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Re: A Short History of Energy (in the US)

Re: A Short History of Energy (in the US)

Submitted by dangie on Sat, 02/09/2008 - 11:17.

Hello Stephen,

Thank you for your interesting reply. In short, I think we both have a point.
You are right that carbon offsetting brings more awareness to people about carbon emissions. However there will also be a counter effect: My point is that that people will buy offsetting credits instead of changing the way they live. This will surely become unsustainable quite quickly. It does not scale very well (just do some math). Combine this with my concern that some/many offsetting schemes are either inefficient, with a great time-lag or fraudulent.
You clearly have a point that it can be an efficient way to funnel money to environmentally projects that (hopefully) are CO2 offsetting.
I acknowledge that there are many schemes that are beneficial such as funding of new wind mills and solar power plants. We need to have a transparent and scientifically well thought through system in place that makes it easier for people to choose the right scheme and avoid the bad ones. Proper and deep scientifically analysis is important. Examples of initial flawed scientific or political assumptions are bio-fuel, such as US corn. Furthermore a recent survey has shown that not only are many bio-fuels inefficient but many bio fuels production sites "leak" more CO2 from the ground when transformed into bio-fuel agricultural area. See: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/08/science/earth/08wbiofuels.html?_r=2&th...

My last point (5) is something I know too little about to be able to expand on but adding carbon to the bio-cycle by using coal/oil is not addressed by CO2 offsetting. The sea is already starting to be saturated by CO2 and it is probably impossible to really bind all added co2 in new biomass that is then kept locked in.

My bottom line is that I am not against CO2 offsetting schemes, but I want to highlight several long term issues associated with it. People and politicians need to understand that this is not a permanent solution.
“It is just a small band-aid on a big bleeding wound.”

Cheers,
Daniel

A Short History of Energy (in the US) By: ben (24 replies) Sun, 01/27/2008 - 20:25