ERD50
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
I'm neither an optimist nor a pessimist, I'm a realist. You just can't break the laws of physics.I'm going to buck the trend and be an optimist here. ...
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Sure, we are using coal today and will continue to for some time. Ditto oil and gas.
But not forever. ...
And of course, I never said "forever".
.... There are huge advances being made in all sorts of great technologies. Solar and wind are now about at parity with other sources, ....
See my earlier comment on how that 'parity' cost is taken out of context.
.... . Battery technology continues to incrementally improve, and the more forward-thinking power companies are dabbling with storage technologies. I just read an article today about advances in fusion technology.
... .
Show me some storage tech that has some reasonable path towards supporting 100% renewable across all the grids in the US in the next 30 years. I'm very interested in this stuff, I follow it closely, and discuss it on other forums with experts in the field. Show me.
Fusion is way out there, maybe never, and there will be opponents. I'd say other advanced fission reactors are more likely, but still questionable as far as acceptance/implementation.
... We WILL get to a renewable world. I think it's as short-sighted to argue that we shouldn't support moving to renewable sources, as it is to argue that it has to happen over night. Maybe we should all just agree to doing the best we can with the technology we have today, while supporting new options as they become available.
Of course. But that is not only not overnight, it is not in 30 years either. The grid is a big thing, it won't change quickly, even if we have a breakthrough in 10 years. And breakthroughs are unlikely, modern science has a much better understanding of things, so 'surprises' are fewer and further between.
This is brilliant. Solve the energy problem with a political enemies list.
I'm not sure how 'political enemies' fits into that, but tell me, what is your (reality-based) proposal?
-ERD50