I have a problem with the whole Global warming is all our fault. Is there global warming? Most definitely. Is it all our fault? I don't think so. Of course since the industrial revolution we've put more carbon into the atmosphere but, carbon isn't the only factor. The planets natural cycles have been heating and cooling the planet for millions of years.
Carbon offsets do nothing really. Solar? Good luck supplying the nations need for energy with solar. Our solar panels are so inefficient that it's just laughable. Wind? Expensive and kills so many birds it's not even funny while still not producing anywhere near our needs. I laugh every time I see Elon Musk post pictures of his spaceships out near Saturn with solar panels deployed. So little of the sun's energy gets out that far that our current solar panel tech can't use it. He'd need solar panels the size of the US. Electric cars? Their manufacturing process causes more pollution than they save and you still need to charge them with electricity. What will produce that electricity?
Fossil fuels are here to stay. The US has the largest untapped reserves of crude oil in the world. I think Nuclear is the way forward. The designs have changed so much since the first plants that if you looked into it you'd be wondering why we aren't using them. The US has stockpiles of rare earth metals just sitting there doing nothing. We've invested so little into processing and reprocessing spent rods that the costs are prohibitive. All that nuclear waste we've been burying can be recycled. We just don't do it because of what happened in the 60's and 70's. All research stopped. Imagine where we'd be if we had been investing in these techs for the last 50+ years. Fearmongering and bad PR ended that. We have the NRC to thank for that. Getting a license for a new reactor is impossible.
There are also HUGE amounts of frozen methane and carbonic acid laying all over our oceans floors. That's the real danger of global warming. If all that methane and carbonates start to melt there is NOTHING we would be able to do to stop a runaway chain reaction that would turn us into Venus and all life would cease to exist. We need technologies that allow us access to these resources. More efficient processing of crude and engines are being developed all the time for fossil fuels. Hydro is good but we can't built enough Hydro plants to make up the difference.
For those that don't know, Venus is the 2nd planet from the sun. But, it's hotter than Mercury because of the greenhouse gases it's covered in. Mostly Carbon Dioxide, Nitrogen and Sulfuric Acid. The ocean is the largest carbon sink with plants coming in at number two. Most people think it's the rain forests that capture the most but, it's really the tree line just below the arctic circle that captures the most. There are so many variables that we just plain ignore. Everyone is stuck on solar and wind as being our saviors that we ignore other techs that are WAY more effective.
BTW this is just the short basic version of this conversation we should be really having but, we aren't.
CelticBomber wrote:
