Attention Environmentalists: Keep your SUV.

[wtmusic]

"Forget organics.
Go nuclear.
Screw the Spotted Owl.
Live Urban.
Crank the A/C.

If you're serious about global warming, only one thing matters: Cutting carbon. That means facing some inconvenient truths."

(Cover story of June WIRED Magazine, not available online yet.)

With their usual kitschy flair, WIRED attempts to leapfrog the environmentalist movement by taking on a few pop culture stereotypes while ignoring consumption. That's the American way, isn't it?

Here is their justification for "Crank the A/C":

"In the Northeast, a typical house heated by fuel oil emits 13,000 lbs of CO2 annually. Cooling a similar dwelling in Phoenix produces only 900 lbs of CO2 a year." YEAH! When those Cambridge academics stop messing up the planet, they can talk about my casa in Tucson with the thermostat set to 'Meat Locker'!

And for "Keep Your SUV":

"Pound for pound, making a Prius contributes more carbon to the atmosphere than making a Hummer". And pound for pound, the Prius gets 106 mpg compared to the Hummer H2. Nitwits.

The article goes on to make valid points about nuclear, living in cities, giving up meat, etc. But the confrontational style -- "the war on greenhouse gases is too important to be left to the environmentalists" -- sounds more intent on giving American uberconsumers reasons to keep on doing what they're doing rather than change. Unmentioned: how much carbon does it create to print and deliver WIRED to each subscriber's house?

[Goat or Panic]

1. "Pound for pound?"

I'm sure it's a HUGE difference. Well worth the cost of gas and the crappy milage.

:sarcasm:

[sam sarrha]

9. that is just the ReThuglican way, distort, deceive, confuse, spin, lie, better live'n thru profit

they were the Farengae in Star Trek

[tinrobot]

15. The Hummer H2 weighs 6400 pounds, Prius 2765 pounds.

When you multiply it out, I'd strongly suspect the Hummer costs more per vehicle.

Add in the lifetime carbon consumption of the vehicles themselves and it's no contest.

[CRF450]

16. My Dakota is only 300 pounds less, yet gets better fuel milage, 16mpg

[Dogmudgeon]

2. The Prius takes a lot of energy to manufacture

I think that's the point. For now, hybrid automobiles are a good choice, but in the long run, it's another unsustainable technology. I think that we'll find we have to make a lot of those temporary-expedient decisions in the next few decades.

Wired appeals to the bleeding edge of hipdom; I'd take the story with a big grain of salt. Still, if it speaks effectively to a crowd of smarter-than-you smartasses, it may motivate some of them to practice ecologically sounder habits. And you can't go wrong appealing to the contrarian nature of gooks.

--p!

[Tesha]

7. The story almost certainly ignores the fact that the nickel in the NiMH battery...

is entirely recoverable at a relatively small expenditure
of energy.

Yes, mining and refining the nickel was energy-epxensive,
but once you have it, you don't lose it, you keep re-using
it.

Tesha

[wtmusic]

12. It does. nt

[Tesha]

13. Thanks for confirming that. (NT)

[glowing]

3. Sorry, I'm not ever going to agree that Nuclear is a great option..

not when the companies behind them rake in the dough and tax payers pay out big time.. not when developing solar technologies is so much cheaper.. Why doesn't the govt subsidize homeowners.. and have them install solar technology to power their homes.. at times during the year, the excess power goes back to the power companies.. and they pay you for the energy you provide.. I will not agree that Nuclear is the saving grace of our time... no way.. not when I know as much as I do about that industry.

[Dogmudgeon]

19. You should post more about "that industry"

Whatever your point of view may be on nuclear energy, the business of nuclear energy generation is one of the most intensely-scrutinized industries in history. It's like with cops and reporters, and pedophiles -- every other activist wants to be the one to get the Big Bust on the nuclear industry.

An analysis of corporate ownership of energy would be quite interesting. There are very "good" reasons why the nuclear industry gets 95% of the scrutiny ... and all other forms collectively get 5%.

--p!

[bhikkhu]

4. Transitions are not perfect, but in this case they are obligatory

Wired seems very much behind the times here, and backing the wrong horse.

[rawtribe]

5. Recycled Rubbish

http://www.autobloggreen.com/2006/10/05/oh-so-a-hummer-is-not-greener-a-prius/

[Eric J in MN]

6. Is their point about Phoenix....

...that air conditioning creates less CO2 than heating?

[Tesha]

8. Their sub-rosa point probably has more to do with nuclear energy and hydro. (NT)

[wtmusic]

11. It takes less energy to cool a house by 1 degree than to heat it

by the same. And the difference between 20° and 72° is greater than 112° and 72°.

Therefore, coolers have a carte blanche to waste energy. :crazy:

[Tesha]

14. My sarcasm detector just went "boink"!

> It takes less energy to cool a house by 1 degree than to heat it
> by the same.

My sarcasm detector just went "boink" on that one! What you
say is true for most ordinary heat sources (burning fuel,
electrical heat, etc.) but it's not true for "heat pumps"
whether they extract their heat from the air or ground water.
And for ground water heat pumps, the heat reserve is commonly
a lot hotter than the ambient air (perhaps 40 or 50F versus
10 or 20F) so they have less "distance" to pump the heat
across...


> And the difference between 20° and 72° is greater than 112° and 72°.

...even when compared to that Phoenix air-conditioner.

Tesha

[tinrobot]

20. Don't forget that that air conditioning generates heat

For every BTU of cooling you create more than another BTU of heat on the other side of the air conditioner. So the air conditioner has to work harder as the outside air gets hotter.

This is one reason why Phoenix is 5-10 degrees hotter in the summer than it was 30 years ago when I grew up there. (the other reasons are more cars, more concrete, more everything)

[dbackjon]

21. A/C exhaust has little or nothing to do with it

Urban Heat Island effect has EVERYTHING to do with it. The hotter temps are in the nighttime - the heat sink effect of pavement, buildings, etc keeps Phoenix warmer at night.

Day time temps have not gone up 5-10 degrees.

[tinrobot]

22. It's getting to 110 during the day a lot more days of the year...

In the 1950s, for example, the temperature rose to 110 or higher an average of 6.7 days per year. In the 1960s it was 10.3 days per year; in the 1980s it was 19 days per year, and in the 2000s (through Aug. 21, 2007), 21.9 per year, according to the National Weather Service.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0830/p01s01-wogi.htm

The article is about the heat island effect, btw...

[Javaman]

10. Regardless of what kind of car you drive, it still takes between

20 and 50 barrels of oil to make one car. Just one!

I'm keeping my car until it dies, then buying an old used one and converting it to electric.

[JohnWxy]

17. to see the numbers comparing different mpgs, inflation of gas price over six years check out link:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=115x149144


over a few years even a relatively small difference in mileage really mounts up. THis chart (at link) allows you to vary inflation rate, miles driven per year and miles per gallon and shows what six years total costs come to. IT'll blow your mind.

[Name removed]

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