A timeline to end FOSSIL FUELS

[txlibdem]

I believe we need to greatly increase building solar farms in the desert (with sensitivity and relocation of endangered species there); likewise put far more resources into building offshore wind farms as well as more onshore wind farms. But in addition to building these energy generation facilities, we need to have energy storage so the "extra" energy from these sources is not wasted.

To facilitate a discussion, I jotted down the following timeline for reducing energy usage and (along with the increasing generation from renewable energy) beginning the end of fossil fuels. The following assumes that the $72 Billion we currently give to Big Oil is removed and using that to build more solar, wind, and energy storage adequate to make renewable energy available 24 hours a day. Let's discuss:

2011 -- Begin to reduce our use of energy in all ways possible, insulate our homes and buildings, close up any places where heat escapes (use caulk, spray foam, small pieces of insulation, etc.), switch to LED light bulbs, use solar hot water and solar air heating, plan trips in your vehicle wisely to avoid extra oil use wherever possible.

2015 -- Use geothermal heating and cooling and passive solar techniques in all new construction, energy reductions of 80% to 90%.

2020 -- If you haven't done so already, trade in your fossil burner vehicle for a clean, efficient electric vehicle.

2025 -- Begin wide scale construction of vertical farms to remove the 20% of oil that our current farming methods use. This reduces water consumption by 90% to 95%. It will also greatly reduce so-called "food miles" from transporting food thousands of miles, wasting oil and causing huge amounts of pollution.

2030 -- End the use of coal

2040 -- End the use of oil (with the exception of plastic that cannot yet be made by plants or algae at that time)

2050 -- End the use of natural gas

[azul]

1. Nice try, but your plan may have neglected the entrenched interests.

The unlimited propaganda budget of the fossil fuels/military industry: "Oil, it's to die for."

Sorry if I seem cynical, but the situation is now becoming dire and science is having a difficult time getting the word out through a corrupted media filter. At least you are trying to plan a future, thanks for that. We all have to do what we can individually.

[txlibdem]

2. The dead will name their killer: Oil and Coal

In the "modernized" nations, perhaps, most of the deaths are due to health problems caused by fossil fuels. In Nigeria, however, oil companies are complicit in outright murder of anti-oil protesters as well as shocking environmental abuses; .

This evil is no surprise to me. We don't see the evil face of oil, the murders and the "disappeared" protesters.

[txlibdem]

3. Entrenched interests rely on OUR collective complicity, our passive fatalism

Every dollar you spend is kind of like a vote. By giving a retailer your money you are endorsing not only their policies but also the policies of the corporations that own that retailer, and the web of corporations that own (in whole or in large part) that corporation.

Look at the 99% Movement's call for people to get their money out of the big banks and put it into credit unions. It's going to cost those banks big bucks over time.

Now multiply that by everything you eat, drink, use, wear, and do. My motto is F**k the 1% and F**k the 147 corporations that own or control 40% of all global wealth.

[4dsc]

4. No replacement for oil

So no matter what you believe simply put there is not alternative to oil. You somehow believe that alternatives will give us what we currently get from oil yet they are dependent upon oil.

You seem to believe you can have your cake and eat it too.

[azul]

5. It's not really healthy to breathe the stuff.

The sun can power this world full of people in a sustainable way. Try to disprove that statement, if you please.

What we currently get from oil is pollution and disease and wars. An obvious dead ending that we would be wise to sidestep.

[4dsc]

6. The Sun cannot grease the wheels of our society

in case you missed it, we are an oil based society and oil is the lifeline that greases the wheels of production and sustains our lives.

Now tell me how solar is going to grease the wheels of our society?

[txlibdem]

7. Perhaps with Canola Oil? Or Peanut Oil?

Greasy wheels are only a small part of the puzzle. Your pro-oil stance is evident but you fail to realize that solar is more than just the PV panels you see on rooftops.

Solar energy from the sun warms the planet. You can see that in a parked car - it always gets hotter inside than out because the energy from the sun is coming through the car windows and being absorbed by the seats and dashboard. It's easy to see that the sun gives us much more than electricity.

We are an oil based society *today* because of the political power lobbyists give to the petro industry. The sun can easily replace everything that industry now does with fossil fuels -- by concentrating the sun and using that heat to run our industrial processes. Transportation is far more efficient with electric vehicles than petro chemical powered ones. The cost per mile is between 1/3rd and 1/5th that of oil.

Oil is truly a dinosaur whose time has long passed. Let's bury it with the bones of its source material and the bones of the dead from all of our oil wars.