World risks 'dirty' energy future (BBC)

[Eugene]

Last Updated: Tuesday, 7 November 2006, 10:00 GMT

World risks 'dirty' energy future

The world could be dependent on "dirty, insecure and expensive"
energy by 2030, an influential report has warned.

Current trends showed that demand for power was set to grow
by 53% by 2030, the International Energy Agency said.

-snip-

"WEO 2006 reveals that the energy future we are facing today,
based on projections of current trends, is dirty, insecure and
expensive," said Claude Mandil, executive director of the IEA.

"But it also shows how new government policies can create an
alternative energy future which is clean, clever and
competitive," he added.

-snip-

Under the business as usual scenario, the document warned that
the demand for fossil fuels, and the related carbon emissions,
would continue to grow through to 2030, if there was no action
from the world's politicians.

-snip-

Full article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6107916.stm

[McKenzie]

1. Comments about the "creation" of "alternative energy" miss the point

The energy supply is fixed and it cannot be "created". Oil "production' should be properly termed "extraction", for example, because it is the latter, and not the former, process.

If energy use is constantly rising (it is) it is Jiminy Cricket syndrome to think we can technologise (no such word but it serves to illustrate the point) our way out of this mess. We need to move away from constant growth. It is impossible within a closed loop system.

[4dsc]

3. A new reality??

Unfortunetely for most people, you are asking them to accept a new reality which involves a major paradigm shift.. That I believe will take too long given our current mentality to shop, buy, and waste..

[McKenzie]

4. yes 4dsc I think we agree on this point n/t

[Nihil]

6. Another vote here

Not in the most positive, optimistic mood about "vox pop" accepting the changes
that will have to be made (or endured, if it gets to be result driven rather than
decision driven).

[phantom power]

2. What's this about "future?"

How could anybody look around them and not notice that most of our energy is already dirty, isecure and expensive?

[Nihil]

5. The "future" is when they open their eyes ...

... rather than just relying on the crap that is fed in via their ears ...