These guys could make climaticide deniers look brilliant:
EU plans 30 cities to lead world on "smart" energy
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Europe will select 30 cities to pioneer "smart" electricity grids and space-proven insulation as it seeks to lead the global race for green technology, a draft European Union document shows.
Who can argue with such noble goals?
Unfortunately there is a lot more to the story.
Billions of euros will have to be poured into research to avoid falling behind the United States, which is pouring $777 million into energy research, the draft, obtained by Reuters ahead of the plan's release next month, said.
"Basic research is chronically underfunded in the EU," the report said. "We need to stimulate and incentivize our best brains to push back the frontiers of science."
Hear a faint echo of the Soviet Union hastening its collapse by trying to keep up with Reagan's spending on his idiot Star Wars?
Not to worry. Only the most profoundly deaf wind and solar freaks will fail to hear the cacophony of noise soon.
The project envisages 25 to 30 "smart cities" -- highly insulated cities that glean energy from their waste and the sun and wind overhead and channel it down to the electric cars, trams and buses in the streets below.
How can anyone argue with such a wonder? There is even some baseload power in the mix from the despised thermal biomass. There is also emphasis on conservation of energy promising huge dividends from a much neglected source. Add in a smart grid and we have Paradise no?
Just wait.
Environmentalists gave the plan a mixed reception, saying it should have completely ditched coal power and nuclear.
[Gulp]
This is not the place I want to argue the idiocy intelligence of nuking the planet but coal?
The geothermal industry, which generates steady "baseload" power by tapping into the earth's natural heat, said it provided the perfect complement to fluctuating wind and solar and expressed dismay it had been ignored altogether.
"A renewable energy mix can not be reached in the future without geothermal energy," the European Geothermal Energy Council said.
Phoo on you blasphemous heretics. You would shake up Mother Earth and make Her very angry as against the kindness of relieving the Grand Lady of Her burdensome dirty coal deposits.
Coal-fired power stations will be pushed to trap and bury their carbon dioxide emissions
Hey maybe they can bury any of the minors dug out of collapsed coal mines too while people in places like West Virginia will have their vision improved when their mountain tops are buried in their rivers.
Speaking of Paradise:
geothermal has had a tough road to mass adoption. In Hawaii, native Hawaiians and environmentalists have opposed expansion of a profitable geothermal plant there due to concerns that an expansion would disturb sacred cultural grounds and could negatively impact native species. Hawaii has the highest power costs in the country and it also is the most reliant on imported oil for power generation
See here.
Is there really any future for the human species? Not always easy to find much hope left these days.
Best, Terry
,