How green is alternative energy?

Ars Technica has a interesting writeup on a study of the life cycle of alternative energy sources, and their total environmental impact. The article is called The ‘greenness’ of alternative energy sources. It looked at the “flow of material and energy used in the construction, operation, and ultimate decommissioning of a renewable energy supply. In addition to these terms, it takes into account the impact of manufacturing the materials needed to extract energy, as well as waste generated by the process.” The quick summary: wind and geothermal do the best, with solar needing wide scale use before its efficiency gets to fossil fuel levels – but dramatically lower on the pollution side, of course.

Debtor Nation

Harvard Magazine has a good article up online called Debtor Nation. The four pages give an overview of the current situation with the US economy and currency and its dependence on debt.

The global imbalances created by this dynamic of American borrowing and foreign lending appear stable for now, but if they slip suddenly, that could pose serious dangers for middle- and working-class Americans through soaring interest rates, a crash in the housing market, and sharply higher prices for anything no longer made domestically.

“We are at full employment, maybe more than full employment.” Furthermore, he notes, we have large liabilities ahead of us associated with an aging workforce, due not so much to Social Security as to the rising healthcare costs covered by Medicare. “There is absolutely no excuse to be running a government deficit of even 2 percent in the federal account, as we are doing now, when we are at full employment and the retirement of the baby-boom generation is right around the corner”

Diving in the park

I did a 45 minute dive at the La Jolla Cove kelp beds this morning with a buddy. Visibility was only 5-10 feet. But the surface temp was 74, and the coldest water we hit was 64 degrees. We saw a lot of kelp bass and a few large schools out, but no large fish like sheephead or giant black sea bass. We did see a horn shark… but it doesn’t count, since it was dead and becoming food. Near the end of the dive we found a huge California spiny lobster, much larger than I’d ever seen here. It was hard to tell exactly how large it was, since it was holed up. But I would guess that head to tail it was over two feet long. The smallest tips of its legs were the size of my thumb. They can live up to 150 years old, so this guy was probably older than me.

China flexing

This is hardly surprising:

Two Chinese officials at leading Communist Party bodies have given interviews in recent days warning, for the first time, that Beijing may use its $1,330bn (£658bn) of foreign reserves as a political weapon to counter pressure from the US Congress. Shifts in Chinese policy are often announced through key think tanks and academies.

Described as China’s “nuclear option” in the state media, such action could trigger a dollar crash at a time when the US currency is breaking down through historic support levels.

You can’t expect someone to buy up all of your debt, prop up your currency, and then not use it as a bargaining chip.

The threats play into the presidential electoral campaign of Hillary Clinton, who has called for restrictive legislation to prevent America being “held hostage to economic decisions being made in Beijing, Shanghai or Tokyo”. She said foreign control over 44pc of the US national debt had left America acutely vulnerable.

Exactly what restrictive legislation would prevent America from being held hostage? Stop China from buying US debt? They are the only ones that want it! Here is the situation for you Hillary:

The US govt has been spending a hell of a lot more than it makes, a good chunk of that being for war. China wanted the US to keep buying goods, so it picked up the slack and bought up all the US debt. The US continued to finance the housing bubble. China now holds enough US cash to decimate the dollar, and a big enough trade deficit that they are under little threat from protectionist measures. If the US makes any moves this way, China holds all the cards.

Near as I can tell, the only solution is to get our financial house in order. Cut spending, raise taxes, and get out from under the massive debt that *my* generation and younger will be left dealing with.