Posted on 06/03/2021 9:34:11 AM PDT by 11th_VA
Environmentalists have long promoted renewable energy sources like solar panels and wind farms to save the climate. But what about when those technologies destroy the environment? In this provocative talk, Time Magazine “Hero of the Environment” and energy expert, Michael Shellenberger explains why solar and wind farms require so much land for mining and energy production, and an alternative path to saving both the climate and the natural environment.
Michael Shellenberger is a Time Magazine Hero of the Environment and President of Environmental Progress, a research and policy organization.
A lifelong environmentalist, Michael changed his mind about nuclear energy and has helped save enough nuclear reactors to prevent an increase in carbon emissions equivalent to adding more than 10 million cars to the road.
He lives in Berkeley, California.
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community.
(Excerpt) Read more at m.youtube.com ...
Stupid premise in that the planet even needs saving...
Th planet is self sufficient; it doesn’t need saving!
If renewables replace hydrocarbons, then food production will go down by 60%, thus starving 1/3 of the world. In fact, that might be the time he goal.
After 50 years of hype, solar accounts for ~ 2% of our Energy production.
Wind is a little better at around 8%.
If the Political class really believed that Global warming was real they would be pushing very hard for 4th generation fission plans and pushing much harder for fusion nuclear research/plants.
Nuclear is the only way to replace fossil fuels and they know it.
Instead what they push for is Social Engineering where the peasants have to massively downgrade their lifestyle.
Source?
Understanding all that requires numeracy, something largely lacking in the political and journalist classes.
Forbes:
“If Solar Panels Are So Clean, Why Do They Produce So Much Toxic Waste?”
Toxic waste ... no problemo ...just ship it back to the countries that made them.
People need saving, not the planet.
Wood and stone are renewable as are plants and animals.
We lived off grid for 5 years on 350 watts of solar panels. It gave us LED lighting and for three of those years, ran our cordless phone, DSL and kept the laptops charged. It also ran a 12vdc chest freezer/fridge that had a small compressor and freon. We could also watch DVDs because a DVD player and these new flat screen TVs don’t use hardly any power.
It was kinda nice not knowing when the power was out. I’d hear about it from a neighbor the next day. The system used four golf cart batteries and everything I read said that as newbies, we’d get 2-3 years out of them but we got 9 years. The charge controller went out at 8 years but we were on the grid by that time. Inverter also crapped out in 7 years. The system was in full use for 5 years though. Panels are still good.
I wouldn’t mind getting a new set of batteries and another 150 watt panel for an even 500 watts, new charge controller and I already got a new inverter. It’s just kinda nice to always have lights, phone, internet, TV etc. The phone/dsl lines are all underground so that hardly ever goes out but we have a lot of wind, rain and the occasional ice storm so power can go out quite often. We haven’t been through a bad ice storm yet but we will sooner or later and power goes out for weeks in one of those. We heat with wood and have a coleman two burner propane camp stove and the wood stove has a flat top we cook on too.
Trying to run an entire full size house on nothing but solar? Not sustainable or cost effective. A small 12vdc system to run light loads like above? Yeah, it’s just handy. Beats the heck out of candles.
Brilliantly stated.
Much of this is technology related, until fairly recently Solar cells had a nasty habit of degeneration, where within 20 years, they were pretty much useless. Until recently, that Lithium Carbonate we need, was only mined using very environmentally dangerous means - today, we have companies (one that has made me a millionaire - thank you) that can reclaim lithium from batteries, brine and even clay - using a circulatory cycle that's only waste product is chemically pure water. All reagents are reused, continuously - cleaned, and reused over and over again - to keep the cycle going. This company has partnered with some 'nobodies' such as DuPont and BASF, Dept of Energy and is building their first prototype factory in Fernley, NV in the next month or so.
Much is changing, and while I am not a "save the planet" idiot by any stretch of the means, I do believe in good stewardship, and being efficient. Electric cars have superior maintenance and efficiency compared to fossil fuels. As the company grows, so does my retirement. When I build my home in Florida, my solar roof can not only run my pool, AC, utilities - it can also charge my cars. The ONLY fluid I will buy for my Tesla's is window washing fluid. For long trips - for now - it looks like gas is the only practical choice. But, for daily trips - it's hard to beat the electric cars.
You can’t “save” the planet. You could kill every living thing on it and it would continue in its slightly irregular orbit of the Sun, until said Sun goes supernova and vaporizes it.
Some of the newer digital inverters should not only be more powerful, but should last much, much longer.
Solid State Batteries, will use similar active materials as the Lithium batteries we have now, but with a glass-like separator, should be immune from dendritic growth that cause the batteries to fail, thus not only charge much, much faster, but should theoretically outlast all of us.
I applaud your self-sufficiency, and as technology improves, you should not only do better with the same cash output, it should last much longer.
Muvver erf is like them honey badgers. She Don’t care. 😎
Don’t you feel guilty about all the petrol products that were used and made all that possible for you? 😱😂🙌
the earth makes oil...
that’s a fact of nature.
I believe it.
I’m guessing the answer is a healthy, “Not in the least”; the expressed strategy is pragmatic stewardship and conservation, which isn’t hostile to the production and use of petroleum-derived products.
Rest assured, I don't. You use what you have today, to build what you want tomorrow. It's pretty elementary engineering. That said, why would you use a product that has been around for over 150 years, that is known to be inefficient, and has only a single source of fuel? That seems foolish, doesn't it?
Without gas/diesel, your world comes to a stop. Utterly, and completely.
Once the leap to electricity is made, I can refuel from solar, wind, nuclear, waves, thermo-exchange (SeeBeck Effect) or chemical reactions. My options are wide open. Further, you need maintenance that I don't require.
You require oil changes every 3-5,000 miles, you need brake jobs, transmissions and your vehicle has hundreds of moving parts. Any single part fails, means your come to a stop.
A dual motor EV has about 16 moving parts, including the transmission. Half of them are redundant, My major service is at 150,000 miles. My brakes are only used from ~5mph to stop; as the rest is regenerative. The EV batteries made today will recharge to about 80% of new efficiency with a total range of around 1 million miles. I can expect to get about ~300 miles and out accelerate your best race car on any track you want to compete on. I'll let you use Nitro and any size engine, at any price point you want - let me know when you beat 1.9 sec in 0-60mph. I can't go in the ditch, because my AI won't let me.
Technology is coming, you can stand there with a buggy whip and tell me how great horses are, how they can haul wagons across rough terrain - and you will have a point. But at the end of the day you will stand there with your buggy whip, by yourself and wonder where everyone else went.
Yeah well pedo joe says we should choose truth over facts. LOL! Good Lord we’re in trouble.
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