Reply #9: Corporatist environmentalism: a mixed bag here. [View All]

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While I commend these globalists for going green and being positive there are still fundamental problems with the philosophy they are projecting.

They want a global trade in energy controlled by a few mega-corporations that operate with very little accountability to the people. Notice they do not talk much about storage systems and local off-grid power.

This is kind of telling because off-grid power is the only means by which less developed areas can raise their standard of living in the short term. Even such simple things as solar lamp systems to replace kerosene lamps and wind/solar powered water treatment have been showing great success in bringing the developing world both improved living standards and a path to a lower carbon footprint.

So should these people wait while huge grid lines go up so that some energy company in Europe can sell it's excess to them (keeping in mind they have barely money to pay for it.)

Or should they be looking at solar panels and battery banks that do not require any lines to be run through the jungle into their houses?

I vote the latter, and hasten to say that should be the goal for a good number of people in the developed world as well -- having your own on-site renewable energy sources is not merely a matter of the environmental impact, it is protection. Protection against service disruptions, and protection against consolidation of power (not "electrical power" but political) by large facelss interests.

Which is why even more than transmission networks, we need storage technology. Fortunately there's a lot going on there -- new lead acid technology, flywheels, huge capacitors, and of course the coming of cheaper CPV (concentrating photovoltaics) and more affordable/maintainable micro-wind generators.

As far as I am concerned, that's where the action is at and that is where our policy energy should be directed. This initiative is an attempt to coopt our attention towards globalism's ends.