One pollster sees “flashing red” signs on youth turnout as Gen Z and millennial voters, who are not satisfied with either party, could again play a decisive role in the next election.
Thanks for your well researched and thoughtful response, I really do appreciate it.
What I hear from most young people on the ground is global emissions are still rising, and climate catastrophe is already happening.
People won’t care about industrial energy efficiency when they don’t have a place to live because a wildfire destroyed their house. A tax break for an electric vehicle means nothing to a young person who can’t even afford a car loan. I can tell you of people I tried talking into getting their heating/ac/gas stove replaced with a heat pump/electric oven and tax-credit and were told they simply can’t afford the up front cost of replacing their HVAC or gas stove.
Climate change is here and it’s going to take a massive unified effort, democrats have to think bigger than tax breaks and loans.
Thanks for your well researched and thoughtful response, I really do appreciate it.
Of course :)
they simply can’t afford the up front cost of replacing their HVAC or gas stove.
I’m not as knowledgeable about residential, but there is some work here as well. There are some recent programs focused on weatherization, for example programs to reinsulate homes at no cost or to install new doors, but these are smaller and I believe means tested. Residential is hard because there just isn’t that much work to do that makes sense financially. For carbon, it is probably easier to enroll in a local utility’s green power programs and reduce/eliminate beef consumption than replace windows that aren’t broken. This is one of the biggest reasons why industrial energy is the focus because a home’s energy use (say, 200 kWh based on some of my apartment bills) is negligible compared to modestly sized businesses that consume millions of kWh annually. This is part of where progress in energy efficiency disappears.
I do have a colleague working on getting combined heat and power systems into homes, but we haven’t talked enough for me to comment much on it other than there is interest.
democrats have to think bigger than tax breaks and loans.
This is where alternative energy systems and investments in energy infrastructure come into play. Investments in research, feasibility, implementation.
People won’t care about industrial energy efficiency when they don’t have a place to live because a wildfire destroyed their house.
To be fair, in my experience most people don’t care already :). I have family members who call my job a joke, unfortunately. But yes, the inescapable results of our actions or lack thereof over the last two centuries of industrialization will continue to catch up. Every year another community burns up in my state and every year someone is ready to blame it on anything but climate change.
Thanks for your well researched and thoughtful response, I really do appreciate it.
What I hear from most young people on the ground is global emissions are still rising, and climate catastrophe is already happening.
People won’t care about industrial energy efficiency when they don’t have a place to live because a wildfire destroyed their house. A tax break for an electric vehicle means nothing to a young person who can’t even afford a car loan. I can tell you of people I tried talking into getting their heating/ac/gas stove replaced with a heat pump/electric oven and tax-credit and were told they simply can’t afford the up front cost of replacing their HVAC or gas stove.
Climate change is here and it’s going to take a massive unified effort, democrats have to think bigger than tax breaks and loans.
Of course :)
I’m not as knowledgeable about residential, but there is some work here as well. There are some recent programs focused on weatherization, for example programs to reinsulate homes at no cost or to install new doors, but these are smaller and I believe means tested. Residential is hard because there just isn’t that much work to do that makes sense financially. For carbon, it is probably easier to enroll in a local utility’s green power programs and reduce/eliminate beef consumption than replace windows that aren’t broken. This is one of the biggest reasons why industrial energy is the focus because a home’s energy use (say, 200 kWh based on some of my apartment bills) is negligible compared to modestly sized businesses that consume millions of kWh annually. This is part of where progress in energy efficiency disappears.
I do have a colleague working on getting combined heat and power systems into homes, but we haven’t talked enough for me to comment much on it other than there is interest.
This is where alternative energy systems and investments in energy infrastructure come into play. Investments in research, feasibility, implementation.
To be fair, in my experience most people don’t care already :). I have family members who call my job a joke, unfortunately. But yes, the inescapable results of our actions or lack thereof over the last two centuries of industrialization will continue to catch up. Every year another community burns up in my state and every year someone is ready to blame it on anything but climate change.