Climate control

"The demonstrators are demanding 100% clean energy. "

And I am demanding an increase in my salary to offset inflation, but I'm probably not going to get it.

The demonstrators are demanding 100% clean energy.

99% might be possible, one percent less for pollution generated by these demonstrators (!)

I am all for clean energy! Thus far it does not exist. The USA wasted an opportunity in '09' when it was an Obama initiative. The trillions of dollars were squandered. Wasted, lost, and no return! Do it right and I can jump in with both feet.

The demonstrators are demanding 100% clean energy.

The science does not support such pie in the sky sentiments. But reality never seems to deter the far Left from insisting on ridiculously stupid ideas like this. Perhaps these leaders can mandate that all humans live in caves and survive by foraging for nuts and berries.

Aiming for 100% and only reaching 70% is still better than being a climate criminal by expanding use of fossil fuels or just accepting over 2 degrees warming and massive social unrest by doing nothing but bash those who care about the future.

Abe, Is that a pickle in your pocket or are you just happy to see Angela?

Dont bother trying to tell Harper. He doesnt believe climate change exists.

PM Abe and the LDP are allowing the existing utility companies to have a veto over the serious development of renewable sources of energy in Japan's markets. As such Abe, et al are serving the interests of the utility companies, and the nuclear power industry, who wish to sustain the status quo reliance on fossil fuels and/or nuclear power. . Instead, the need is to increase the grid's capacity in order to allow clean renewable energy to increase its share of the energy market. This is what the majority of citizens, who are opposed to the re-start of nuclear power plants, want. Abe, however, is more interested in meeting the needs of the nuclear power industry to get up and running again asap.

climate criminal

Really, 'climate criminal'? Are you going to suggest jailing people for denying climate change, like they jail Holocaust revisionists?

@Onniyama

Dont bother trying to tell Harper. He doesnt believe climate change exists.

Of course he doesn't. Rising temperatures in the north could result in a great economic and agricultural boon for Canada.

The bottom line with clean energy is that many types of clean energy are already cheaper per unit than the non-renewable alternatives, however the existing infrastructure is all geared towards non-renewable energy and needs to be slowly written off, the entire national power grid overhauled, etc.

It is a massive project that cannot be achieved within any politician's term... so they don't care. No sense in starting a project that some other person will claim credit for when it is done. The energy businesses likewise don't want the massive expense and want to milk their old structures for the last penny of profit, so they're not rushing to do anything about it either.

And the consumer? We have no choice. Its either use the state-supported energy monopoly or try to scrape together enough money to install a few solar panels (which are currently MASSIVELY overpriced in Japan - but no surprises there, the energy companies don't like competition) - and even once we have the panels in all they'll do is reduce our reliance on the grid, not remove it.

The only real solution is to make politicians understand that this is an area where the voters will allow no compromise - and good luck with that, that Japanese voting public are notoriously complacent.

100 years ago, nobody thought it possible that almost 100% of energy would be generated from petroleum, therefore the opposite must also be possible. Almost 100% of energy being generated from clean sources of energy not having anything to do with fossil fuels.

Of course, when the fossil fuels run out we WILL be living in caves and foraging for nuts and berries but we can then attribute it to some "far left" conspiracy, cos they always hated our feedom to burn. Though, I guess the "far right", conservative do-nothings have to believe that oil is inexhaustible as well as there being no climate consequences of burning it. Or maybe they believe we can burn rocks or seawater next. There will always be something to burn, right?

These protest fools are "protesting" for more government schemes and interference.... if anybody believes that the politicians are not happy about that, he should buy a bridge in Brookly.

"We've got to ride the global-warming issue. Even if the theory of global warming is wrong, we will be doing the right thing, in terms of economic policy and environmental policy." (Timothy Wirth, Clinton Administration Undersecretary of State)

The world has to slow down its manufacturing pace in order to use only clean energies, which seems quite impossible to me. Also, I wonder if we can sustain lives of people only using clean energies.

Moonraker:

" Of course, when the fossil fuels run out we WILL be living in caves and foraging for nuts and berries but we can then attribute it to some "far left" conspiracy, cos they always hated our feedom to burn. "

Hold the horses! So you are saying that we have a problem when fossil fuel ressources run out? I would agree. But what happened to all that readily available, cheap, clean and wonderful "green energy" that is supposedly out there? I thought the only reason that we consume fossil fuels is because the evil fossil fuel industry makes us to. Isn´t that the argument we always here? Or are you trying to have it both ways?

Where do I say anywhere in any post ever that the fossil fuel industry makes us use fossil fuel? We use it because it is cheap and high density energy. But after the peak it will quickly become expensive. Then bets are off. We need the energy from this fossil fuel to create the sustainable energy infrastructure but we are too stupid and short-sighted to do this. Plus we share the planet with do-nothings and those who believe that sustainable energy is some kind of communist conspiracy. This sustainable energy infrastructure may also help against global warming too in the end because it may mean we don't have to dig up and burn everything at increasing cost in money and, crucially, energy.