Debunking Phantom Energy?

Posted By: David Kluvers

I came across an article that was in opposition to the idea of phantom or vampire energy and I thought it would be interesting to share it here. The writer, who it would appear is simply some random blogger (but hey we don’t have too much to say against that do we) claims that while the waste is real, it is such an inconsequential amount that we shouldn’t pay attention to it. He makes an interesting point, that him taking actions such as “a) insulating the hell out of my house, b) buying little cars, and c) taking the el (that’s the train” have more of an impact. While this is without doubt technically true he misses an important point that he himself makes. He describes the small amounts of energy being discussed here and begins to put together how much it adds up to across the country calling it an “impressive number,” but then he digresses into another idea. This should be one of his central ideas, that while the waste individually is small, collectively it is a problem. I find it ironic that he would claim insulation, car size, and public transportation are different. One large car, poorly insulated house, or person not riding public transportation individually is not a problem. If there was one Hummer in the country people would be upset. It is the accumulation of everything that is the problem. Ideas need to change about phantom energy as they have for these other things he mentioned, and hopefully they will. In the past the prevalent ideas about cars and house efficiency were identical to what he expressed about phantom energy, hopefully we will get there too.

Article referenced: http://atlanta.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/debunking_energy_costs_myths/Content?oid=737240