A Wake Up Call Real Costs Of Fossil Fuel
november 10, 2003
renewableenergystocks.com features: The Real Costs Of Fossil
Fuels
point
roberts, wa - econ corporate services (econ) www.investorideas.com and www.renewableenergystocks.com
are pleased to feature a recent article by solar energy expert, j. peter lynch
on the real cost of fossil fuels.
the renewable energy industry continues to be a fast growing sector
fueled by the energy bill and the political platforms of several high profile
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Real Costs Of Fossil Fuels
j. peter lynch
what is the price you pay to
purchase a gallon of gasoline for your car? depending on what part of the country
you live in, it is probably between $1.50 and $2.00 per gallon.
but is this the "real cost" of the
gasoline? true, it is the actual
price you paid at the gas pump. but
is it the total "real cost" that you and all of us are paying for our continued
dependence on fossil fuels?
i think not. there are a number of "hidden" costs
that most of us do not realize. it
is not obvious but we are quietly paying these additional costs every day. these additional indirect costs actually
make the "real" cost of the gasoline many times higher than it seems at
first glance.
the hidden costs of dependence on fossil
fuels
some of these costs and
associated cost penalties:
health
related costs
air
pollution
water and
land pollution
thermal
pollution
macro
economic costs
national
security
global
warming
health related
costs
as we all know, the costs of adequate
(not excellent) health care are rising every year. in fact, it is the single largest and
fastest growing segment in numerous state and city budgets. these costs are out of control and are
rapidly becoming a major fiscal problem.
i am totally convinced that a significant part of this is due to the food
we eat, the air we breathe and the water we drink. the widespread and growing use of fossil
fuel based fertilizers, engine and power plant emissions and fuel related water
pollution all makes its way into humans through what they eat, drink or
breathe.
your penalty: higher state and local taxes, increased pollution
clean up costs and higher medical costs for you and your
family.
air
pollution
i don't know about you, but when i was a
kid growing up i never saw an inhaler (used for asthma and other respiratory
problems in children and some adults) until i went to college. now, i see 25% to 50% of the kids in my
daughter's high school with inhalers.
asthma cases have increased 160% over the past 15 years and over 5
million children in the u.s. now suffer from
asthma.
on some day's have you ever heard the
weatherman mention that it is "unsafe" to breath the outside air? or that air quality is "unacceptable"?
what could it be? what could be the
cause of this huge increase in respiratory
problems?
well, to put it
bluntly: "
it is the air we breathe". what else could it be? are you aware that a person
living in a city downwind from a coal plant has a 16 percent greater
chance of dying from lung cancer?
you may not be able to see it, but the problems are there, in the air we
breathe.
fossil fuel use produces huge amounts
and different types of particulates, including dust, soot, smoke and other very
fine suspended matter, much of which is not visible. these respiratory irritants may not
seriously affect a fully developed adult, however, they do have serious and
lasting effects on children and their developing respiratory and immune
systems.
your penalty: higher healthcare costs, sick kids and higher
taxes.
water and land
pollution
oil spills cause massive water pollution
problems along our coasts and rivers. fossil fuel based fertilizers are washed
into the ground water and cause numerous health problems. coal mining, especially strip mining
destroys the landscape and the acid in coal causes huge water waste and
pollution when the coal is washed in preparation for transportation and
processing.
your penalty: destruction of land, increased water pollution
cleanup costs
thermal
pollution
when fossil fuels are burned to produce
electricity it also produces heat energy.
because much of the current processes are inefficient, much of the excess
heat is released into the atmosphere or to nearby water sources. this increased heating of water, once
returned to rivers or lakes can dramatically upset the aquatic ecosystem by
raising the average temperature and adversely affecting fish and plant
life.
your penalty: "dead"
lakes devoid of aquatic life increased clean up costs, higher local taxes and
destroyed recreation areas.
macro economic
costs
every
recession in recent history has been immediately preceded by an oil or natural
gas price run up. these "oil
shocks" result in the loss of hundreds of billions of dollars for our economy
and the economies around the world.
