The Future Is So Bright...

There's a study in today's FAZ that lists what life would be like in a Germany that reduces its Co2 usage by 95%. It's behind their pay firewall (and in German), but let's just go to the core of the matter.


The future is so bright...

All houses will have to be heavily insulated and the only lights permitted will be LEDs. Existing houses have to be renovated to the newest energy efficiency levels, and house design and architecture will be subsumed by legal requirements for energy efficiency that limit the size of windows and requires solar heating of hot water and storage thereof. There will also be limits to the size of the houses according to the number of people living there: however, since office jobs and white-collar work can also be done at home, home offices will increase the allowable size.

Short trips are allowed for electrical vehicles only, longer trips are strictly by public transportation. Only delivery vehicles may use biologically produced diesel-like fuels. There are no gasoline or diesel power cars, there are no hybrids: only electrical vehicles powered strictly by renewable energy sources (which most explicitly does not include nuclear power).

These renewable energy sources account for no less than 50% of all energy sources, meaning, of course, that the countryside is filled with large windmills and every business covers rooftops and car parks - woops, won't need those, will we? - with solar panels for electricity production. Since these renewable energy sources are not very dependable, there will have to be large-scale reserve mechanisms, such as damming small river valleys to store water for producing energy during down times for windmills and solar, as well as various other alternative energy storage schemes. For any other power producing scheme that emits Co2, carbon capture and storage schemes must be in place.

So, what else?

People may not consume more than one-third of their current diet of meat, especially beef, as these produce too much Co2. The number of animals permitted overall will be strictly controlled (i.e. don't plan on having a pet unless, of course, you're willing to give up other activities as a result).

Life will be centered around Co2 avoidance, with a system of allowed activities that generate Co2. You'll need to ensure that you have the right kind of emissions certificates and the legal standards and marginal rates of Co2-generating activity will be strictly controlled.



Lovely place. The study was done for the WWF by Prognos in Basel, Switzerland, and according to the WWF, it means that people will have to adjust their life styles.

But they won't have to "give up" anything.



Oh really. Nothing? Like personal mobility, building the house of their dreams, having a couple of pets, of having a countryside not filled with windmills, things like that?

But, hey, you're saving the planet.

The future is so bright...but lit only by LEDs...