Posted on 12/02/2007 1:24:30 PM PST by Coleus
To stop climate change, the nation must "stop coal," a top environmental architect urged during a speech at Ramapo College's conference on climate change. Edward Mazria, who has led efforts nationwide to build more-energy-efficient buildings, said the only way to control global warming is "an immediate moratorium on all new coal-fired power plants in the United States" and a phaseout of older coal plants.
"Climate change is the greatest challenge we have ever faced," he told an audience of more than 400 at the conference. "Either we get it under control or we face very dramatic consequences." Mazria is the author of "The Passive Solar Energy Handbook," considered the bible of solar design. He said the use of coal must be stopped because coal is the only fossil fuel left in the massive amounts necessary to generate enough greenhouse gases to cause catastrophic rises in temperatures and sea levels.
To compensate for the energy lost by erasing the 151 coal-fired plants currently on the drawing board nationwide, Mazria called for intensive research efforts on solar power and an overhaul of how buildings are constructed and older buildings are renovated. According to Mazria, the building sector can achieve huge energy savings because it currently accounts for almost half of the nation's energy consumption and resultant greenhouse gases.
Ramapo Professor Michael Edelstein, the conference's organizer, praised Mazria's plan as "by far the most specific suggestions anyone has made anywhere" on climate change. Edelstein said the changes in building construction needed to drastically cut regional energy use would be a major challenge in New Jersey. "New Jersey and New York are home-rule states, and every municipality sets its own rules," he said. "Basically, if you want to start to shift this immediately, you have to get them in a room now and start changing your local approval process now."
Jeanne Fox, president of the State Board of Public Utilities, said in a panel discussion that New Jersey was working on new building codes as well as new energy standards for appliances. The one-day conference also featured speeches by former New Jersey Gov. Jim Florio and noted environmental author Bill McKibben, as well as sessions on how New Jersey will meet its ambitious goals to reduce greenhouse-gas emission by 20 percent by 2020. Florio laid out some of the tough and complex choices on global warming that the United States must make in coming years, pointing out ruefully that "democracy doesn't deal with complicated ideas very well." McKibben was scheduled to speak Friday night on the societal changes required to make the planet sustainable.
Attending the conference were environmental professionals, local government officials, college students, lawyers, architects, engineers and interested citizens from the tri-state region. A green expo held in conjunction with the conference continues today at the college's Bradley Center from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Greatest challenge to credulity.
I thought it was gasoline.
I wish these people would make up their minds.
Florio laid out some of the tough and complex choices on global warming that the United States must make in coming years, pointing out ruefully that “democracy doesn’t deal with complicated ideas very well.”
Pesky-a$$ed freedom.
I didn't read the article, but this is retarded.
I don't believe the lying watermelons (green on the outside, red on the inside) on anything they say. Bring on the coal-fired plants. Bring on the nukes. Start drilling and refining. I want to be warm in the winter and cool in the summer. I don't want to spend $50.00 to fill my minivan. This is the United States of America, for Pete's sake. Get the environmentalist wackos out of the way and let's get going.
China puts a coal fired power plant on line every couple of days.And you can be darn sure that not a single one of them uses “clean” coal or has scrubbers installed.
Those concerned with CO2 emissions should move to Venezuela.
Who paid for this study? Equally important, published it as having a factual basis?
Complete lack of credibility.
I suggest Mr. Mazria shut his mouth to avoid spewing anymore CO2 into the atmosphere. Further, he should move into a mud hut so as not to consume electricity.
Nah, what they should really do is to eliminate private housing altogether and make everybody live in large, efficient, communal housing. Also eliminate private autos and make people travel by electric trains and buses. Think of the energy savings!
< /greenie>
Let New Jersey do without electricity.
Uh oh, somebody discovered where the vast majority of our electricity came from.
Will they be solar or wind powered.
But you just don’t understand.
These ‘politicians and activists have invested their money in ‘green technologies’ and can’t wait for the market to evolve naturally.
They want to ‘stop’ the use of coal so it drives the need for ‘green technologies’ higher, resulting in a higher ‘spike’ in their PROFIT MARGIN.
It’s always about the money, no matter what they tell us.
Sort of like Green Al's Carbon credits?
Credulity (or credulousness, if you like) is the hallmark of the lefty envirodingbats. They'll believe virtually anything, if said notion fits their agenda. There's neither a shortage of it nor a challenge to it, at least in the Left.
Perhaps you were thinking of 'credibility'? Lord knows, the Left are thoroughly credibility-challenged.
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