Stan S asked:
Especially when one takes into consideration these facts: the costs of cleaning up after the natural disastors they help cause, if they can even be cleaned up quickly and succesfully, (see the katrina clean up, then imagine one or two of those every year) can be prevented by in part not using them. The fact that new green clean power gets cheaper every day and coal, oil and other non-renewable energy sources get more scarce every day and are many times located in hostile areas. The fact that there would be great loss of life and habitable area and expense involved in nuclear power accidents or terror attacks. The fact that damage to the environment and the current mass extinction of species is caused by them from the climate change they help cause. And the most critical fact, the disruptions to the global food supply that will result from there continued use. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obsolescence
The abondonment of old dirty power would lead to an explosion of the green energy sector and that sector would be able to meet demand as it increases in size to fill it.
Why do something vastly more expensive and destructive then something else that will serve the same function in a much improved way?
Especially when one takes into consideration these facts: the costs of cleaning up after the natural disastors they help cause, if they can even be cleaned up quickly and succesfully, (see the katrina clean up, then imagine one or two of those every year) can be prevented by in part not using them. The fact that new green clean power gets cheaper every day and coal, oil and other non-renewable energy sources get more scarce every day and are many times located in hostile areas. The fact that there would be great loss of life and habitable area and expense involved in nuclear power accidents or terror attacks. The fact that damage to the environment and the current mass extinction of species is caused by them from the climate change they help cause. And the most critical fact, the disruptions to the global food supply that will result from there continued use. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obsolescence
The abondonment of old dirty power would lead to an explosion of the green energy sector and that sector would be able to meet demand as it increases in size to fill it.
Why do something vastly more expensive and destructive then something else that will serve the same function in a much improved way?
No, because dirty energy is still profitable. The sooner that changes, the better.
A. Global warming is a scam. Most scientists are backing away from it now.
B. Since the price of crude oil is over $60 a barrel technologies like oil from coal and oil from the tar fields in Canada are now VERY profitable. There is 100 times more oil in these resources then in the ground in Suadi Arabia, Iraq and Iran COMBINED but the production of it produces way MORE pollutants. Oh Well…
C. There is no other viable fuel source right now. Oil is used for everything, not just your car (about 5% of usage) there is no other fuel source that even comes close to replacing it. Alternitive oil from coal and tar pits is the future., just watch…
No, and it won’t until it is economically viable. There is a coal fired electric plant in Kansas that has lower polution output than a gas fired plant. How? They clean up all the emissions, and there are at least 300 years of coal in the US.
Today, the economics of solar are still very marginal, people fight you over wind power because it spoils the view, and don’t even mention corn. The people suggesting ethanol haven’t even begun to look at the amount of energy required to produce it. Many scientists have estimated it takes more energy to produce than you get back out of the ethanol, but worse than that, it produces CO2 that pesky green house gas.
The real hope, long term is fusion, but our scientists don’t seem to be getting there very quickly. The other major possibility is solar, but it takes a higher efficiency or much cheaper cost to make that a reality.
We will get there, but not by political action. Scientists and engineers will eventually solve the problems around solar and fusion energy so that they become economically attractive.