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The Forum > Article Comments > Fossil fuels versus renewables > Comments

Fossil fuels versus renewables : Comments

By Kurt Cobb, published 25/1/2012

The key arguments that environmentalists are missing

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The best part of Kurt's article is the quote attributed to Mark Twain. The rest was, as they say, 'Unsustainable'. As Al Jolson said in a memorable assault on the English language as he introduced 'Talkies' to the movie industry, 'You ain't seen nothing yet'. Coals ain't coals, oils ain't oils, nuclear energy ain't nuclear energy and renewables ain't renewables. There are so many varieties of each of these known forms of energy that the commentators quickly and easily become lost in uninformed commentary, scaring the kids and the horses witless in the process. This planet is a veritable ball of minerals and energy, and the universe mind-bogglingly so. Coal, oil and gas have given man prosperity and breathing space to develop new and more efficient technologies and these will come on stream long before the so-called 'fossil fuels' are anywhere near exhausted, provided idiotic governments don't tax these cheap energy sources to their knees and drive us into poverty and despair. Read the story of Tesla who made extraordinary breakthroughs in generation and transmission of energy. Read The Deep Hot Biosphere by Thomas Gold to find there weren't enough dead dinosaurs to make all the oil, coal and gas reserves, that methane is constantly being generated within the earth to refuel as it were the carbon energy reserves which drive civilisation as we know it. Kurt, you can do better than that.
Posted by John McRobert, Wednesday, 25 January 2012 11:48:33 AM
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There is no alt; to oil because oil is still there. Even if you started talking about neuk power it would be 50 years before you see any.
The US is miles in front with solar, gigantic arrays. Fish are feeling the consequences of raised co2 in the ocean.
Posted by 579, Wednesday, 25 January 2012 11:50:11 AM
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The author makes a lot of sense, and though a word to the wise should be sufficient, it appears that real wisdom is in short supply.

The only failings I see in this article are firstly that the answer should be 'all of the above', and secondly that he makes no mention of geothermal, which could possibly make a real difference, and should warrant more intense investigation.

Is there any real alternative to a reliable sustainable energy future? I think not. Could a proliferation of nuclear facilities be an answer (though itself of a limited lifespan, and with major 'waste disposal' issues) - or could this potentially represent a recipe for an unstoppable chain reaction, and mass extinction?

Environmental stress is already at, or near, epidemic proportions, with much degradation now irreversible, and with dire consequences already evident to those who care to see. A tipping point is at hand.

Shall history record sagacity; or total disregard and staggering short-sightedness?
Posted by Saltpetre, Wednesday, 25 January 2012 2:13:45 PM
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Apparently Kurt is the author of a "peak-oil-themed thriller Prelude" - he has a vested interest in alarming the public. Oil/Gas reserves are only ever calculated on the amount which is available "at current prices" ie worth extracting at the time. As the price goes up more exploration finds and extracts more oil. While there is a finite amount of oil, no-one knows what that is but then again there is a finite amount of everything.
Posted by Atman, Wednesday, 25 January 2012 2:28:58 PM
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AGW is garbage; renewables do not work in any meaningfull sense of supplying base load power and peak oil is is just another, albeit notionally seperate, scaremongering aspect of AGW:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9685000/9685024.stm
Posted by cohenite, Wednesday, 25 January 2012 6:26:23 PM
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Actually, Kurt's article demonstrates that he understands very little about microeconomics, and particularly the ways in which supply/demand and price interract.

The reality is this. There are abundant resources capable of delivering "oil" to the market. As Kurt says, many of the ways to do this are capital intensive. What that actually means is that, depending on who the owner is, there may or may not be difficulties in funding the capital intensive projects. Major oil companies clearly have the strong balance sheets that allow them to develop capital intensive projects. But it seems possible that the major oil companies have realised that they profit greatly if they can constrain supply.

I have suggested before, and I suggest again, that if the US (say) was really interested in energy security, all it has to do is to offer to qualified projects a guaranteed price of (say) US$100 per bbl of oil produced, for 20 years. If they did this, you will soon see the emergence of massive production. What oil glut?

And nuclear (why is that word pronounced nucular by so many supposedly knowledgeable players? is a whole other issue!
Posted by Herbert Stencil, Wednesday, 25 January 2012 7:19:47 PM
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