Is there really anything we CAN do about Global Climate Change?

[UP_4012]

I am not begging for a granite cookie, and I am not wanting to start a flamewar. All I want to do is discuss options. Realistic options. We need suggestions that everyone can act on, not just those who can afford it.
I'll start with my wish list of things that need to be done:

1. Convert electrical generation system of the United States to a combination of Solar-Thermal/Geothermal/Wind/Personal Photovoltaic.
2. Impement tax breaks to those who try photovoltaic, and give subsidies to start-ups/existing corporations willing to build new power plants. Examples include Lockheed's "Utility-sized" solar collector that will hopefully come to fruition.
3. Convert transportation systems to use pure biodiesel/construct newer mass transit systems.
4. Use less energy. Almost anything helps out. The power supply that delivers power to the computer I am typing on is 80% efficient nominally.

My Things to discard:
1. Electric cars. The production of batteries/copper/vinyl/etc is environmentally destructive at best, and a human tragedy at its worst. Until the production of all parts and the unit itself is green, including its fuel, these are simply just a bad idea.
2. Personal implementation of photovoltaic aka normal solar panels AS IT STANDS RIGHT NOW. Besides the laughable price tag, the battery tech needed to store energy is simply not green. Mining of lead and lithium uses tons of fossil fuels.

Feel free to add on to this list of ideas. This is primarily in response to new reports that we are truly screwed over, and there is no turning back climate wise.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=5706307&mesg_id=5706307

Edited to add link.

[bemildred]

1. Carbon sequestration. nt

[UP_4012]

2. Well, that could very well be a valid solution.

We just have to figure out how to do it without "unforeseen consequences".

[bemildred]

6. It is true, the climate system is non-linear.

You can't just reverse it back to the way it was, any change is irreversible. However, if your object is to do something too cool things down, carbon sequestration is the way to go. And we have pretty good ideas about how to do it. But you are quite correct that nobody knows if it will actually work, or how long it might take, or whether perhaps it will make things worse instead. The "precautionary principle" is aimed at precisely that problem.

[LARED]

3. My two cents

Things to be done

Number 1, Not presently feasible. Although who knows what the future holds

Number 2. Already happening. Many states are seriously subsidizing PV's

Number 3 Way to early to convert the transportation system to an immature evolving technology. If it is sensible the market will eventually make the transition.

Number 4 Already happening getting better all the time.

To discard.

1. Electric cars are improving so it's way to early to punt. Although unless we fine better ways to produce electricity we are just exchanging the source of pollution, not diminishing it in a significant way.

2. Personal PV's are fine, but they will never provide 100% of the need.

[Warpy]

4. About those PVC set ups

Frontline had a quick story about a prototype dwelling set up to run on PVCs during the day, with all surplus power going to an electrolysis set up. At night, the system ran on a fuel cell in the back yard using the hydrogen and oxygen generated during the day. It wasn't much of a house, but it was functioning and livable 24 hours a day.

Fuel cells work most efficiently the larger they are, so it seems that regional setups might be the answer to the storage problem, energy for electrolysis supplied by scores or even hundreds of homes and/or businesses.

What I'm getting at is that battery storage isn't the only way to skin the solar power cat and provide power 24 hours a day.

FWIW, I agree about battery powered electric cars. It's not only the manufacture, it's the disposal that has to be factored in to the total energy and environmental costs.

More work is needed to solve the transportation problem. Battery powered electric cars might be a part of the solution, but they can't be the entire solution.

[flvegan]

5. Stop eating/eat less meat.

Yeah, like I wasn't going to post that.

Decreasing demands on animal agriculture would go a long way. I realize that eliminating it is unrealistic in the short term, and unlikely to complete, but it is something that almost every single person* can do whenever they want.


* I realize that because of dietary issues and personal location may make that almost impossible for some.

[The Traveler]

8. Dude ... yer killin' me

Steak ... hmmmmm ...

Seriously, you are absolutely right about it ... but my carnivorous metabolism rebels against the idea.

Trav

[The Traveler]

7. Algae biofuels

Read recently an article about a genetically tweaked algae that could be used to produce bio-fuel. The really cool thing about this approach is that the net carbon contribution is zero ... the algae extract carbon from the air so at most only that amount of carbon can be released by combustion. When we burn fossil fuels, we are releasing locked up carbon back into the atmosphere.

Thermodynamically speaking, this is a lot better than the electric car option. With the electric car, we are transforming high thermodynamic quality energy (electricity) to work ... and that is a relatively efficient process. But the battery is charged by a process that takes low thermo quality energy (heat), transforms it to work (a turbine) which is then used to transform it to electricity. And in each step along the way, there is loss. Burning fuel directly in the engine cuts out a few transformation steps and is therefore less costly in terms of fuel.

So if algae based bio-fuels can be scaled up, it would make more sense just to burn them in an engine ... and it looks like this stuff can be burned in contemporary engines with relative ease. We could massively reduce our net carbon contribution. And we could grow and refine this stuff domestically ... achieving energy independence and bolting a whole new industry (jobs) onto the flank of our existing energy infrastructure.

Sounds really good ... and that triggers my inner skeptic. We'll have to see how this really pans out ... but I am somewhat hopeful about it.

Trav