MY gummint in action

[firecat]

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/

There were 12 entries on the blog yesterday and today. I am pretty impressed by all of them.

(Except the one about how driving the Chevy Volt is "zero emissions". Um, generating the electrical power that comes into your home creates emissions.)

Comments

[jenk]

generating the electrical power that comes into your home creates emissions

Really depends on where you're getting your power from. Hydroelectric dams do not burn fossil fuels...some carbon dioxide and methane can be generated by the reservoirs in some climates if there's decaying plant material in them, but it's nothing like a coal plant.

But yes, "zero emissions from the car, emissions from the production of electricity at your home vary" is different from "zero emissions".

(I grew up in Washington, which is to say, with hydroelectric power. Up here, burning fossil fuels to generate electricity is considered silly / stupid / wasteful / damaging - but the environmental damage from the dams is acceptable. It's one of those topics that can divide a room into Native Washingtonians vs Outsiders quite effectively.)

[ckd]

Well, there's always the nuclear fission option, except for how well that worked in Washington. (If your organization's acronym can be pronounced "whoops", that's a bad sign.)

[jenk]

As if Hanford wasn't already the poster child of How Not To Do Nuclear Anything... ;)

[firecat]

"zero emissions from the car, emissions from the production of electricity at your home vary"

Yes, that I wouldn't have objected to.

And granted it was a short speech and not by Obama himself so not as likely to be all properly footnoted.

[micheinnz.livejournal.com]

There is no such thing as an environmentally-neutral form of electricity generation.

There are only better and worse options. Which is which depends on the location.

I think it's generally agreed that fossil fuels are to be regarded as a pretty poor option in most places, now.

[futabachan.livejournal.com]

But the emissions from the power plant aren't dumping lots of smog from millions of less efficient little plants all over the city where everyone lives and has to breathe. And a power plant is a single central point attached to an unpopular and deep-pocketed entity that can be put on the hook for cleaning up their act.

And there's also nuclear and hydro; we have a lot of both in Canada. And wind power is coming.

[firecat]

Good points. I think that moving to electric cars makes sense, and I'm hoping all those cleaner sources of energy grow a lot really soon, but I'm geeky enough to want the "zero emissions" claim rephrased or footnoted.

[whumpdotcom.livejournal.com]

The "but what about the electricity" is a red herring constantly trotted out by the oil companies and climate change denialists. And as you point out, it's easier to trap emissions in the stack at a generator at the tailpipe.