Posted on 08/12/2017 6:56:44 AM PDT by rktman
Whatever the reason, far too many people have a pitiful grasp of reality: natural climate fluctuations throughout Earth history; the intricate, often fragile sources of things we take for granted; and what life would really be like in the utopian fossil-fuel-free future they dream of. Let’s take a short journey into that idyllic realm.
Suppose we generate just the 25 billion megawatt-hours of today’s total global electricity consumption using wind turbines. (That’s not total energy consumption, and it doesn’t include what we’d need to charge a billion electric vehicles.) We’d need more than 830 million gigantic 3-megawatt turbines!
Spacing them at just 15 acres per turbine would require 12.5 billion acres! That’s twice the land area of North America! All those whirling blades would virtually exterminate raptors, other birds and bats. Rodent and insect populations would soar. Add in transmission lines, solar panels and biofuel plantations to meet the rest of the world’s energy demands – and the mostly illegal tree cutting for firewood to heat poor families’ homes – and huge swaths of our remaining forest and grassland habitats would disappear.
(Excerpt) Read more at townhall.com ...
NON print version:
https://townhall.com/columnists/pauldriessen/2017/08/12/life-in-fossilfuelfree-utopia-n2367137
Very,very sad...IMO.
me and Mine.... we have no problem with either of these options.
We know that humans are part of nature. We are as natural as deer. Nature does not abhor us. We are at the top of the food chain despite having no claws, teeth, or even being particularly strong. If we leave a baby in the rain it will drown. And it will drown for about 2 years. As a creature, you would think that we wouldn’t make it. But here we are.
Human progress is natural. We build shelters above ground. We compartmentalize those structures for different purposes. And the windmills dotting the horizon are part of that splendor. I live in PA and we have a TON of these things. They are like Isaac Asimov stories before our very eyes.
Furthermore, I LOVED the drive down 161 through Indiana into Owensboro KY. Through the mist the nuclear powerplant quietly coalesced before us. It was a beautiful, awe-inspiring sight. The power of the human mind is truly awesome.
Then I drove into the liberal hell hole of Owensboro. Yuch.
Among the academic bloopers collected by my xgf at a NY university was this gem from 1971, before personal computers.
“Imagine a world without pollution, without resource hogging machines, without polluting factories, without hatred, without weapons, without hatred. Imagine a veritable Ethiopia.
The little darling was closer to the truth than she knew.
Coal is now cleaner and between coal, natural gas and crude oil, we have enough cheap fuel to last probably centuries.
As yet, wind and solar haven’t been proven reliable nor economical. Nuke can, but prolly won’t.
Don’t ya love the smell of dung fires in the morning from the front porch of your mud hut?
Okay - I’m a Luddite. I love petroleum and petrochemicals! I really enjoy my big Ford with 500 hp and the sound of the exhaust through it’s headers. I don’t have ABS brakes or traction control - okay, so I have to buy new rear tires frequently, it’s not so bad hanging out at the tire shop :=)
I don’t want a self driving car. I don’t want an electric car.
Fun read. Thanks for posting.
I’ll enjoy the lights, conveniences and comforts of our home a little more tonight.
if these people had lived thru ww2 they would know what it’s like.
“Suppose we generate just the 25 billion megawatt-hours of today’s total global electricity consumption using wind turbines. (That’s not total energy consumption, and it doesn’t include what we’d need to charge a billion electric vehicles.) We’d need more than 830 million gigantic 3-megawatt turbines! “
I double-checked the math. I think they are way off.
Can you imagine how much of the earth’s surface would have to be mined to supply the materials to build all this? In a Utopian world money grows on trees and raw materials just appear out of thin air. They ignore the reality of cause and effect.
That is utopian, indeed.
Shivering in the dark in your cave, while sharpening your spears to fight off the horde outside that can’t get their own cave.
On the upside, it would take your mind off Russia & North Korea pretty quick.
The Golden Age of human civilization lasted from about 620 AD to about 1500 AD ... Today, various overseas contingents and local supporters are attempting to undue the ravages of time and cultural error to restore human civilization to its former glory ...
I double-checked the math myself, and got an answer I don’t trust, but it may be correct if all 830 million wind turbines run at full power non-stop.
A highly-dubious proposition.
Let them live through one GOOD hurricane, and the aftermath, then get back to me.
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