tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1575603731696062553.post3962145298140426607..comments2024-03-27T16:08:30.313-05:00Comments on The Great Change: Fighting ExtinctionAlbert Bateshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17627996921976501534noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1575603731696062553.post-40869409425101620742015-06-15T02:11:42.400-05:002015-06-15T02:11:42.400-05:00Aloha Sheila,
The argument that we are using foss...Aloha Sheila,<br /><br />The argument that we are using fossil fuels to produce renewable energy equipment is a 'straw man' argument. Every energy transition is based on the energy sources available at the time the transition began. Just because an energy source is used to produce the equipment to provide energy from another source does not make it an energy source that is essential forever. I challenge you to name one product of modern civilization that cannot be made from renewable energy, even in theory.<br /><br />Your last sentence asks who will produce a renewable electric generator without using any fossil fuels? The answer is that it was done about 165 years ago, when the vast majority of the energy in use was from biomass. In 1850 it was easy to make an electric generator that used no fossil fuels. Modern electrical generators were in use by 1870, when the oil industry was a minor contributor to world energy supplies and natural gas was not even used. Anything that can be done with coal can be done with charcoal, usually better. Even today a huge amount of steel is manufactured in Brazil using biomass derived charcoal as fuel.<br /><br />There are many good reasons to doubt the probability of a transition to renewable energy in time to prevent the collapse of our global industrial civilization. The scale, cost and time factors are all good reasons to be suspect. There are many other reasons to doubt renewable energy as a panacea, but the fact that we now use fossil energy to do just about everything, including manufacture renewable energy equipment, is not one of them.<br /><br /> <br />Joehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01251330546889158364noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1575603731696062553.post-31685615156992543322015-06-15T02:11:12.325-05:002015-06-15T02:11:12.325-05:00Aloha Sheila,
The argument that we are using foss...Aloha Sheila,<br /><br />The argument that we are using fossil fuels to produce renewable energy equipment is a 'straw man' argument. Every energy transition is based on the energy sources available at the time the transition began. Just because an energy source is used to produce the equipment to provide energy from another source does not make it an energy source that is essential forever. I challenge you to name one product of modern civilization that cannot be made from renewable energy, even in theory.<br /><br />Your last sentence asks who will produce a renewable electric generator without using any fossil fuels? The answer is that it was done about 165 years ago, when the vast majority of the energy in use was from biomass. In 1850 it was easy to make an electric generator that used no fossil fuels. Modern electrical generators were in use by 1870, when the oil industry was a minor contributor to world energy supplies and natural gas was not even used. Anything that can be done with coal can be done with charcoal, usually better. Even today a huge amount of steel is manufactured in Brazil using biomass derived charcoal as fuel.<br /><br />There are many good reasons to doubt the probability of a transition to renewable energy in time to prevent the collapse of our global industrial civilization. The scale, cost and time factors are all good reasons to be suspect. There are many other reasons to doubt renewable energy as a panacea, but the fact that we now use fossil energy to do just about everything, including manufacture renewable energy equipment, is not one of them.<br /><br /> <br /><br />Joehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01251330546889158364noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1575603731696062553.post-22264762579336803062015-06-14T17:25:55.470-05:002015-06-14T17:25:55.470-05:00So folks still believe that we can go on with BAU ...So folks still believe that we can go on with BAU using high technology "renewable" energy? I don't think so.<br /><br />I would like to challenge someone, anyone, to build just ONE high technology renewable energy device from start to finish.<br />They would have to be able to mine, refine, smelt, manufacture, assemble, transport etc all they require to build such a device without using ANY fossil resources.<br /><br />My bet is that they cannot do it, so called "renewable" "green" energy generators cannot be built without having to use fossil resources because those devices cannot produce enough energy to replace themselves, they are also totally dependent upon not just fossil resources but a high energy, high technology civilization with reliable electricity 24/7.<br /><br />Another problem is that these devices require raw materials made from OIL like plastics, some raw materials like iron ore requirer a massive amount of energy to transform into steel, renewables are low energy devices of low density, you can't smelt steel or even melt glass with solar cells or wind turbines.<br /><br />Yet another problem is we will have to use massive amounts of fossil fuels just to manufacture these devices adding even more C02 into the atmosphere which is exactly what we DON'T want to do!<br /><br />So who will be the first to step up to the plate & produce a green, renewable eletric generator without using ANY FOSSIL RESOURCES?Sheilahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00016705065672424603noreply@blogger.com