Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Alternative Energy - Why Alternative Energy Doesn't Offset Fossil Fuel Use




We generally assume that alternative energy production offsets fossil fuel use. But does it? GreenIllusions.org Subsidizing energy production expands energy supplies. We like that because it leads to lower energy costs. But, demand for energy subsequently increases. So we come right back to where we started with high demand and so-called insufficient supply. Well then we need more energy subsidies... And the cycle continues. About the book Green Illusions We don't have an energy crisis. We have a consumption crisis. And this book, which takes aim at cherished assumptions regarding energy, offers refreshingly straight talk about what's wrong with the way we think and talk about the problem. Though we generally believe we can solve environmental problems with more energy—more solar cells, wind turbines, and biofuels—alternative technologies come with their own side effects and limitations. How, for instance, do solar cells cause harm? Why can't engineers solve wind power's biggest obstacle? Why won't contraception solve the problem of overpopulation lying at the heart of our concerns about energy, and what will? This practical, environmentally informed, and lucid book persuasively argues for a change of perspective. If consumption is the problem, as Ozzie Zehner suggests, then we need to shift our focus from suspect alternative energies to improving social and political fundamentals: walkable communities, improved consumption, enlightened governance, and, most notably <b>...</b>



In the News:




TangataWhenua.com: Maori News & Views

Renewable Energy Doesn't Offset Fossil Fuel Use
TangataWhenua.com: Maori News & Views
Renewable energy technologies do not offset fossil fuel use in the United States, according to a new environmental book, Green Illusions (June 2012, University of Nebraska Press), by University of California – Berkeley visiting scholar Ozzie Zehner. In ...
Some EV critics simply hate carsTorque News
Green Illusion Advocates for Smarter Community Design, Not Electric CarsEV World

all 23 news articles »



Phasing-Out Fossil Fuel Subsidies Must Be One of the Major Outcomes of Rio+20
Huffington Post
The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that $66 billion in subsidies were provided to renewable energy in 2010. Note that the IEA estimate for fossil fuel subsidies only includes consumption subsidies in 37 countries so their value is lower.

and more »



Green Doesn't Mean Clean: An Overview of Environmental Marketing Claims
Living Green Magazine
... containing 25% recycled content. While seemingly less harmful to the environment than unrecycled paper, the process applied in the manufacture of “partially recycled paper” still involves cutting down trees and bleaching that paper, which offset ...




Alt-Energy Stock Outlook - June 2012 - Industry Outlook
NASDAQ
According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), the U.S. generated about 13% of its electricity from renewable energy sources in. ... The bleak picture in U.S. has been offset only through increases in home prices and falling energy prices ...

and more »



Solar Energy, a Green Illusion
Dallas Blog (blog)
The book discloses that solar cells do not offset greenhouse gases of reduce fossil fuel use in the U.S. Green Illusions is written by visiting scholar of the University of California – Berkeley, Ozzie Zoehner. He describes how the solar sector has ...







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