One thousand lumen hours of light is about the same as one 75-watt bulb for one hour. According to Lucius Flatley of the Gorham coffee shop, at the time of Babylon, a Babylonic had to put in 40 hours to earn enough lamp oil for 1,000 lumens. A few thousand years later – when the founding fathers spent several months in Philadelphia laying out thoughts that today confuse Justices Thomas and Scalia so thoroughly – the conferees needed to work only 51?2 hours for the same amount of light. Then, a couple of centuries later (by the time of the Clinton administration), Bubba and his friends needed less than a second of labor to pay for the same 1,000 lumen hours.
As a result, there has been an unimaginable increase in the light produced – so much so, in fact, that in some places darkness is now considered endangered.
When things get cheaper, more are purchased, a phenomenon known in the coffee shop as the “Flatley Paradox” – efficiency increases demand. However, such demand may not yield the desired outcome, especially on a large scale. An individual car owner may realize savings from improved fuel efficiency, but national efforts to increase automobile mileage have resulted in an overall increase in oil consumption – an increase that is not only damaging the environment, but also a threat to our national security and economic stability.
The proponents of reducing consumption of foreign oil by requiring better gas mileage might consider the Flatley Paradox, known in economic parlance as “rebound.” Lee Schipper of Stanford, in the journal Energy Policy (which devoted an entire issue to this subject) says, “The question is not whether rebound exists, but how much that effect appears, how rapidly, and in what manifestation.”
Most of the current costs of foreign oil are hidden, but nonetheless very real: $450 billion annually to defend the flow of Persian Gulf oil, the loss of 825,000 U.S. jobs, $260 billion lost in GNP – a total annual loss exceeding $700 billion. If these “hidden” costs were to be reflected at the gas pump, a gallon of gasoline would be well over 9 bucks.
Auto mileage requirements were first imposed on manufacturers in 1975. Since that time cars have become heavier with more horsepower, there are twice as many cars, total miles traveled have increased 100 percent and the consumption of gasoline has nearly doubled.
Refrigerators today cost 60 percent less than 35 years ago, are 20 percent larger and use 75 percent less energy, yet the total energy used in the U.S. for keeping things cold has nearly doubled during this same period. The older coffee drinkers remembered the old icebox and its drip tray, the younger remembered the refrigerator with a small freezer compartment and ice trays – a machine that needed periodic downtime to defrost. Today, frost-free refrigerators complete with automatic ice makers are in every kitchen. And most homes have an old “reefer” in the garage for cold beer and soda pop, often with a stand-alone freezer for ice cream, frozen pies, even roasts from last season’s deer hunt in Waterboro.
Automobile air conditioning is now so common that the car might be defined as “a device for transporting cool air from home to office.”
Energy efficiency is desirable in terms of environment and a better life, but it is counterproductive as a strategy for decreased dependence on oil. Harsh as it sounds, in order to reduce consumption of oil, we need to make it more expensive. Where oil is concerned, national decision makers have to choose between pain and pleasure.
And few politicians will choose the pain of a $3 or $4 tax on the precious fluid. Or even 1 buck, for that matter.
Fortunately, there is an alternative. Find and develop another source of energy. The dramatic improvement of lumen costs was not due to increased efficiency of lamp wicks or better lamps. It was due largely to the discovery and development of new sources of energy. Whale oil replaced sheep fat, natural and manufactured gas replaced whale oil, electricity from coal replaced gas lights, and petroleum produced electricity.
But, it seems certain that in order to provide new sources of energy, amounts of money that only government can round up are required, Here in Maine, Passamaquoddy could have been built 75 years ago, or Dickey-Lincoln 35 years ago – either of which would have made New England energy rich for decades. But the cost was too high to risk private investment and the government lacked the gumption. The sad fact is that new energy is too expensive for meaningful private development.
So here the U.S. stands, marking time while it enriches its enemies. The nation can no longer wait for the “market” to find new energy. It will take the muscle of government.
May Mr. Reagan turn over in his shroud!!
Devil’s Dictionary ?definition of the week
Senator: A millionaire or, if recently elected, about to become one.
Rodney Quinn, a former Maine secretary of state, lives in Gorham. He can be reached at rquinn@maine.rr.com.
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