Reply #6: Lovins' Utopia is fueled by Natural Gas.

[hunter]

I'm not digging through my notes, but I remember Lovins and David Brower were utterly captivated by cogeneration, describing how the nation's natural gas pipeline system was going to evolve into a magnificent renewable energy distribution system, without the use of ugly disruptive high voltage power lines. For some reason this was more acceptable to them than the HVDC power lines, which were my interest at the time. I'm guessing it was because HVDC implied a nuclear powered energy infrastructure, but natural gas pipelines didn't. The way they saw it fossil natural gas would be gradually supplanted by gas produced in giant digesters, and otherwise synthesised in some unspecified matter. Eventually the system would be adapted to hydrogen.

You can just imagine David Brower's horror when the energy companies started extoling the virtues of LNG imports. If I recall correctly, Lovins was less upset about where the fuel for his super-duper-efficient gas fired toys would be coming from. These days it looks like it won't matter anyway, since the U.S. dollar will not be strong enough to attract LNG from anywhere, and the conservation is going to be accomplished by demand destruction. It is less capital intensive to build electric power plants and have families huddling around 1 kilowatt heaters in the winter than to make sufficient quantities of natural gas from coal.

But both these guys have a history of living high off the indulgences of some rather creepy associates. Optimism can blind a person to a lot of rotteness in the world.

Enron especially ate a lot of these guys for lunch.

Patagonia First In California To Commit To 100% Wind Energy

Enron's New Wind Project To Serve As Source

VENTURA, CA — July 6, 1998 — Patagonia, Inc., the Ventura-based outdoor clothing company, announced today it has contracted with Enron Energy Services, a subsidiary of Enron Corp., to supply renewable energy for all its California electricity needs.

This step marks Patagonia as the first company in California to commit to 100 percent wind energy. Patagonia selected Enron because of the energy service provider's intention to provide power from newly created generating capacity.

"We believe energy efficiency and clean power can create competitive advantage for us," said David Olsen, Patagonia's Chief Executive Officer. "With the environmental costs of non-renewable energy sources becoming less supportable every year, we're pleased to work with Enron to jump-start a market among corporations for new, renewable generation."

http://www.eere.energy.gov/greenpower/buying/pr/patagonia_998_pr.html

My own wretched cynicism about all these energy issues was hard won and pretty well established by 1986. There is simply too much tainted money flying around to take anything at face value.

I think the true solutions to the problems will occur as the result of Social Justice movements. The wealthy will have their expensive toys -- their hybrid cars, their solar panels, their home grown rocky mountain bananas -- but how do you keep a kid living in poverty in some decrepit Colorado trailer park warm in the winter?