Research As Moral Principle: The Case Of The Energy Crisis

Energy, Justice, Research

Humanity is search. Humanity is when evolution has become conscious, and searches for solutions to the point of inventing problems to resolve. This, like the evolution of the universe it animates, runs its course. Resistance is futile.

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Is Using Fossil Fuels Moral?

Biden just allowed a major oil project, on Federal land, in Alaska [1]. Is that moral?

Morality Is Not So Much What’s Good, But What PERDURES:

What’s morality? Is morality the avoidance of evil? Nobody understand fully what evil is, because one would need to understand the future thoroughly.

Morality is from Old French moral (14c.) and directly from Latin moralis “proper behavior of a person in society,” literally “pertaining to manners,” coined by Cicero (“De Fato,” II.i) to translate Greek ethikos (see ethics)… ēthikos “ethical, pertaining to character,” from ēthos “moral character,” related to ēthos “custom”…

Greek ēthos “habitual character and disposition; moral character; habit, custom…. An important concept in Aristotle (as in “Rhetoric” II xii-xiv).

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We are literally fumigating the planet, among other problems. Leaders blow hot wind on it all, by enjoying the fruits of pleasing the powers that be. 

The world needs energy. Historically, most energy usage, per capita, has been in the so-called “West”… which has now offshored industry to China, as it used to offshore energy to dictators. 

Justice demands that, on a worldwide basis, energy usage, per capita, be the same for all (or, at least, that there is enough energy to satisfy people’s basic needs, including maximum educational availability, which is not the case now). 

Thus, and as observed, energy usage will augment, worldwide. 

Now 84% of primary energy production, worldwide, is from fossil fuels… the same quotient as in 1980, when the alert was sounded about the necessity of cutting emissions of CO2. The lack of progress in decarbonation was mostly due to a systemic campaign against nuclear energy, which started under president Carter.   

Solar progressed enormously, but is land hungry. Wind is intermittent, and, as the greenhouse planetary heating makes the wind belt migrate towards the poles, it is likely that wind will peter out. 

So what we need is new energy sources: green hydrogen (killed by Obama on day one of his presidency, thanks to the fossil fuel lobby), new and safer small nuclear fission, thorium, and thermonuclear fusion. So a gigantic investment in research should be made (China already connected new nuclear tech to the grid). Meanwhile, one must gain time… And that means new fossil fuels, hopefully cleaner. 

Fossil fuel propaganda claims that its own decline is around the corner. The graphs show that’s a lie, but it’s OK, as long as more money goes towards research in new, decarbonated energy. 

The truth is that we just don’t have the technology right now to decarbonate most of primary energy production. We need more science, bringing in revolutionary tech like room temp superconductors, or photovoltaics which can work at night (using infrared).

We presently need fossil fuels, so that civilization will not collapse. So using fossil fuels is moral, when no alternative can be found. But we also need to stop traveling as if there is no tomorrow and stop heating stuff as if we were Neanderthals, and heat pumps didn’t exist. The San Francisco Bay Area government’s regulatory commission met and 20 votes for, none against, decided to outlaw the sale of fossil fuel heaters and furnaces, starting in 2030. The regulatory commission declared that somebody had to lead, and it may as well be the Bay Area. Notice that California prouces fossil fuels… Also notice that there is such a thing as a Bay Area government, an accord between 110 cities… A democratic thing. It gives more manoeuvrability than Switzerland, while democratic… 

We also need to find, and deploy decarbonated solutions from science to be discovered next.

Patrice Ayme

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[1] In How Big of a Climate Betrayal Is the Willow Oil Project? March 16, 2023. The New York Times says:

President Biden approved ConocoPhillips’s $8 billion plan to extract 600 million barrels of oil from federal lands in Alaska, the announcement landed simultaneously with the thud of betrayal and the air of inevitability. On the campaign trail, Biden had promised “no more drilling on federal lands, period. Period, period, period.”

No slowdown: Below is the global primary energy production graph. Right, it includes decarbonated sourse such as nuclear and intermittents (aka “renewables”)… BUT, notice, they are basically neglectable!

TYRANNICAL GAS: European Union Feeds The Nuclear Tyrant.

Europe’s TYRANNICAL GAS:

The EU must “GET RID OF” the gas provided by Putin and his henchmen, the head of the European Commission said on Wednesday February 16, 2022. Let’s call it TYRANNICAL GAS.

Speaking to a plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, (German born, polyglot and polycultural) Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, criticized Russia for “weaponizing the energy issue” in its conflict with the EU and its associate, Ukraine. (The European Union has three presidents right now presiding over different part of the European government; the rotating presidency is held by Macron, that is, France, just as it was when Putin invaded Georgia, a weird coincidence…)

Arguing that Moscow is not a credible energy supplier anymore since Gazprom restricted natural gas supplies to Europe in the last few months despite high demand, while claiming it didn’t, von der Leyen noted that the EU has since stepped up efforts to diversify its energy imports, securing more liquified natural gas supplies from international partners.

