Comments on y-intercept blog: Different Technologies Require Different Markets

The local political scene isn't that much better t...

2007-04-10T22:25:00.000-06:00

The local political scene isn't that much better than the national scene. The American manufacturing industry was doing a fair amount with co-generation some 40-50 years ago. There were all sorts of private efforts to brew up biofuels. These efforts were pretty much shut down by NIMBY politics.

Would you want some brewing up biodiesel next to your house?

One of the reasons that I ran from the Democratic Party was that, 20 to 30 years ago, they were systematically protesting against and shutting down the small firms that we wish we had today.

What happens with the political action method employed by the Democrats is that the system of political attacks ends up driving out the good people, leaving thick skinned power brokers holding all of the cards.

I know that libertarians place too much faith in business. As long as our government is ruled by the politics of personal destruction, the market is pretty much what we've got. In the case of solar, the free market will work. They dynamics are simple: when the technology is ready to be rolled out big time, it will happen. Subsisizing and pushing the technology into the marketplace before it is ready will just create waste.

Excellent post. You're right that big government ...

2007-04-10T18:30:00.000-06:00

Excellent post. You're right that big government (particularly when the government is run by oilmen) will always favor big energy models like ethanol, hydrogen cars, etc.

If we had a more responsible government, we could work toward local generation of electric power through solar and wind, improve battery performance and ecology and move toward plug-in hybrid and pure electric vehicles.

To really push in those directions, we need government to take the lead. The corporations that dominate energy and transportation will never allow such small-model technologies to take root. Entrepreneurs will try but will not get the capitalization to be successful or will be bought out and destroyed by big energy.

Of course when you have 65 lobbyists for every Congressman, it's highly unlikely that sane energy legislation will ever get through.

Very astute observations. It seems that we are tr...

2007-04-10T11:50:00.000-06:00

Very astute observations. It seems that we are trying to force alternative energy into the same large-scale distribution channels as as mainstream energy. You point out that this is a poor match. Failing to properly match harnessing and distribution methodologies with the source will render the source economically unviable.