So you are against nuclear energy.... What’s your solution?
I don't have THE solution but a couple of things spring to mind:
We have to understand that we are spoiled beyond belief by the fact that we could have the equivalent of 33MJ of energy in a liter of easily transportable, storable and usable fuel, costing only a dollar. These days are gone.
- Conserve as much energy as possible. Insulate. Then insulate again. Take the train/bus/bike. Live close to your work. Work from home. Stop flying. We don't have to go back to playing solitaire by candlelight or doing the laundry on a washboard as most energy is spent in heating buildings, transportation and the industry while lighting and household electricity only use a fraction of the total. But we will have to adapt our lifestyle to use less energy.
- Make the cost of energy fair. Level the play field. Stop subsidizing nuclear and fossil. When that is done we can immediately stop subsidizing renewables because these will be far cheaper than the alternatives. Supply and demand will then lead to large investments in renewable energy generation. Fair pricing of energy will no doubt impact the price we pay for stuff. An iPhone, a steak, a car, a holiday to the sun, and a same-day-delivery from Amazon will be way more expensive and rightly so.
- Invest heavily in research in electricity storage. There are lots of options based on batteries, hydrogen, formic acid, compressed air, flywheels, Energy trains, pumped storage and what not, that all need to be taken out of the lab and into the field.
The changeover to renewable energy will have a big impact on us and will certainly hurt in some ways. But taking into account that the amount of clean solar energy that hits the surface of the earth every hour is equivalent of the total human energy use in a year we would be stupid not to harness that in some way. And stupid we are not.
No disrespect intended, but really, this is you answer?
Have you done any calculations, (Henry Ford did), to see how much energy insulating and then insulating again would save?
You do realize we subsidize the solar and wind industry. Energy from coal is more expensive then solar and wind. We will probably never go back to using coal.
Natural gas is so inexpensive right now, it’s almost being given away.
We have been investing in electricty storage for over 100 year. The laws of physics and thermodynamics are exactly the same as they were then, as they are now.
Do you have any idea how much energy can be stored in batteries, hydrogen, formic acid, compressed air, flywheels? Have you done or seen the calculation? It’s not much. If all of the batteries in the world were to be used to store and provide electricty it would supply less than 5 minutes of our electrical needs.
Here you have all of these wonderful ideas but have you looked to see just how practical they are in application?
Yes we can conserve, but only 1/8 of the world is using 90% of the energy. Are you going to deprive the other 7/8s of the world who need electricty for clean drinking water and cooking that electricty?
Can I ask you to become more familiar with your fellow man and get to know what’s happening on this planet we live on?
Man is the only species which uses more energy than we consume. We alway have, and always will. And get ready to live on this planet with 2 billion more of your fellow energy consuming humans. Until you or mankind comes up with another solution these additional 2 billion people will burn fuel adding to more greenhouse gasses. All humans are addicted to the burning of hydrocarbons.
So what’s the solution? Not what you have suggested. Gas, oil, coal, wind, geothermal wave, solar, hydro, chemical - Nope none of these will supply enough energy within causing additional problems forhuman life on earth. Just leaves one.... Nuclear. It’s clean, It’s green, and renewable and far more energy dense than fossil fuels.
The countries of the world and billionaires who are soon to die in the next 20 years are spending money on next-generation of nuclear energy. I’m not a fan of nuclear. Waitin 60 miles of my house are two nuclear contaminated waste sites.
I will ask again, got a bettter solution than what you’ve suggested so far or next-gen nuclear? I hope so. But the laws of physics are against you.
https://youtu.be/6sqnptxlCcwhttps://youtu.be/grZSxoLPqXI