She claimed that the Union possessed enough gas reserves for the winter in case Russia disrupts the supply.

“We must diversify our energy sources, to get rid of the dependency of Russian gas, and heavily invest in renewable energy sources,” she said, asking the bloc to draw lessons from the current crisis with Russia.

Turning to the rising tensions between Russia on one side and Ukraine and the rest of the West on the other, von der Leyen said: “Ukraine today is a stronger, freer, and more sovereign country than in 2014. This is precisely why the Kremlin is threatening it again,” she observed.

Von der Leyen said Moscow sent “conflicting signals” over the past two days by announcing the withdrawal of troops from border regions, even as Russian lawmakers voted in favor of recognizing the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in eastern Ukraine as independent.

She called on Moscow to de-escalate tensions with deeds and not just words.

Ex-Belgium PM Charles Michel, the President of the European Council, also addressed EU lawmakers. He explained that EU and NATO officials were in daily contact “working at a level of intensity and quality never seen before.” The president of the European Council presides over the meetings of EU leaders elected in the various nations constituting theEuropean Union. So contrarily to what Europhobes claim, it is a completely democratic position (limited to 2.5 years; election by double majority). 

Michel called on Russia to find the “courage” to choose diplomacy over conflict and warned that Moscow would have to face “massive consequences” in case of an invasion against Ukraine.

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What really bothers Putin is Ukrainian DEMOCRACY and its ASSOCIATION with the EUROPEAN UNION [1]. Putin knows that his military edge on Ukraine, in particular his hypersonic advantage, is going to diminish as . It’s a case of use it, or lose it, while everything else goes to waste: the Kaiser Trap.  

Putin’s advanced weapons are full of Western electronics. If Putin had no cash, he would have no advanced weapons.

The European Union has fed a deadly cancer, the mood that the Kremlin should rule over Eurasia. Dictator Putin proposed it initially with sotto voce. Now Putin is using his nuclear voice. It could not be any clearer.  

Patrice Ayme

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[1]

To enlighten the gullible who look at Putin with love eyes here is a (small) part of the Association Treaty Between Ukraine and the EU (including Great Britain):

Article 1 Objectives 1. An ASSOCIATION between the UNION AND ITS MEMBER STATES, OF THE ONE PART, AND UKRAINE, OF THE OTHER PART, IS HEREBY ESTABLISHED. 

2. The aims of this association are: (a) to promote gradual rapprochement between the Parties based on common values and close and privileged links, and increasing Ukraine’s association with EU policies and participation in programmes and agencies; b) to provide an appropriate framework for enhanced political dialogue in all areas of mutual interest; (c) to promote, preserve and strengthen peace and stability in the regional and international dimensions in accordance with the principles of the United Nations Charter, and of the Helsinki Final Act of 1975 of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe and the objectives of the Charter of Paris for a New Europe of 1990; 

(d) to establish conditions for enhanced economic and trade relations leading towards Ukraine’s gradual integration in the EU Internal Market, including by setting up a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area as stipulated in Title IV (Trade and Trade-related Matters) of this Agreement, and to support Ukrainian efforts to complete the transition into a functioning market economy by means of, inter alia, the progressive approximation of its legislation to that of the Union; 

(e) to enhance cooperation in the field of Justice, Freedom and Security with the aim of reinforcing the rule of law and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms; 

(f) to establish conditions for increasingly close cooperation in other areas of mutual interest. 

GENERAL PRINCIPLES 

Article 2 

Respect for democratic principles, human rights and fundamental freedoms, as defined in particular in the Helsinki Final Act of 1975 of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe and the Charter of Paris for a New Europe of 1990, and other relevant human rights instruments, among them the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, and respect for the principle of the rule of law shall form the basis of the domestic and external policies of the Parties and constitute essential elements of this Agreement. Promotion of respect for the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity, inviolability of borders and independence, as well as countering the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, related materials and their means of delivery also constitute essential elements of this Agreement. L 161/6 EN Official Journal of the European Union 29.5.2014 Article 3 The Parties recognise that the principles of a free market economy underpin their relationship. The rule of law, good governance, the fight against corruption, the fight against the different forms of trans-national organised crime and terrorism, the promotion of sustainable development and effective multilateralism are central to enhancing the relationship between the Parties. TITLE II POLITICAL DIALOGUE AND REFORM, POLITICAL ASSOCIATION, COOPERATION AND CONVERGENCE IN THE FIELD OF FOREIGN AND SECURITY POLICY, etc…

Here is Putin’s answer: Hundreds of Iskander missiles already deployed more than a decade ago, and now with much more advanced versions:

Iskander Hypersonic Mach 7 missile. Explosive power is probably at least 3 tons of TNT (personal computation). It flies at 50 kms altitude, one mile and a half per second, and does evading maneuvers at 30 gs…