ROTFL Dave's nonsense is at least 20 years behind the reality of what the US market-based economy can and _has_ dealt with in incorporating externalities.
One need look no further than yet another pollutant from coal-fired power plants, namely sulfur, and the pollutant trading market that was developed to help curb pollution from it (For example.)
And the cost of removing the sulfur that is not 'traded off' is in fact also borne by the consumer and some of those costs are reabsorbed by innovative solutions to the waste stream.
In fact, the largest single-line sheet rock (plasterboard) plant the US, by the largest construction material company in the US, is a few miles from Dave's house and uses _exclusively_ synthetic gypsum made from the sulfur scrubbed from the stacks of power plants that burn coal from Kentucky and adjacent states where Dave lives. I've been given a technical tour of the plant and it is very impressive. Pollution abatement paid for in part by folks buying sheet rock. (Who'da thunk...)
Yet another Strawman Alert. No one I know or have heard of makes any such claim.
Biblical thinking on these matters in endemic to Dave's neighborhood.
ROTFL. The percentage is decreasing in part because other goals are being partially met. For example, expansion of nuclear has been delayed until a satisfactory manner of waste disposal/storage is available.
85% of dams in US will be near the end of their operational lives by 2020 (EOS, Transactions of the American Geophysical Union, 28 January 2003). Removal programs for small and medium sized dams is in full swing. Hence a reduction in hydropower capacity.Dave talks like the most simplistic of the enviros yet doesn't see himself in the mirror -- HE's doing the one gnashing and wailing ;-)
And I think you will find that Dave is once again spreading misinformation about something that he either wants to obfuscate, is entirely ignorant about, or both.
As the Chairman of the Issues and Policy Committee of one of the organization that filed suit in federal court against the US Army Corps of Engineers over mountaintop removal, I am thrilled to point y'all to yet another resounding victory in a string of victories in the March 23rd decision by US District Judge Robert C. Chambers
I gave an invited talk on specifically on mountaintop removal last month to about 80 faculty and staff members at Dave's local university, so the topic is fresh in my mind ...
Mentioning ways to use HA to reduce energy use in any and all ways makes this on-topic for comp.home.automation.
Where are the strawmen arguments agin turning off the lights when not used? Or using lower wattage lamps? Or programmable thermostats? Or attic fans? or ... Why aren't they pointing out that increasing insulation in homes (by its lonesome) won't solve 'the problem'?
.... Marc Marc_F_Hult