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247 comments on DrumBeat: December 20, 2007

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beggar on December 20, 2007 - 10:58am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Thanks for that info, paleobotanist -- and welcome to posting!

I sure do understand Hansen's fear of coal. "Clean coal" is a monumental oxymoron.

It is good to hear that scientists of Hansen's stature are now also speaking out on peak oil and moving the discussion to an immediate shift to renewables.

Did Hansen comment as to whether he sees nuclear power as renewable, or as an inevitable deal-with-the-devil that we'll have to make on our way to renewables?

Once again, thanks -- glad to hear of Hansen's comments.

I hope the MSM picks up on them!

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paleobotanist on December 20, 2007 - 11:35am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

I'm afraid I can't remember if Hansen commented on nuclear. The AGU is 5-days of ~20 parallel sessions of presentations frpm 8 am to 6 pm. Unless I write something down immediately, I can't remember ;^)

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beggar on December 20, 2007 - 12:21pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Quite understandable! :)

I think that the energy debate will soon enter a kind of "grief bargaining" phase -- our preferred responses will be to do what we have been doing: more liquid fuels and more driving; more war against those who keep "our" oil from us; more coal and an effort to revive nuclear power alongside that.

Culture change -- huge shifts in the way we live and think about our relationship to the planet as a whole -- are needed, and immediately and urgently.

Our political and economic leaders ought to be talking about this culture change daily and with great urgency -- so far they are only talking about how to try to continue business as usual.

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Gwydion on December 20, 2007 - 1:51pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

I'll make a comment about coal: the U.S. DOE is very interested in carbon sequestration. As it was explained to me, the only way to save the coal industry is to capture the carbon and sequester it. No congressman is going to be able to vote to dump the coal industry. Therefore, carbon sequestration must occur. Sounds great, but what's the problem? Pressurizing the CO2 and pumping it into the subsurface is expensive. If I remember correctly, at current prices it would just about double the cost of the coal.

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Starship Trooper on December 20, 2007 - 8:05pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Welcome in from the dark of lurking.

I recently heard Hansen and he's not a strong advocate for nuclear though he does allude that nuclear may be a viable option.

Here is a link to a recent paper on peak oil (ad his fear about coal):

http://pubs.giss.nasa.gov/docs/notyet/submitted_Kharecha_Hansen.pdf

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247 comments on DrumBeat: December 20, 2007

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