Feb

4

I keep hearing about this new green deal. And while that sounds like a lovely idea, I wonder how that grid would be holding up in Chicago right now.

I also wonder how exactly–after we ban petroleum–we're still going to be able to produce solvents, diesel fuel, motor oil, bearing grease, ink, floor wax, ballpoint pens, football cleats, upholstery, sweaters, boats, insecticides, bicycle tires, automobile bodies, nail polish, fishing lures, dresses, tires, golf bags, perfumes, cassettes, dishwasher parts, tool boxes, shoe polish, motorcycle helmets, caulking, petroleum jelly, transparent tape, faucet washers, antiseptics, clotheslines, curtains, food preservatives, basketballs, soap (which is why it's hard to get that motor oil off your hands, vitamin capsules, antihistamines, purses, shoes, dashboards, cortisone, deodorant, footballs, dyes, panty hose, life jackets , rubbing alcohol, linings, skis, TV cabinets, shag rugs, electrician's tape, tool racks, car battery cases, epoxy, paint, mops, slacks, insect repellent, umbrellas, fertilizers, hair coloring, fishing rods, lipstick, denture adhesives, ice cube trays, synthetic rubbers, plastic wood, electric blankets, glycerin, fishing boots, aspirin, balloons, parachutes, telephones, pillows, enamel, dentures, shaving cream, ammonia, fan belts, movie films, model cars, folding doors, cameras, iphones, golf balls and toothpaste.

The list is longer, but I have to get up and go to work. Unfortunately, my day doesn't consist of dreaming about the reversal of industrial revolutions.


Comments

Name

Email

Website

Speak your mind

3 Comments so far

  1. NELSON RIDDLE on February 7, 2019 9:34 pm

    Nice list, and since those things are so important let’s not just but it up. But if demand for Petro as a fuel went down wouldn’t those things become cheaper?

  2. NELSON RIDDLE on February 7, 2019 9:35 pm

    Typo. Meant “not just use it up”.

  3. Daniel on February 16, 2019 12:43 am

    Found this site after spending a couple of hours on Youtube. It seems to be an insightful page, for intellectual discussions on various financial and economic topics. It surprised me then to read this very kind of dishonest and/or uninformed post on the Green New Deal of which I really don’t know much- I’m not even American. But I do know the premise for the entire post- that petroleum is to be outright banned according to this deal, is false. In fact, it is completely false, as the Green New Deal doesn’t really advocate any bans of any kind.

    What it states however, which would be the closest to the false premise in this post, is; “eliminating pollution and greenhouse gas emissions as much as technologically feasible”. That is pretty far from a “ban on petroleum”, so there wouldn’t really be any problem whatsoever to keep producing the items in your list. Even if production of petroleum was banned, it is technologically feasible to produce most of those items anyway (particularly a decade or two into the future), as there are plenty of ways to produce all kinds of different hydrocarbon products based on bio-materials for example.

    Regarding your statement about the electrical grid in Chicago- I’m a bit unsure of what you mean. Maybe that using electricity as a main energy source for heating homes is not possible? Well, in Scandinavia (where I’m from) virtually all homes are heated either by electricity in the homes or by district heating. And virtually all electric power generated in Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Finland is fossil fuel free (nuclear and hydro power being the main sources). And I can say with some certainty that most of the regions in these countries are a fair bit colder than Chicago most time of the year.

    Furthermore- one of the main points in the Green New Deal is to improve the rather old and outdated electrical grid in the USA and develop a more modern smart grid to handle more renewable power, but also creating a national market for trading electricity across the different states and regions. As I understand it, the electricity market in USA today is in some places still very much regulated, and it’s not interconnected nationally. Having more of a free market approach would probably lead to more cost efficient power production and distribution.

    And oh- I believe we are now in 2019- well passed what most people would define as the industrial revolution. The digital age, some call it. And as we at one point left horse power and steam engines behind us, our civilization will undoubtedly fully leave behind coal and petroleum power (as well as they have served us), and move on to more efficient, cleaner and modern technologies. As mankind has always tended to do.

Archives

Resources & Links

Search