these problems can be politically driven or supply driven, but in either
case it is the result of our excessive dependence on a non-renewable source of
energy.
this
repeated volatility of oil prices is a major "hidden" cost and a very
significant risk factor for the stability of the world's economies.
your penalty:
economic downturn, lower stock market, loss of jobs, higher
taxes
nation
security
in
these times of increasing political volatility it makes absolutely zero sense to
have our country held hostage to the unstable oil countries in the middle east
and their constant turmoil.
the
annual cost to the american taxpayer of keeping our military forces protecting
our oil supply runs in the tens of billions of dollars, if not hundreds of
billions. this is never reflected
in any "cost" of using fossil fuels, but it is coming out of your tax
dollars. this situation will only
get worse as the rest of the world advances economically and needs more
oil.
over
the past 35 years every single american president has promised to reduce our
dependence on foreign oil imports.
what have the results of these "efforts" been to date? the amount of oil we import has not gone
down at all, in fact, it has doubled as a percentage of the oil we use. this is a truly miserable track record
and a growing nightmare for national security.
your penalty: higher
taxes to pay for the military, military causalities and less money devoted to
domestic non-military uses in this country, like highways, urban infrastructure,
education and health care.
global
warming
last but certainly not least is the
scientifically proven fact that the burning of fossil fuels causes global
warming. so, in effect, even if we had unlimited and secure fossil fuels (which
we don't) we could not continue to burn them at the current rate of use. the planet we all live on cannot support
the current level of fossil fuel use, let alone any increased use. we must turn to renewable energy sources
and build future economies upon sources that create opportunities and not
sources that destroy our land, our drinking water, our planet and the future of
our children.
your penalty: worst
case, worldwide climate change, economic chaos, mass starvation and the end of
our way of life, as we know it now.
these are very serious penalties and every american should be aware of
this situation.
we have to wake up and realize that we
need to turn to renewable sources of energy now. not in 5 years, not in 10 years
and not when it clearly "profitable", whatever that means? since when is it "profitable" or "cost
effective" to destroy the only planet upon which we live?
we cannot wait for a "crisis" to happen,
we cannot afford to wait; we have to plan ahead and be preemptive. there is time
to address the problem, not hide from the problem. these problems will not go away, they
will only get worse.
"there are risks and costs to a program
of action. but they are far less
than the long-range risks and costs of comfortable inaction." - john f.
kennedy
we cannot keep depleting the planets
natural "capital". it is not
replaceable or renewable.
we have to muster the
political will and change the tax structure to reflex the "real" cost of all
alternatives. this would result in
people clearly seeing and finally realizing, that renewable resources are by far
the cheapest "real total cost" alternative and also the best for them, the
planet and future generations.
as a fairly knowledgeable guy once said:
"we
are like tenant farmers chopping down the fence around our house for fuel when
we should be using nature's inexhaustible sources of energy-sun, wind and
tide. i'd put my money on the
sun and solar energy. what a source of power! i hope we don't have to wait until
oil and coal run out before we tackle that.
-
thomas alva
edison (1847-1931)
in
conclusion
we
can lower our healthcare costs, reduce our air, water and thermal pollution,
develop a more stable economy and become a far more secure nation if we just
begin this inevitable process of evolution toward renewable energy
sources.
now you can see what the "real costs" of
our addiction to fossil fuels are.
we need to be preemptive and undertake this now, before we are find
ourselves in the midst of a worst-case scenario.
mr. j.
peter lynch, solar energy/renewable energy guest columnist
mr. lynch has worked, for 26 years as an
independent analyst and investor in small emerging technology companies. he has been actively involved in
following developments in the renewable energy sector since 1977 and is regarded
as an expert in this field. he was
the contributing editor for the past 17 years to the photovoltaic insider
report, the leading publication in photovoltaics industry that was directed at
industrial subscribers, such as major energy companies, utilities and
governments around the world. he is
currently a consultant to a number of companies, among them
renewableenergystocks.com (www.renewableenergystocks.com) and daystar
technologies (www.daystartech.com), a photovoltaics
company. he can be reached via
e-mail at: solarjpl@aol.com.
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