Book club - Plan B 3.0

This is not a real recommendation, as I have not read Plan B 3.0 – Mobilizing to Save Civilization by Lester Brown. I merely heard it discussed on an NPR program, and was really intrigued by it. So, it's on my to-do list, and best of all the entire work is available for free online!

www.earthpolicy.org

Here's an example of the topics and solutions discussed in the book:

If we were serious about clean energy and breaking our dependence on imported oil, we could do it. Wind power could be developed at an Apollo-project scale and priority. We could realistically have 3 million megawatts of electricity generating capacity by 2020. This would provide 40% of the world’s electricity needs – so the US could become an energy exporter. To do this, 1.5M wind turbines would need to be built, along with the infrastructure. Combine this with plug-in hybrids and you’re close to a complete solution that can cut our carbon emissions by 80% by 2020.

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Of course, my take on this topic is not just doing what is right and right for the planet, but also understanding how current political realities are the biggest obstacle.

The Bush administration had the oil industry write the US energy policy that would be most beneficial to them, and the Republican Congress, to a person, happily enacted it. Therefore it is no wonder that our energy issues enrich the giant corporations at the expense of consumers and massive pollution. Gains in efficiency, scrubbing existing dirty plants, developing renewable power generation – all hitting federal-level roadblocks in order to keep us burning coal as cheaply as possible, and importing oil as expensively as possible.

The rest of the world does not think like the GOP neocons.

Algeria is looking ahead to the day when their oil runs out, and they’re building 6000 megawatt solar power plants in the desert in order to export solar electricity, via cable, to Europe.

In Germany all new buildings will have to have solar water and space heating facility on the roof. It’s common for homes to have 2-way meters so if they produce more electricity than they’re using, it is automatically sold back to the electric utility.

Iceland used to be 100% coal for heating homes, and is now 90% geothermal.

Then there’s New Zealand. They are working to become completely carbon-neutral. 70% of electricity generated from renewable sources, and they’re increasing that to 90%. They’re cutting auto fuel use in half. They're planting ½ million acres of trees. Here are some links:
www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/02/13/asia/AS-GEN-New-Zealand-Green-Nation.php
news.independent.co.uk/world/australasia/article2268094.ece
www.sciencealert.com.au/news/20072005-15898-2.html


Why must the US look to other countries to see what leadership and planning for the future looks like? We should be leading.