Yes indeed, it is The Age of Stupid

From Tim Blair: Outdoor heaters. You know outdoor heaters, right? Gas-fired deals to keep people warm when they’re outdoors in the global cold? Like beer fridges before them, these helpful devices now wear the mark of shame: Sustainable Living Tasmania executive officer Margaret Steadman said yesterday the proliferation of the heaters was concerning. She said the heaters were extremely energy inefficient and needlessly contributing to greenhouse gas emissions. If they’re inefficient, design a better one. Surely solar power can heat, say, a little area outside a restaurant. More at the link above. But of course there's the rub. Solar power actually can't do very much of anything useful. If you want small amounts of expensive electricity, (and no Virginia, it is a lie to describe it as "free energy from the sun" because it takes large amounts of fossil fuelled energy to make the bloody things), only when the sun is shining, ie when you'd need a heater least, then yeah, solar power is fantastic! Except for those times when it's not. Unfortunately, that's most of the time. Jeremy Clarkson's earlier cri de coeur and call to arms is here.

Posted via email from Garth's posterous