NYT, Wired Pen Stories on Awfulness of Green Lifestyle

by William Yeatman on December 4, 2014

in Blog

Living green

Living green

It’s been an uncomfortable news-cycle for sustainable living, as both the New York Times and Wired have penned reports in the last 24 hours on the practical difficulties of the eco-lifestyle. Below, I’ve posted the titles and key pull quotes from both stories.

  • New York Times, “Exhausted by a House That Saves Energy,” 12/3/2014
    Key quote: “I was an idiot and built a house that was way too complicated and labor-intensive. Only a masochist could enjoy it.”
William Brennan December 4, 2014 at 10:46 pm

If you actually read the first story, you would see that the guy says he just picked a few wrong technologies, but if given the chance to do it all over again, would still attempt it.

Ben Gitlow December 5, 2014 at 10:04 am

Plug in electric cars require electricity to charge their batteries. In order for electric plug-ins to capture a significant fraction of the vehicle market a massive increase in electric generating power and transmission lines would be required. Given the low energy density of wind and solar power this will require a significant increase in fossil fired or nuclear powered electric generation. Someone qualified to run the numbers should show what this would mean in investment and CO2 emissions compared with internal combustion engines. In the early optimistic years of nuclear power there was concept of using nuclear power to generate Hydrogen to run electric power plants, vehicles and airplanes. Fuel-cell powered cars will require hydrogen generated by something.

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