White House Energy Secretary: "White = Cool"

Sunny — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 14:27:04 +0000

Steven Chu, the Nobel prize-winning physicist appointed by President Obama as Energy Secretary, wants to paint the world white. A global initiative to change the colour of roofs, roads and pavements so that they reflect more sunlight and heat could play a big part in containing global warming, he said yesterday.

Professor Steven Chu: Paint the world white.
This might seem like common sense for many, yet so many roofs are in fact dark. Anybody know why dark colored roofing shingles are more common than light colored shingles? Or why light colored rocks are so rarely used in asphalt?
My first guess is that it might have something to do with the relative prices for the necessary rocks. If the prices of light colored stone is higher than the more popular dark rock, then regulation on this issue could raise costs for home builders.

Final Victory in the War of Ideas?

Sunny — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 01:06:00 +0000

A friend of mine believes that this recent election may signal a final defeat for the ideals of conservatism, that no genuine right wing alliance will ever again regain control of the country.

While I fundamentally disagree, I’ll grant him certain points.

On some social issues (homosexuality, immigration, and other types of xenophobia) the conservatives will moderate significantly over the next 10 years.
Conservative aversion to changes to the patent law may reduce as changes in the software industry make those changes more evidently necessary.
On environmental issues, the conservatives will drop the issue of whether global warming is an issue, and focus on policies that help the market incorporate environmental cost into their decision making (carbon tax or ‘cap-n-trade’ vs. arbitrary per-company pollution controls).

There are a few other issues where I wish they would change the party line, but these are the ones I think will actually change. Once these changes are made, the conservative party will have a far more focused platform based on consistent principles. It will still be necessary to find a leader who can articulate those principles well to the masses, but those come in time.

The modern GOP is very different from the 1950′s GOP which was far away from the 1900′s GOP. Political platforms change to fit the times, but some ideas don’t become less correct.

To justify ‘spreading the wealth around,’ one has to accept that wealth does not belong to the individual who creates it. Is wealth created by the social environment that created the person, or is it the creative and motivated character of the person that creates both the wealth and the social environment? If you claim that the social forces created the person’s character, than it becomes one social duty to do everything possible to forcibly improve the social environment. That can and will be used to permit government control of anything that affects the social environment, words, print, businesses that compete with government programs, etc. If you deny the basic premise that a person owns the product of their work, then you deny the basic freedom that a person even owns his/her self.

Sunny.Molini » environment

White House Energy Secretary: "White = Cool"

Final Victory in the War of Ideas?