Future of fossil fuels...

[braceysdad]

Will the USA ever get away from fossil fuels? Will the elite powers that be that are making Billions off fossil fuels ever allow that to happen? It seems that the EPA and other agencies turn a blind eye to this industry. With today's technology why are we still not harnessing the sun and wind power more than we are...

Discuss

[badhoopty]

yolo

[braceysdad]

Unless you were a dinosaur... Then they turn you into fuel

[C*H*U*D]

Originally Posted by braceysdad

...Will the elite powers that be that are making Billions off fossil fuels ever allow that to happen?

It seems that the EPA and other agencies turn a blind eye to this industry.

You answered your own question. Just follow the money.

[Duuuuuuuude]

Every other industrialized country (even the oil rich ones) are investing heavily in alternative energy sources.

Even if you don't believe in global warming or climate change, you have to at least understand the financial benefit of being ahead of the curve on these technologies. If we aren't the leaders in these fields, we'll be the consumers.

[C*H*U*D]

And it's not just a global warming issue. Oil is a finite resource. One day it will run out.

[Duuuuuuuude]

Originally Posted by C*H*U*D

And it's not just a global warming issue. Oil is a finite resource. One day it will run out.

Pshaw, we've got plenty.





Apparently.

[braceysdad]

I worked in this industry for near 10 years. It was amazing what they get away with... Imminent Domain and Fracking, just crazy

[Robbob]

Its not just the big companies, state politicians don't help it either.

Wind power wanted to come into Connecticut. Our politicians were trying to figure out how to tax them on 'air space usage' and tax the consumer on the 'visual obstruction' they created.

Still no wind power in CT

[KJ10]

Plenty of wind power here, in WY. Ugly-ass turbines killing eagles all day long.

White House gives wind farms 30-year pass on eagle deaths - CBS News

And we still have no way to transmit the power where it's needed. If this country doesn't upgrade the infrastructure, it won't matter how "green" our energy is.

[Peaker]

Where i live +50% of our energy is renewable, for the most wind turbines, but some places is as good as 100% renewable.

The big wind turbines that go up here is massive
536 Feet diameter wings - 656 feet tall ( to hub of wings ) - generator housing 390 tonnes.



Energiakademiet.dk - Viden og erfaringer omkring vedvarende energi

In Aarhus the #2 largest town in Denmark there use to be somthing like 20 waste treatment plants, and those did a pretty bad job, soon there will only be 3 or 4 of those plants left ( modified ) and they will do a good job and output more energy than is put into them, and they will provide some rew matrials too.
And offcourse most important output clean water to the bay of Aarhus

EDIT: i think we see a dead eagle every year, but offcourse we dont have so many of those here since most of our country was put under the plow decades ago, our natioal bird the swan seem to do alright with the wind turbines.

O and offcourse we do other things but wind, allso solar but they just killed subsidies for that as it was becooming too popular and the state couldent lift ther part of that 60/40 deal.
Then we too have a lot of manure we can turn into gass.
And we have a range of heat exchange techs going on too.
Allso reasearch is going on in fule cells here, but as i recall its mostly the PEMFC kind.

Offcourse you cant bet on one horse, just asl all those fish that got ther life ruined by Dams and the turbines inside those.
We too have a couple of small POS dams that have ruines some of our rivers, offcourse those need to be taken down ASAP, aside from me beeing the onlt guy that see it that way.

And dont think i am a treehuggin hippie, i actually dont mind nuclear power plants, but it have to be failsafe current design ones, and not the old "lets hope it work" kind
As i undestand it today it is possible to make a safe nuclear plant, and we danes need that as i assume they have a short spin up time for when the wind drop.
We actually allready have to buy some nuclear power, from the Swedes i think, and then he have our coal / oil / straw / waste burning plants too, and they are offcourse fittes with the best filters tax payer money can buy, but really they need to go.

[WHITE-TRASH]

Birds running being killed by turbines doesn't even get on my radar since it's simple darwinian theory in action. What kills me is how expensive the damned things are and how inefficiently they make power.

[Peaker]

I concur with that guy.

Same with solar power, if only we could harvest 50% of the power it put down on each Sq foot of land
And find a way to store it ( fulecells come to mind here, split water with surplus power )

I know really we humans should stop killing off so many anymals and what not, if only 80% of us would be so kind and drop dead tomorrow.

[Duuuuuuuude]

New technology is always expensive and inefficient. The more it's utilized the better it will get.

[Turtlejon]

In many ways solar is actually more affordable than oil. Ask Halliburton, when I see their oil rigs in west Texas they are all powered by small solar panels because it's cheaper to buy one small panel once than continually burn even a small amount of oil.
The main reason fossil fuels are seen as more economical is the 450$ billion in subsidies that we pay them from our taxes when all of the renewables only get about 1.5% of that.
Also if you look up the statistics about bird deaths, they are quite surprising, it seems like a huge number until you compare it with bird deaths from other factors like pesticides (70 million annually) or windows (100 million)!! The largest killer according to some sources is domestic cats!

[Sarra]

Kitty likes robins. Robins are tasty, apparently...

[BJoe]

I take it Kitty leaves them so you can see what it did?

[Sarra]

Originally Posted by BJoe

I take it Kitty leaves them so you can see what it did?

Just the parts that she doesn't think are tasty.

[BJoe]

Lol, my Mom's parents had a cat that would do stuff like that, such as leave a dead mouse in the middle of the kitchen table so they could see that it killed one for them.

[vonclod]

Originally Posted by BJoe

Lol, my Mom's parents had a cat that would do stuff like that, such as leave a dead mouse in the middle of the kitchen table so they could see that it killed one for them.

My cat Riff left me a huge rat not too long ago..I'm not even sure how he caught the damn thing as he is getting old and about 15lbs, left it right in front of my computer desk for me to trip over 1st thing in the morn I said thanks and patted him on the head..lol

As for future energy I think Thorium based reactors are going to be part of the solution. Oil will be around untill it's too costly to retrieve, it will be all about the money to those that run the show.