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Is it something we, as a country, should want to continue or efforts that can now be ignored/stopped because the issue is “fixed?”
Is this good enough or should we want the levels to drop further?
Inquiring minds...
I'm just countering conventional, "fake" wisdom that the US continually is bad with regards to the environment - and that the environmental nazis should be storming China and Iran - if this issue is really important to them.
We have a global economy so it's hard to quantify how much of these CO2 emissions the US has benefit other countries or even other states. I've seen a few maps but I'm not inclined to trust them. Here are CO2 emissions by state.
I'm just countering conventional, "fake" wisdom that the US continually is bad with regards to the environment - and that the environmental nazis should be storming China and Iran - if this issue is really important to them.
Conventional wisdom is not that the US is continually bad with regards to the environment. Nope --
Conventional wisdom is that the USA has been working towards protecting the environment and that's a good thing.
It has become political though and Republicans cringe at the thought of preserving our environment......it's evil and liberal and can't be good.
With the constant noise from the environmentalists, you would think that half the nation will die if they don't wear respirators.
Yep. We put in standards for CO2 emissions in the last decade, which seem to be working. Unfortunately they are already in Trump admin cross-hairs, and I expect them to be repealed soon enough. It is nice you notice the positive effects they had in the environment. Enjoy it while is lasts.
A large portion of the CO2 decline is the switch away from coal to gas & wind power. This isn't because we hate coal, just the costs associated with it, if it's one thing Americans do one thing exceptionally well, it's maximizing productivity & eliminating costs.
Below are the costs of building new generation. Note the wind Onshore cost of 43.4 & the cost of coal at 102.7 which is 2.5 X as much. Wind in 2010 cost 149.3 & due to the mass production & improved technology has dropped to 43.4. We are at the tipping point where it is cheaper to build new windmills & gas CC plants than operate coal plants. A key reason is manpower costs, a large coal plant employs 500 to 750 employees while a gas CC plant employs around 40 people full time. While wind has 10 service technicians for multiple wind farms.
The technology side of wind power is increasing each year with 2 MW turbines being the standard 10 years ago & now 5 MW is commonplace with plans to scale up each windmill to 8 to 10 within 5 years. The blade length is what is limiting high outputs currently. However a new technology called wing morphing is being studied by NASA & defense contractors, allows the wing to bend like a bird for maximum effect. There is a good chance this technology debuts on the new B-21 raider bomber. Wing Morphing technology alone could double the output of all windmills which would drop costs into the teens.
Where's the last power plant you built?
P.S. A 2 gig coal plant in Minnesota employs @310 people during normal operations............
Conventional wisdom is not that the US is continually bad with regards to the environment. Nope --
Conventional wisdom is that the USA has been working towards protecting the environment and that's a good thing.
It has become political though and Republicans cringe at the thought of preserving our environment......it's evil and liberal and can't be good.
How ridiculous.
I'm not convinced most republicans are anti-environment... there's a vocal core of the party that are, just like there's another core that want to legislate morality and yet another core that wants to cut taxes for the rich. I truly think most republican voters are more moderate leaning and only vote republican because the democrats have seem to have gone so far to the left. We need a third, common sense party that blends the best traits of both because these two parties are so full of radicals on each end.
Conventional wisdom is not that the US is continually bad with regards to the environment. Nope --
Conventional wisdom is that the USA has been working towards protecting the environment and that's a good thing.
It has become political though and Republicans cringe at the thought of preserving our environment......it's evil and liberal and can't be good.
How ridiculous.
And and they eat their baby's too Come on try to post something cogent without an attack would you?
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Come on try to post something cogent without an attack would you?
