom to source articles.)

The implications here are enormous. Among them are just what the berkeley people are talking about. And likely it was buffet who got Schwartznegger on board.

Why would biomass conversion create more jobs. basically the US has enough bioconvertable fuel to become oil independent again in 20 years and the cost of the biomass fuel would be no more than today's rates. However, the process for doing so is less capital intensive and much more distributed than today's oil sytem which is very centralized and very capital intensive. There would be enormous benefits that would come to the US if we switched over to this regime as this the current oil production regime is working radically against the USA. Also bioproduced oil would be a great aid to capital creation and retention in third world countries--because the current oil pricing and distribution system around the world works out to be a very regressive tax on poorer countries. If they could create their own oil from their own sh-t from many small sources--money would stay closer to home rather than being siphoned off to places like say iran and saudi arabia. with more capital there would be more local money to invest and more opportunities in third world countries and there for few incentives leave home.

here's a couple links to the underlying technology

this may 2003 discover magazine gives the basic story of "changing world technologies"
http://www.discover.com/issues/may-03/features/featoil/

later last year Scientific American voted "changing world technologies" among the top 50 contributors to the advancement of technology in the realms of science, engineering, commerce and public policy.

http://www.sciam.com/sa50list_2.html
http://www.changingworldtech.com/news-5.html
http://www.forrelease.com/D20031208/nym167.P2.12082003134132.15713.html

here's some more articles
http://www.mindfully.org/Energy/2004/Changing-World-Technologies4apr04.htm
http://science.slashdot.org/science/03/04/01/184227.shtml?tid=134

http://www.dailyvidette.org/news/2003/10/07/Features/Corporation.U.Senator.grease.The.Wheels.Of.Fuel.Production-520503.shtml
http://www.hldcreative.com/news/client_releases_article.asp?article_id=89

do a google search on "changing world technologies"

besides the conagra plant in missouri, there's another plant in philadelphia. as well more plants are under construction in the US and Europe. the next plants being constructed like the conagra plant are those that turn animal parts to oil. all the animal evisceration plants in north america have to change the way they dispose of carcasses because of mad cow disease. formerly carcasses were ground up and used as animal feed. they can't do that any longer. so they're going to change the carcasses to oil.
this technology however can change anything to oil.

arnold has made a very smart move. bush would do well to jump on board.

[ckilmer]

this technology however can change anything to oil.

make that read:
"this technology however, can change any carbon based plant, human, animal, or oil based refuse to oil."

[Iron Matron]

I'm all for renewable energy, when it's scientifically and economically feasible

Some enviros, however, will stifle renewable energy. Wind Energy is highly fesable and non=polluting, yet enviros have a soft spot for the 1 in 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 widdle birds who may fly into them.

So, wind energy is not PC. And enviros will surely find something wrong with every available, feasible alternate, because they do not want good, clean, energy, or jobs, they want the USA back to third-world standards!