Quote:
Originally Posted by djplong
Here's the problem I have with the Global Warming / Climate Change argument... People are arguing over minutae that shouldn't matter.
IMO, you should be pushing for action where there is common ground.
1) Fossil fuels, while not exactly running out, are past the point where we can get them cheaply. There are so many things made from petrochemicals (like, specifically, plastic) that, in the long term, it almost seems like a waste to be using the stuff to go to the store.
2) Renewables are, in the long run, cheaper. Only in the US can we make wind, hydro and solar more expensive than $100/bbl oil. There's something wrong with that. Now we're treating energy like we treat health care and that is NOT a good thing.
3) Remember the trade deficit? Is there some reason we should be sending so much money overseas to people who want to kill us?
IMO, the debate should be phrased more in the frame of National Security. We can find a LOT more common ground there than we can if we're arguing over who's scientist does or doesn't have an agenda. We KNOW the agenda of many in the Middle East.
And, just for good measure, I'd really like to know if fracking is safe or dangerous. Were the people who have contaminated water systems victims of poor implementation of fracking, or is it really as bad as some would have us believe?
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Fossil fuels are not only in danger of running out, natural gas is at record low prices and expected to stay there for decades. We have coal enough to last for centuries and enough oil to last for over 100 years.
Renewables are at this time many times more expensive than conventional or nuclear sources of electric generation. Solar generation was expected to be approximately three times the cost of fossil fuel generation, however reality is different. The largest plant to date in Florida is producing only 20% of the expected output driving the cost of generation to fifteen times the cost of generation using fossil fuels.
The wind idea was first tried in Spain where they wanted to be the leader in renewable energy technology. The Spanish government has admitted that this idea cost them 2.2 jobs for every job gained. Wind generation has been a disaster wherever it has been tried. It was supposed to be economical, reliable and environmentally friendly. To date, no wind farm has achieved even one of these goals much less all three. Wind farms in the US are routinely abandoned after the subsidies run out. Even Pickens has given up on wind!
While someday renewables may present a reasonable alternative to existing technologies for power generation that day is not today nor is it within the future for the next ten to twenty years. Fusion is closer to realization than 'green' energy.
As to the safety of fracking, the objective evidence to date is that it is extremely safe. There have been some problems reported, but they are few in number and at least some of them are in no way related to fracking. Do not allow the hyping of some isolated incidents to overrule the total picture.