WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The United States should be making all of its electricity with renewable and carbon-free energy in 10 years, former Vice President Al Gore said Thursday. "The survival of the United States of America as we know it is at risk," Gore said.
| There is an energy-related problem. It exists. It was brought to us by people like al-Gore, who now claim to have all the solutions. |
I shall be polite.
Al Gore is an idiot.
We use about 4 terrawatts of energy each year. A nuclear power plant generates about 1 - 1.5 gigawatts. A coal plant, ditto. We burn petroleum in our cars, we burn coal to make steel, we use energy for lots of stuff. Indeed, you can use energy usage as a surrogate for GDP and the ability of a society to live in comfort. 'Renewable', carbon-free energy generates currently about 0.5% of our energy needs, and there is no way in twinkie-land that we'll get to 100% in ten years.
And that means we'd have to cut our energy use substantially in order to meet the concerns of the Goracle. I invite him to lead the way in that regard by switching off all the damned stuff in his home. |
In a speech at Washington's Constitution Hall, Gore touched on an array of the nation's current woes, saying the economic, environmental and national security crises are all related. "I don't remember a time in our country when so many things seemed to be going so wrong simultaneously," Gore said.
| "Our lives have become perfectly woeful!" |
To begin to fix all the problems, Gore said, "the answer is to end our reliance on carbon-based fuels."
| "The answer is not to become productive and competetive again! We can't drill our way out of the problem! Don't even think about it! Don't try it! I'm warning you! Man-bear-pig is real!" |
Gore called on the country to produce all of its electricity from renewable and carbon-free sources in 10 years, a goal he compared to President Kennedy's challenge for the country to put a man on the moon in the 1960s.
| Kennedy's dream took a bare nine years to realize. Man walked on the moon within what should have been his lifetime. Then we went home from the moon and stopped going. People like al-Gore didn't think it was worth it. |
Gore chastised those who have proposed opening new areas for oil drilling as a solution to U.S. energy problems. "It is only a truly dysfunctional system that would buy into the perverse logic that the short-term answer to high gasoline prices is drilling for more oil 10 years from now," Gore said.
| "It's better to just continue talking about the subject, like we've been doing off and on since 1973. That's the way to get things done! Had we taken that approach in December, 1941, we'd have been ready for war by 1954, by Gum! Or we'da known the reason why!" |
New demand from places like China means oil supplies won't be able to meet increasing demand, Gore said. "The way to bring gas prices down is to end our dependence on oil and use the renewable sources that can give us the equivalent of $1 a gallon gasoline," the former vice president and Nobel laureate said.
| al-Gore doesn't believe in attacking a problem from as many angles as possible. When you take that approach, very often the eventual solution come from an angle you hadn't considered important when the project began. |
To counteract the effects of global warming, Gore has pushed for polices that would reduce the emission of carbon dioxide, such as greater energy conservation and the development of alternative energy sources like wind and solar energy. Gore has also advocated for governments to tax the emission of carbon dioxide.
But, of course...
Gore and the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 for increasing awareness of the climate change issue and for advocating for policies that could potentially offset the effects of global warming.
| Our problem isn't global warming, which evolves into "global climate change" every time temperatures go down. Nor is nuclear winter isn't just around the corner. Our problem is that we used to be the world's preeminent industrialized nation. Then we decided our children were to good to work in factories, actually producing things, and we exported the jobs to other nations. We've coasted into the "information society," selling each other information, while other countries makes the machines we use and the clothes on our backs. Our houses, with four times the square footage of the houses our parents bought, are too valuable to be located close to warehouses, refineries, factories, or shipyards. We've been cleaning the environment ever since Lady Bird Johnson. The nation, and much of the civilized world, is today squeaky clean compared to the heady days of my youth. But "lots" is never good enough. Theoretical perfection remains a goal that will never be achieved. |
Gore's return to the political arena has drawn increased scrutiny, particularly of his energy use. In 2007, the Tennessee Center for Policy Research chastised Gore for "extravagant energy use" at his Nashville, Tennessee, mansion. Gore subsequently has installed solar panels, a geothermal heating and cooling system, compact fluorescent light bulbs and other energy-saving technologies in his home.
Nuthin to see here. Get on your private jets and return to your homes. |