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From: mwm@ea.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.followup
Subject: Re: Re: lockpost blast, nuclear power, n - (nf)
Message-ID: <3400021@ea.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 17-Aug-84 14:02:00 EDT
Article-I.D.: ea.3400021
Posted: Fri Aug 17 14:02:00 1984
Date-Received: Tue, 21-Aug-84 07:15:36 EDT
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Nf-ID: #R:tekecs:-397200:ea:3400021:000:1622
Nf-From: ea!mwm    Aug 17 13:02:00 1984

#R:tekecs:-397200:ea:3400021:000:1622
ea!mwm    Aug 17 13:02:00 1984

> /***** ea:net.followup / tekecs!jeffw /  9:38 am  Aug 13, 1984 */
> >> Well, not really. The "best" new power "source" is:
> 
> >>		C O N S E R V A T I O N.
> 
> > Yes, but it only works in the *very* short term. My guess would be
> > that it won't even work long enough to bring a new power technology
> > on line.
> 
> Your guess, eh? Would that everyone on the net were as candid as you.

Thank you.

> Conservation has worked well enough already to play hob with the Bonneville
> power Administration's demand forecasts (nw US) and eliminate (for many
> years) the need for the WppSS nuclear plants - a large factor in the
> current brouhaha over the plants.

We seem to be suffering from a problem of different time scales. Bringing a
new power technology on line is a 30+ year proposition. I suspect that
conservation won't buy you *anything* beyond 300-400 years. Unless you're
willing to start cutting back on things, like the population.

> Whatever power sources we use, it makes sense to conserve (ie, not waste)
> to the best of our ability, both for (inextricably related) economic and
> ecological reasons.
> 
> 				Jeff Winslow

Of course. However, we shouldn't get into the habit of depriving ourselves
in the name of conservation. As we replace things, or as it begins to make
economic sense, we should build more energy-efficient things.

The thing to avoid is the false economy of spending more energy installing
conservation equipment/materials than we save with them over their expected
life span. As in all things, some thought, and maybe a little calculation,
before you act are in order.