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What energy challenges are we facing? How can we meet the rising demand without harming the planet? What are some viable solutions for the near and long-term future? In a special energy issue of National Geographic, executive editors Dennis Dimick and Tim Appenzeller, explore these questions, discussed alternative energy resources and looked at how these challenges and decisions will impact our lives. The online chat took place at 12 p.m. ET on April 22.
Dennis Dimick is National Geographic magazine's executive editor for the environment. He holds degrees in agriculture from Oregon State and agricultural journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and regularly presents a slide show lecture on the collision between energy and climate.
Tim Appenzeller is executive editor at National Geographic magazine. Before starting at the magazine in 2004, he spent more than 20 years as an editor and writer for such publications as Time-Life Books, Scientific American, The Sciences, Science and U.S. News & World Report. His National Geographic article "The Case of the Missing Carbon" won the Walter Sullivan award for excellence in science journalism in 2005, and his June 2007 cover story on global warming, "The Big Thaw," was recognized for best explanatory reporting by the Society for Environmental Journalists.
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Rockville, Md.: When we work to prevent a warmer future, are we missing anything? Is there a chance that an ice age may return and be caused by factors outside our atmosphere - like interstellar gas or changes in orbits? If so, would we want a green house effect?
I have the feeling we are making a big bet on just one number - the warmer future.
Science should have an answer for every possible future.
Tim Appenzeller: Well, we know the timing of the orbital changes that trigger ice ages, and we know that they take tens of thousands of years to develop. There's virtually no chance that one will take hold in the next few decades. Whereas we know we are warming the planet right now, and it's a virtual certainty that the warming will continue and accelerate unless we change our energy system drastically. So that's the future we need to prepare for.
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Hoboken, N.J.: Good Afternoon - Some legislators in Washington believe a comprehensive energy plan needs to steer clear of any references to climate change. Energy and the environment seem to be a chicken and egg problem - forever linked. Do you agree or disagree and if you disagree, what is the foundation of their arguments?
Dennis Dimick: Good question. I agree. Energy and climate are interconnected, two halves of the same discussion. If you want to address the climate question -- to try and reduce the rising temperatures we see -- you need to find ways to get carbon emissions out of the energy system.
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Bethesda, Md.: Do you have any tips of things we can do at home to help save energy that are beyond the obvious (replacing lightbulbs, unplugging unused appliances or device chargers, new windows, efficient appliances, etc.)
Dennis Dimick: Well you name a lot of the good ones. I guess once you do these, then how you move around is good to look at. How much driving alone, is it possible to use mass transit, assuming the mass transit is there to use. (That's often a big "if.") Bigger improvements comes as you make bigger decisions. If you are going to refurb or buy a house, the efficiency of the heating systems, insulation in the house can be looked at. There are now tax credits for installing energy efficient furnaces. Also, if you are in a position to move to or live in a place where you don't need to use a car this can help.
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Sandwich, Mass.: Transportation is our largest consumer of oil and thus our largest emitter of carbon. Does it seem we are putting too much hope in car manufacturers to help solve the problem? Are they up to the challenge?
Dennis Dimick: Transportation is a big emitter of carbon, you are right. Actually the carbon emissions produced by electricity generation are also a huge contributor to greenhouse pollution. For example about half of our electricity comes from coal, and this produces significant carbon emissions too. As to transportation, buying and driving cars that get better fuel efficiency can only help, and driving less and using mass transit more can help too.
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Freising, Germany: What is the current status of research into biofuels created by algae? Is the realization of industrial level production within sight and could this technology, installed in coal fired power plants for instance, actually be used one day to remove CO2 from the atmosphere?
Dennis Dimick: As far as I know the research is small scale. We address this in our energy special issue and also discussed it in an article on biofuels in October 2007. Algae biofuels setups are being placed near coal plants and the algae is being fertilized with the CO2 from the power plant smokestacks. The big question, like with most of the alternative energies, is scale. Can this scale up to produce a significant amount liquid fuels that can replace petroleum?
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Washington, D.C.: So how much of Obama's energy policies will really help the environment and our future? Or is it all smoke and mirrors?
Tim Appenzeller: Obama's energy policies could help enormously, if they lead to real action, either by Congress or the regulatory agencies. For instance, the only way to move the energy system away from carbon-intensive fuels is to put a price on carbon, which Obama's cap-and-trade scheme for emissions would do.
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Princeton, N.J.: The picture of the turbaned man selling gasoline out of jars was amazing, as were many of the other photos. Serious kudos to the photographers.
Dennis Dimick: Thanks very much. That fellow was sitting in a potentially pretty volatile place with all those glass jars of gasoline around him.
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Los Angeles, Calif.: Is there anywhere in the energy crisis (can you call it a crisis?) where you see the U.S. is succeeding or do we still have a long way to go? Also, what do you see as our biggest barrier from accomplishing our goals: government, people, other nations?
Tim Appenzeller: There are a few bright spots--the rapid growth in wind and solar power, for instance. But the overall picture, of rising carbon emissions and growing dependence on finite energy sources like oil, isn't encouraging. (The economic crisis has helped for the moment, bringing down carbon emissions and oil consumption, but that's not the kind of help we want!) There's no one barrier to change; it's the whole system we've grown up with, of growth and prosperity based on lavish use of fossil fuels, that has to change. Government, the public, business, other countries--we're all invested in it.
Dennis Dimick: One place where there is a bright spot in the U.S. is California. Their per capita use of electricity is about 70 percent of the national average. We can learn from what they have done thru regulations and incentives to lower electric use per person yet still live a good life.
Read the entire interview:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 01743.html |
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