Inconvenient Energy Realities
E21,
by
Mark P. Mills
Original Article
Posted By: MarkTwain,
7/8/2019 3:07:15 PM
A week doesn’t pass without a mayor, governor, policymaker or pundit joining the rush to demand, or predict, an energy future that is entirely based on wind/solar and batteries, freed from the “burden” of the hydrocarbons that have fueled societies for centuries. Regardless of one’s opinion about whether, or why, an energy “transformation” is called for, the physics and economics of energy combined with scale realities make it clear that there is no possibility of anything resembling a radically “new energy economy” in the foreseeable future. Bill Gates has said that when it comes to understanding energy realities “we need to bring math to the problem.”
MSN.com reports today that natural gas is literally being flared off because our infrastructure prevents its delivery to domestic markets, and "A 99-year-old law prevents foreign tankers from shipping gas within the U.S. There are no domestic LNG tankers, mostly because the hundred-million-dollar-plus ships are much less expensive to build in Asia. So consumers in New England relied on importing liquefied natural gas from Trinidad and Tobago and even Russia to keep prices in check this past winter."
How stupid is all this? What will Congress do about it?
4 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
Clinger 7/8/2019 5:10:35 PM (No. 117827)
And here's an inconvenient economic truth. We are passed "maxed out" with regard to how much wealth that can be squeezed out of our economy by government If you want to spend more on energy related projects you must cut taxes and or spending elsewhere in order to increase tax collections to finance anything. We have run out of other people's money, at least to the extent that we can get more from the point of a gun.
Here's another inconvenient energy reality: Oil is not decayed dino-goo. It exists in extraordinary abundance between the earth's mantle and crust. It replenishes and the process has been replicated in the lab. Sources are Russian research and corroboration from NASA.
That isn't to suggest we ignore better sources but we need not commit planetary suicide to dictate worse solutions.
4 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
curious1 7/8/2019 6:33:31 PM (No. 117918)
#1, Congress got us into this mess. As Einstein said (paraphrased),"A problem cannot be solved at the same level of mentation which caused it." So maybe we need to trim back, or lop off a whole lot more chunks of regulations the government 'experts' promulgated, to start fixing the problem.
#2, yes, concerning Titan and other solar system bodies; they must have been a popular vacation spot with dinosaurs, to accumulate so many hydrocarbons.
1 person likes this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
jeffkinnh 7/8/2019 6:34:00 PM (No. 117922)
This is an AMAZING article. It clearly demonstrates the absurdity of "eliminating" use of hydrocarbons, even for today's scale of energy use. If the world is developed to the point where many poorer people have access to modern life, which is far safer and better, the energy use of the planet will skyrocket. The cruel alternative to helping this happen to alleviate poverty is to condemn much of mankind to effectively living in caves so the rest of us can thrive OR find ways to deliver massive amounts of energy and great gains in efficiency so ALL can benefit. The Leftists that argue for the hamstringing of use of hydrocarbons are responsible for the suffering of millions now and billions in the future. They are idiots.
Again, EXCELLENT article.
2 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
DVC 7/8/2019 7:30:10 PM (No. 117990)
Solar and wind electric power is a JOKE. It is absolutely IMPOSSIBLE that it will replace any substantial portion of hydrocarbon use in the next 20-30 years.
Impossible., and yet the brainless ones, the ones who flunked math and science, and switched to "political science" (a laughable oxymoron) will wave their idiot hands and declare "it will be so".
Hang on to your gasoline cars, and never agree to ANY form of electric car stuff.
2 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
Highlander 7/8/2019 8:08:06 PM (No. 118030)
God gave us the earth to manage it and live well using the resources He so benevolently supplied us. Hydrocarbon is bountiful and for our benefit. The earth is far richer in resources than we can deplete. There are always ways to solve problems. God has given us that ability. So enjoy his Grace and stop worrying and complaining.
3 people like this.
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Herein lie the rude realities that Green Revolution proponents willfully ignore.