| The Current Financial crisis and Climate Change
Well, everyone seems to be talking about the current uncertainty about the Financial markets and it got me wondering how it would affect CC and related topics.
One the one hand, if the Global economy slows down, the logical assumption is that CO2 emissions will fall.
On the other hand, with the current slow down there is much less money to spend developing more 'efficient' lifestyles and we are much more likely to carry on with our perhaps overly wasteful ways.
The current 'crisis' has seen the price of oil fall, which from an economic point of view is good news, but there was evidence that people were starting to adapt and use their cars a little less. But the reality is that planes, trains and automobiles,while significant, are relatively small players in the CO2 numbers game.
So, money won't be spent on carbon capture technology, building more efficient power plants, insulating old buildings and going that extra 'efficiency mile' when building new ones. There will be less cash around for developing alternative technologies and developing new science.
Or maybe the new regime of belt-tightening will force peoples hands and the entrepreneurial spirit will come to the fore with a whole raft of answers that actually provide what we need, but at a lower cost and higher level of efficiency that actually result in less CO2.
Any thoughts?
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08-10-2008, 11:29 AM
E. & O.E.
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