Lets see ,since urban areas seem to create traffic gridlock due to heavy population density , therefore large concentration of vehicles that emit lots of CO2 ?
Maybe mass transit ?
More hybrid vehicles ?
Passenger rail service from Duluth & Brainerd to MSP ?

Pretty certain coal will remain most cost effective method to generate power . Better hope technology advances even further to deal with emissions.

Now how do you pay for those things ?
Or is it just easier to ignore the situation and focus on bogus "Tax Cuts " and people who say " there are a bunch of Govt agencies I want to get rid of like Uh Um Ah .....

Too bad we have no International organizations who for years have been trying to get governments attention.

with the glut of natural gas coming online. Utilities are switching over.

eyolf-- we have split 'leadership'. Tough to deal with all those spoilt children in congress.

I noticed you took a couple of days off after the election, and I even chastised someone on here, suggesting that we "Lay off" while you licked your wounds. I'm kinda still thinking that way: notice no personal jabs?

In Great Grandpa's day, people lived out in the country because they earned their living there. Over in the Crosby area, small towns sprang up because people working in mines couldn't spend hours walking to work every day.

Travel became cheaper and cheaper, and sometimes, in some places, people travel hours in their cars to get to work. But it won't likely stay cheap; we will have to make choices. I might decide to give up my job in Brd and make a lot less money closer by, in order to not have to drive. Others may choose to live closer to work and either give up the country estate, or use it on weekends.

That might be painful for some, but I don't think it has to be a vengeful, rub-your-nose-in-it thing.

Where I was really going, though, was if people decided that it wasn't worth their time to drive all over to do basic stuff like shopping or finding services, maybe we would see small towns coming back to life. Long ago, I realized, for example, that I will pay a couple bucks more for a gallon of paint at the local hardware store, but I get something for knowing the folks that run the place and I don't have to try to squeeze in a run to Menards or HD or Fleet Farm just to see if they have what I want because nobody I can get on the phone can answer a question.

Some of don't buy into the idea that cars always bring us a better quality of life, especially when they are so expensive and just fool us into making poor choices.

BERLIN 11/14 -- It was exactly the kind of news that Chancellor Angela Merkel did not want.
Voerdal, an aluminum company employing more than 400 people, has gone into bankruptcy. It will close unless the state government of North Rhine-Westphalia comes up with a rescue package. This state-of-the art company is in such dire financial straits because of rising energy prices. Voerdal officials say that the company's energy bill went up to 40 percent of total costs, all because of the government's renewable energy policies.
Voerdal is not an isolated case in the energy-intensive sector, which is why Ms. Merkel, who faces re-election next year, is becoming worried. Germany, the poster country for solar energy, is tied with Denmark, the poster country for wind energy, for the highest electric rates in Europe.

that Germany's 'portfolio' of renewable energy, which now provides the country with 25% of its electricity, includes more than solar. Main renewable electricity sources were, in first half of 2012: Wind energy 36.6%, biomass 22.5%, hydropower 14.7%, photovoltaics (solar) 21.2% and biowaste 3.6%.

that although photovoltaics account for only 1/5th of the renewable portfolio (3% of total electric generation in 2011), solar power installation is increasing rapidly and "in the first half of 2012, about 5.3% of the total electricity demand was covered by solar power. At 25 May 2012, a saturday, solar power reached a new record with feeding 22 GW, as much as 20 nuclear power stations, into the German power grid, which made 50% of the nations midday's electricity demand."

"As the first big industrialized nation, we can achieve such a transformation toward efficient and renewable energies, with all the opportunities that brings for exports, developing new technologies and jobs". German Chancellor Angela Merkel

German utility highlights cost of political indulgence:
E.On, one of Germany’s major electric utilities, has briefed shareholders on its dilemma in power production. Much of its power generation is impacted by government policies favouring renewable energy over the most economical options, and by closing down some nuclear capacity as well as taxing the rest. Because any feed from solar or wind plants has priority when it happens to be available, other generating plant is run at sub-economic capacity levels. In particular, through summer gas-fired generation is sidelined during peak hours, making it “barely profitable to operate”. "In most European markets, the gross margin for gas-fired units is approaching zero or is indeed already negative."

E.On’s CEO pointed out that "Paradoxically, this benefits carbon-intensive lignite-fired assets which are more harmful to the earth's climate, whereas flexible, climate-friendlier assets are barely profitable". Despite considerable subsidies, E.On’s renewables made a loss, and produced only 1% of the company’s power. The company’s reduced nuclear fleet gave the most income per unit of generation, making up 21% of power generation and bringing €599 million (34%) of the pre-tax earnings. This figure, however, will be slashed by Germany's extraordinary tax on nuclear fuel that EOn continues to contest in court.

The company summarised its position on the matter: "EOn is implementing the political majority's decision on an earlier phase-out of nuclear energy. At the same time, however, EOn believes that the nuclear phase-out, under current legislation, is irreconcilable with our constitutionally protected right to property and right to operate a business. In any case, such an intervention is unconstitutional unless compensation is granted for the rights so deprived. Consequently we expect appropriate compensation for the billions of euros in stranded assets created by this deprivation."

A day or two later Munich experienced its biggest power failure in two decades, reflecting the precarious situation arising from the country’s abrupt policy U-turn in 2011, causing the loss of about 5 GWe of nuclear capacity in the south, with insufficient transmission capacity to compensate.

All of the country's four nuclear power utilities are pressing claims for compensation and in particular are suing the government over continuing with the nuclear tax introduced in relation to the 8- and 14-year licence extensions agreed in September 2010. Claims for compensation are also on the basis of write-down of plants, cancelled upgrades which were in train following the positive September 2010 policy change, and decommissioning costs brought forward.
WNN 14/11/12.