So here’s the thing: Part of being a good man means being a guy who believes in saving the earth, right? Some people asked why it was we ran a piece about why electric cars suck. First, cars are a good man obsession. You know, getting under the hood with your shirt off. But more than that, being a good man is being a green man.
Here’s the real pickle: we don’t see the nose despite our face sometimes. Guys are funny that way.
We made the argument that it all comes down the 100 year-old electric grid and a huge pile of coal. In a related story today, “Drawing the Line at Power Lines,” NYT environmental blogger ELISABETH ROSENTHAL makes the point that the objection to the Keystone XL natural gas pipeline is fine but in the absence of a broader plan about how to replace oil from the Middle East and in fact for moving even environmentally friendly power around the country we are no better off. “Using renewable energy to power machines and cars may be better for the planet, but will not obviate that necessity to transport power — and it may prove even harder to move politically.” She goes on:
“Large-scale energy is typically produced in remote places and inevitably needs to be transported to the populated areas where it is used. That is a fact whether the energy comes in the form of “dirty” traditional fuels like coal or oil, or in the form of cleaner natural gas. It is true even if it comes in the guise of “green” electricity, generated by the sun or wind.
There are pipelines, trains, trucks and high-voltage transmission lines. None of them are pretty, and all have environmental drawbacks. But if you want to drive your cars, heat your homes and watch TV, you will have to choose among these unpalatable options. Practically speaking, there is no energy equivalent of wireless.
Indeed, some of the most pitched energy battles being fought today involve not oil pipelines but “next generation” energy transport: the expansion of pipe networks for natural gas and the high-voltage transmission lines that connect large-scale wind and solar farms to population centers. And these systems are expanding rapidly as the United States shifts away from traditional fossil fuels.”
What say you to this, great green good men (and women)?