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Originally Posted by aerohead
We need to stop carbon and methane emissions. Then remove some of what's already in the atmosphere.
Phasing out internal combustion-powered transportation is identified as one of the 'need-to' strategies. No one's happy about it.
I suspect that the Gulf Coast will continue to produce hydrocarbons for centuries to come. They just won't be used for combustion.
My oil royalties from Oklahoma are going into a savings account for a used EV.
Solar is currently the most economical power source. The 'invisible hand' of capitalism no longer recognizes petroleum investments as it once did. There's more fortunes to be made elsewhere.
Wind turns a profit after 3-years. New units can come online within weeks. It's modular. Scalable. Offshore is where the best wind is found.
In September, a new, federally-funded battery maker emerged from the shadows. If their product works out, piston cars will be un-competitive with EVs around 2026.
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PETER JAMES SPIELMANN June 29, 1989
UNITED NATIONS (AP) _ "A senior U.N. environmental official says entire nations could be wiped off the face of the Earth by rising sea levels if the global warming trend is not reversed by the year 2000...."
If the UN had been correct in 1989, Greta's parents might have died in the floods long before she was born.
Before we stop hydrocarbon production and destroy the world as we know it, we'd better be really, really sure this time. It's hard to have confidence in the Green-party's predictions: so very many have self-destructed after subsequent events proved them absolutely wrong.
A paraphrase of Mark Twain's refrain about his death might have read this way in 1989: The reports of environmental catastrophe are greatly exaggerated.
And about Greta's alternatives: wind and sun. Sure, they are proven sources for electricity production, but their weak contributions vs the landscapes they require is woefully out-of-balance. It's becoming more and more apparent that even environmentalists don't want to look out the window and see windmills or shiny solar panels out there. Even Teddy Kennedy rejected the thought of looking at whirling blades in the waters off his beloved Nantucket playground, although he saw no problems with them in your backyard.
Let's let California lead the way: stop the hydrocarbons and replace them with blades and proton-producing silicon. I'm sure cryptocurrency mines would be well served with that. And as soon as the experiment proves the case for supporting modern civilization, we can all start doing the same.