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Re: The Limits To Growth



On 15 Nov 1996 18:39:02 GMT, dlj@inforamp.net (David Lloyd-Jones)
wrote:

>Alastair McKinstry <alastair@kbhr.ilo.dec.com> wrote:
>
>dlj wrote, about energy: 
>>> Not a problem.
>>
>>But it is a problem. A major cause of misunderstanding in this debate
>>is whether you do the calculations based on the rest of the world wanting
>>an American (or European) scale of consumption. If you do allow for the
>>rest of the worlds' aspirations, then we don't have hundreds of years
>>worth of gas,oil,coal,etc; we can't build fission reactors fast enough
>>(to western safety standards, at least) and fusion will not be here
>>near fast enough. 
>>
> 
>Of course we can.  We built nuclear reactors by the dozen off assembly
>lines int he fifties and sixties.  Those were the engines for the cold
>war submarines on all sides.  Some of the assembly lines are still in
>existence, and others can easily be built, and just as fast as the
>previous ones.

Is the original poster figuring in improvements in energy efficiency
which we're seeing in the West?

>As soon as the price of oil rises to the price of uranium, per
>terajoule, we'll simply crank the process up again.  McKinstry is
>simply being silly.

It is doubtful this will happen given the incredible amounts of oil
and gas available.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Brian Carnell                   http://www.carnell.com/
brian@carnell.com   


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