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Anyways, any solution has pros and cons... Not to mention they are certainly remedies and innovations to make the consequences less severe as this would take many decades to implement. However, it's a moot point without clean and cheap electricity.
While there are many sound arguments against the efficiency of so called "renewable energy" I'm not convinced that the need for subsidies are one of them. Many traditional industries and even the big banks receive massive subsidies from taxpayers. Ever year banks get close to $3 billion in subsidies from the government.
It is like when people hold public transportation to a different standard. The highway system for our cars would not exist/survive without massive subsidies.
So asking a new(er) technology to compete without subsidies when the technologies they compete against have (such as through tax exemptions for fossil fuel producers) is anti-competitive.
National subsidies to oil, gas and coal producers amount to $20.5 billion annually in the U.S.
Embrace of Renewables Has a Hidden Cost . In yesterday's New York Times, a somewhat left-leaning paper, there was a devastating analysis of the naivete and inefficiency of so-called "renewable" energy sources. ..
Your review hints that you didn't actually read the article. It says nothing about the "naivete and inefficiency" of wind and solar. It suggests that they shouldn't be subsidized so much, as these subsidies have some unfortunate consequences.
What we have now is the technology to generate energy from wind and sun and that technology, especially solar, gets better and more efficient every day. What we have not done is to change the way that power gets delivered to the consumer and that is what is required to make renewables really viable.
You're right, I never gave money to GreenPeace. I did non-productive things such as organizing environmental seminars on topics like non-point source pollution, protecting wetlands and erosion control while working at a state environmental agency. I take my Cub Scout troop out collecting garbage and planting trees. We watered trees yesterday. I've gone on multiple trash clean ups at local lakes and beaches. I've participated at four underwater clean ups in Austin at Lake Travis. When money was being raised to expand the preserve at Armand Bayou (a sensitive wetlands area near Housto), I donated and went to my employer and got them to match. Following Hurricane Ike, I volunteered to help with clean up at the Jesse Jone Nature Center. That's some of the mostly hands on things I've done.
But no, I have never given money to GreenPeace, you got me.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dv1033
Anyways, any solution has pros and cons... Not to mention they are certainly remedies and innovations to make the consequences less severe as this would take many decades to implement. However, it's a moot point without clean and cheap electricity.
So, you'll accept the destruction of marine habitat as a con to desalination but none of the cons of coal? How do you decide which cons to accept? Is it by what's trending on Facebook?
What we have now is the technology to generate energy from wind and sun and that technology, especially solar, gets better and more efficient every day. What we have not done is to change the way that power gets delivered to the consumer and that is what is required to make renewables really viable.
We also have to keep in mind the environmental issues of solar power:
I've been looking at electric bikes and the viability of charging one through solar.
This is more of a interesting thing to do as opposed to a lifestyle choice. It would be nice to be able to ride over to the local brewery and have a couple and be able to zip back with no worries. ��
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