What can we do to reduce AGW?

Question

If we all suddenly came to an agreement today that manmade greenhouse gases are the problem, are we all going to stop driving our cars and kill the power to our homes and businesses or will we have to wait until a "green" source of energy is available? How many people can realistically afford to convert their homes to solar? If CO2 is as bad as reported, just a small reduction is not going to help.

Bob, aren't most of your suggestions technological advances that we are going to have to wait for anyway? Also, engineers have always been trying to improve efficiency.

Dana, until electric cars / hybrids are reasonably priced, I doubt they will be that popular and the batteries have to be replaced every 3 or 4 years. Lithium-Ion batteries are great, but they are only good for 2 or 3 years and they are even ridiculously expensive. Hybrids still burn fuel and electric still has to be charged.

I’m all for reducing pollution and increasing efficiency, but these don't sound like real solutions until the technology is improved and the costs are reasonable.

Nuclear power would be a great solution to the AGW problem, but it creates a waste disposal problem. I'm partial to the hydrogen fuel cell technology as soon as it becomes feasible.

Answer 1

We should switch to Nuclear Power right away. Then we can power absolutely ghg free electric cars, have homes that can replace their oil or gas heaters for cheep electric heat, and electric hot water heaters to replace gas burners.

Going Nuclear would allow us to reduce co2 by well over 50%.

And it's safe. Nuclear waste is stored and transported across this country every day.

Answer 2

Check out Socolow and Pacala, "A Plan to Keep Carbon in Check" from Scientific American a year or so ago. It was a very workable plan for reducing carbon emissions using available technology. The core elements of their proposal are listed here:

http://www2.safesearching.com/boards.billmaher.com/showthread.php?p=741157

Note that Shiva_TD's objection to coal power is not really relevant since Socolow and Pacala adocate carbon capture from the power plants. Even though you are generating more electricity and burning more coal, you are not emitting that CO2 to the atmosphere.

Answer 3

Of course people have been working hard on that for years.

Here's an affordable and practical plan, developed by hundreds of scientists and engineers from all over the world.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,481085,00.html
http://www.ipcc.ch/SPM040507.pdf

It won't totally stop global warming, but it will reduce it to where we can cope with the remaining effects.

It costs us way less than unreduced global warming would. As a side benefit it will essentially free many countries from the burdens caused by being dependent on imported oil.

EDIT - "Bob, aren't most of your suggestions technological advances that we are going to have to wait for anyway? " No, most are available to us right now. Like nuclear power plants. We just need to build them. (As always Mr Jello and I see eye to eye - about that.)

Note that the citations I've given break things down into two categories - available now (which is most of it), and by 2030. We can implement the "available now" stuff now, and develop the others. Look at what's involved. We know how to do stuff like this - we're pretty darn good at it.

Answer 4

It's a gradual process. Begin by reducing individual energy consumption by becoming more energy efficient. Move to cars which create lower greenhouse gas emissions - hybrids now, and soon plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles.

We also need to make our power grid greener. Increase our use of renewable energy like solar and wind (and possibly nuclear) while decreasing dependency on coal. Implement carbon sequestration technology in new coal plants.

Nobody's saying we need to make drastic greenhouse gas emission reductions now, but we do need to start now (or very soon) in order to make significant reductions in the reasonably near future.

Answer 5

This stuff didn't just start. It's been happening with a major increase in the last 100 years of industrialization. recycling helps, forget saving gas because we need to drive the cars that are manufactured to run on gas.

Answer 6

Global Warming is a lie and the only way to stop it is to destroy the Sun.

Answer 7

Then stop eating meat!!!

http://www.glennbeck.com/steakoutourfuture/