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  2. Aircraft Carrier as Parable

Aircraft Carrier as Parable

By j7uy5 on November 14, 2006.

News reports suggest that the new Democratic majority is planning to
try to change the course of US environmental policy:


href="http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/D/DEMOCRATS_ENVIRONMENT">Democrats
to Stress Environmental Issues

By JOHN HEILPRIN

Nov
14, 2:42 PM EST



WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Democrats who will
steer environment issues in the new Congress are polar opposites of
their Republican predecessors, but changing environmental policy is
like turning around an aircraft carrier - it's very slow...



In other news, the USS Intrepid is still stuck in
the mud
in the Hudson River:


href="http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/11/11/uss.intrepid.ap/">Navy
to help get USS Intrepid out of mud trap



i-2110bc7da9494fe2fcdbcd8753742629-uss_intrepid.jpgNEW
YORK (AP) -- The Navy is coming to the rescue of one of
its mightiest veterans, joining the operation to free the World War II
aircraft carrier USS Intrepid from deep Hudson River mud that has
blocked efforts to move the ship to a dry dock for renovation,
officials announced Saturday.

A fleet of civilian tug boats tried
Monday to pull the 27,000-ton ship out of the berth where it has been
serving as the popular Intrepid Sea Air & Space Museum, but the
carrier moved only a few feet before its 16-foot propellers snagged in
the 24-year accumulation of sediment.

Under a new plan of attack,
the Navy will provide salvage support at a cost of about $3 million.
That includes dredging mud from underneath the ship's stern to free the
propellers. The Army Corps of Engineers also will be involved...



UPDATE:



I just encountered a report about the cost of meeting a particular
milestone in the production of renewable energy.  The goal is
to get 25 percent of the energy used for electricity and motor vehicle
fuel from renewable energy sources by the year 2025.



A noble goal.  But what would it cost?


Nothing:


In a href="http://www.rand.org/news/press.06/11.13.html"
target="resource window">prepared statement,
Rand's researchers said that meeting a goal known as the 25x'25
initiative, in which 25 percent of the energy used for electricity and
motor vehicle fuel in the U.S. is supplied by renewable energy sources
by the year 2025, would not increase total national energy spending if
renewable energy production costs decline by at least 20 percent in the
next 20 years, which is consistent with recent historical trends, as
estimated by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).


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