Comment Log Display

This is not a prioritized list but rather what came to mind as
stream of consciousness

 The key would be to make sure progressive CA standards extend to
other states and even other countries, as there is power in
numbers.  Many initiatives with large upside are underway and are
highly useful (solar, wind), while others are pretty well tapped
out (hydro, geothermal), but there are some initiatives that would
benefit from more attention: 
there are many inexpensive (high return) options for conventional
gasoline engines (kill the diesels due to nitrogen oxides) that
should be implemented to get to fleet average of 50 mpg; 
BTW, fleet average should be in gallons/mile as one 50 mpg vehicle
and one 10 mpg vehicle does NOT average out to 30 mpg.  It take
MANY 50 mpg vehicles to make up for one gas guzzler; 
Make truck emissions substantially more difficult as trucks use big
engines and run MANY hours per day
Require that ships NOT burn bunker fuel within the 200 mile fishing
limit and turn off engines in port to use the mains;
Require gas wells to achieve leak rate less than0.1% as methane has
a Green House Warming Potential about 20 times that of carbon
dioxide
Stop use and transport of coal in particular, but also cramp down
on oil and gas;
While I support more nuclear power (MUCH less Uranium needed than
coal, while mining is destructive and dangerous), but public
paranoia precludes this
Fusion power is still on the distant horizon;
Off shore wind makes sense to me ... is a rotor any uglier than
ubiquitous power line poles?;
Remove restrictions local power companies put on residential
rooftop solar?
Make rooftop solar more attractive for early adopters;
Using tides to advantage makes sense but I have not yet seen a
pilot;
Make sure climate decisions are made on the basis of facts and
scientific rigor rather than ideological beliefs:
Maybe put bird distress calls on tips of wind generators?;
While jet aircraft efficiency is difficult (GE, Boeing et al are
working the issues), I would note that aircraft are more effective
than surface travel (safer as well);
High speed rail is NOT a valid answer as distances and density
mitigate against it, driving cost through the roof; 
Delivery services such as UPS, FedEx, DHL, Amazon and USPS are
substantially more efficient than individual, so maybe a discount
for a delivery service would be a good idea (such as Amazon does
with Prime);
Drones and driverless cars are likely to be useful options soon but
regulation needed:
FYI, I think we are holding driverless cars to an overly high
standard ... we demand absolute perfect from the machines, yet
humans are highly flawed and acceptable ... I object to the term
"driverless" as it's more likely similar to an aircraft "autopilot"
 The problem is that if the device is TOO good, the driver will
doze off and be unavailable when override is needed ... What if the
software inserted some bad (small, minor) decisions on a random
time basis to keep the driver alert?: FYI, the search for the
Higg's boson used this technique, wherein deliberate artifacts were
inserted by a few overseers to see if the software would detect the
anomalies;

I'm finally out of ideas!
Richard Blish, PhD   (Materials Science, BS Physics)