Upon hearing Stephen T. Lee of the Electric Power Research Institute speak at the Carnegie Mellon Smart Grid Conference in March, Leonard S. Hyman of Black & Veatch recalled that "I had one of those ‘ahahe's on-to-something’ moments. Putting together electric cars and power plants with a strategy to reduce carbon emissions? That's worth talking about.” Leonard Hyman introduced this topic in his lead article as the Holistic Solution.
The Holistic Solution
We need a game changer, and we need one soon. Congress will wrangle about carbon trading; coal burners and coal miners will fight to delay action, industrialists will claim that the Chinese will gain an advantage if we act before they do, and neither windmills nor nuclear power plants will make a significant dent in greenhouse gas emissions for a long time to come. We need mitigation proposals and actions that people will embrace rather than oppose; something big that would keep the coal mines in business, reduce dependence on foreign oil, help key American industries, and still reduce greenhouse gas emissions rapidly and meaningfully.
Leonard's interview with me started this way:
Hyman: You talk about a holistic approach toward achieving energy independence and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. That sounds awfully new age. What do you mean?
To see the interview, please go to the following link for the May 2009 issue of the Pathfinder Newsletter.
http://www.rjrudden.net/Pathfinder.pdf
