Chuck writes:
> There have been a few posts in this thread that point to existing
> refineries and say "Would you want one of those smelly, dirty and
> polluting things next door to you?".

Russ preceded with:
> Additionally, the "refineries" can be made smaller; are less or non
> damaging to their surroundings; are much more easily retooled to produce
> gas on Monday, home heating oil on Tuesday etc; and would address the
> elephant in the room issue as well.  Local ownership, or even municipal
> ownership is possible, thereby removing the big oil companies from the
> picture.

In light of the Eastern blackout and terrorist attacks, it would appear that
centralizing energy production is a bad idea. Whether a man-made or natural
disaster, they are more devastating to long distribution channels and
central energy production.

As many who have studied Just-In-Time techniques, smaller is better. It is
usually cheaper to add capacity in smaller chunks AND it provides redunancy
in case a single unit goes down. We are seeing the same movement in
computers with virtualization and server/disc farms. We should be doing the
same with our utilities - at least in residential areas.

I agree here with Russ. Want a better world? Think local.

Mark W.

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