It Ain't Easy Being Geo-Green

I turned on NY 1 this morning to hear that the MTA has decided against buying more hydrogen-powered buses. The experient is over and gas won - a fleet of diesel powered buses is being purchased to replace the older buses being removed from service. That makes Thomas Friedman's column today in the NY Times even more important. Finally he's stopped talking about the Middle East and instead is talking about an even greater issue - the environment. He talks about implementing a "Geo-Green Strategy" for the US and this strategy is one that I wholeheartedly embrace and support. Here are the strategy's 3 main points:

1) We need a gasoline tax that would keep pump prices fixed at $4 a gallon, even if crude oil prices go down. At $4 a gallon (premium gasoline averages about $6 a gallon in Europe), we could change the car-buying habits of a large segment of the U.S. public, which would make it profitable for the car companies to convert more of their fleets to hybrid or ethanol engines, which over time could sharply reduce our oil consumption.

2) We need to start building nuclear power plants again. The new nuclear technology is safer and cleaner than ever. "The risks of climate change by continuing to rely on hydrocarbons are much greater than the risks of nuclear power," said Peter Schwartz, chairman of Global Business Network, a leading energy and strategy consulting firm. "Climate change is real and it poses a civilizational threat that [could] transform the carrying capacity of the entire planet."

3) And we need some kind of carbon tax that would move more industries from coal to wind, hydro and solar power, or other, cleaner fuels. The revenue from these taxes would go to pay down the deficit and the reduction in oil imports would help to strengthen the dollar and defuse competition for energy with China.

Heresy! $4 a gallon for gas?! MORE nuclear power plants?! Unfortunately, in a word, YES. In only 100 years, mankind has used up half of the world's oil supply by building the "modern" world. Our industrialized society, almost completely reliant on technology and computers nowadays, will come crashing down in the next 50 - 100 years unless we can come up with a cheaper and more efficient way of keeping it going. Using and abusing oil is not the way to do it. If you have a better idea, post a comment or let me know.