We're currently living
in the Good Old Days
of fossil-fueled energy.
We should be happy
with what we have now.
But there are some
pesky science deniers
who want to replace
inexpensive,
reliable energy with
much more expensive,
intermittent, solar
and wind energy.
Nothing is broken,
so let's fix it ?
and wind energy.
Nothing is broken,
so let's fix it ?
Their magical thinking
is sometimes called
the “Green Revolution” !
They want to “save us”
from some imaginary
"existential threat"
from climate change.
They've lived their
entire lives in
a period of mild,
and harmless
global warming.
A climate change
that people have
been ENJOYING
since the late 1600s
unusually cold
climate of the
"Little Ice Age"
Many people,
and all leftists,
are deluding
themselves
with “feel good”
expectations
about green energy.
Let's consider
some reality:
The three main
fossil fuels
are coal, oil and
natural gas.
Their energy content
can be converted
into a common unit
called :
“Millions of tons
of oil equivalent”,
or Mtoe.
A million tons of oil
= 1 Mtoe
Some amount of coal
has the same energy
as 1 Mtoe of oil.
Some amount
of natural gas
has the same energy
as 1 Mtoe of oil.
All different kinds
of fossil fuels
burned during a year
can be converted
to a single Mtoe number.
The world consumed
11,743 Mtoe in 2018,
in the form of coal,
natural gas and
petroleum.
Causing about
33.7 billion tonnes
of CO2 emissions.
Let's estimate
12,000 Mtoe
for 2019.
For all of those
CO2 emissions
to reach "net-zero",
we'd have to replace
roughly 12,000 Mtoe
with renewable energy.
12,000 Mtoe
is a huge amount
of energy.
Especially if you want
net zero CO2 emissions
globally by 2050.
There are about
11,050 days left
until January 2050.
To achieve net-zero
global CO2 emissions
by 2050 would require
deployment of >1 Mtoe
( ~12,000 Mtoe / 11,050 days )
of additional
carbon-free energy
consumption
every day,
starting today,
and continuing
for the next
30+ years !
We’d also have to
decommission,
and retire, an
equivalent 1 Mtoe
of functioning
fossil fuel property,
plant and equipment
every day.
To achieve net-zero
CO2 global emissions
by 2050, here are two
very simple alternatives:
(1)
Using only nuclear energy:
Deploy 3 new
nuclear plants
EVERY TWO DAYS,
starting today,
and continuing
until 2050.
(2)
Using only wind energy:
Deploy ~1500
new wind turbines
( @ 2.5 MW each )
EVERY DAY,
( 1,500 turbines
spread over
~300 square miles ),
starting today,
and continuing
until 2050.
REALITY:
A full transition
to alternative energy
won’t happen.
And that's
good news,
because our mild
global warming
is good news,
not a threat
at all.
Every one of us
has been living
our entire lives
with rising
CO2 emissions
especially those of
us born after 1950.
Almost no one
outside of Alaska
would have noticed
the gradual warming,
if not for bellowing
leftists scaremongering
about "climate change".
The threat from global
warming is imaginary,
and has been imaginary
for over 60 years.
Repeated, wrong
scary predictions,
of a "coming"
climate crisis
( that never comes ),
even when stated
with great confidence,
are not a real threat.
We've had 60+ years
of coming climate crisis
predictions, yet for
the United States'
contiguous 48 states,
January through August
2019 was the COLDEST
January through August
since U.S. records
were kept in 1895.
( based on the Average
Daily Maximum
Temperatures in NOAA's
1,218 U.S. Historical
Climatology Network,
or USHCN, land surface
weather stations ):
Can people be convinced
they are living in a climate
crisis, when they don't
even feel a change ?
Of course leftists
still believe their
fellow leftists with
science degrees,
without question,
even as they predicted
a coming climate
crisis every year,
for many decades,
that never shows up !
For leftists,
even better is
if the people with
science degrees
work for the
government,
or a university,
because leftists
love governments,
and universities.
If a PhD scientist
predicts the climate
100 years in the
future, then he
or she must know ?
The Appeal to Authority
logical fallacy works
especially well on leftists.
There are plenty
of real problems
in the world.
A very expensive,
global energy
infrastructure
rebuild, over the
next 30 (or 50) years
is not in the Top Ten.
And should not be
in the Top One Hundred !
The current green energy
movement is a leftist
pipe dream, requiring
strict government
control of all energy use,
... which would mark
the beginning
of the end
of the end
of the prosperity
made possible
by free markets
and inexpensive
reliable, consistent
sources of energy.
and inexpensive
reliable, consistent
sources of energy.