Renewable energy?....not so renewable.

[Prawn Connery]

Ah Bob, I'll wager your 3-Mile/Chernobyl/Fukushima against all the living damage petrochemicals have caused over the past 200+ years.

There's really no contest.

I'd take that bet.
Can you think of any 20 year old petroleum disasters that nature hasn't taken care of?
Chernobyl should be inhabitable again in what...another 50,000 years?
Yes, there really is no contest.

I can think of plenty. Plastics take up to 1,000 years or more to degrade.

How long will it take to remove all the plastic from the Pacific and other oceans?

What about fracking? How much water has fracking contaminated? How long will it take nature to replace that artesian water which took millions of years to accumulate?

What about carbon dioxide build-up in the atmosphere leading to rising ocean and land temperatures? How many living things will petrochemical-burning-induced climate change kill over the next 1,000 years or so?

For that matter, how many deaths of humans and other life forms can be directly attributed to petrochemicals compared to nuclear power? Take your best guess and nuclear power has directly killed only a fraction of those killed by petrochemicals over the past 200+ years.

You need to see the big picture, Bob.

[Prawn Connery]

months after 3mile island,
as if poisoning all the indians within hundreds of miles
a tailing damn broke and unleashed the largest nuclear waste release north america has ever seen! ran at least 100 miles downstream. still not cleaned up

80% of najavo indian residences are contaminated with uranium
and the miners who walked away from it all are back at it hope the federal government will overrules native american restrictions on mining so they can get back to actively poisoning them and us all again as soon as possible

now that were supposedly not going to buy anymore nuclear fuel from russia again...


if you dont dig it, it cant poison us
if you dont build them they cant meltdown

not to mention the waste which will be a significant threat for millions of years at least

I am not arguing these things haven't happened. Nor that nuclear power has the potential to be deadly. I am simply pointing out that, historically, petrochemicals have killed far more living things on earth than nuclear power accidents.

Yet we still burn coal and gas, and our cars, boats and planes still burn petrol, diesel and kerosene (turbine fuel) at an enormous rate.

[Prawn Connery]

Did you know that plastic chemicals are believed to be one of the main causes of sperm counts dropping by up to 50% in recent decades? Or that they are believed to be one of the main causes of the huge spike in human cancers and other diseases over the same period?

Plastics are in our food, our water, our air and our bodies. Plastics permeate far more of the human race (and nature combined) than radioactive isotopes from nuclear accidents.

Petrochemicals are in practically everything.

[ripper5]

Anyone else remember how they were selling the idea that there was an eminent tampering threat everywhere and that everything needed to be safety proofed and wrapped in plastic? Early Eighties? About the same time they got rid of the old pull tab cans for the ever since pop tops. Should've never happened...

[roller24]

Hydro electricity seems like it should be more widely developed, problem is, there isn't enough profit in it.
You don't need to build a dam for each one either as you could utilize any moving water to accomplish a spinning turbine.

Hydrogen cells are also a viable source of energy for vehicles.

Biofuels are what? too expensive? what happened in this field of science.

Anyone else remember how they were selling the idea that there was an eminent tampering threat everywhere and that everything needed to be safety proofed and wrapped in plastic? Early Eighties? About the same time they got rid of the old pull tab cans for the ever since pop tops. Should've never happened...

That was all due to one bottle of Tylenol.

[rSin]

there will be no more dams
we have the near nightmare proposition of removing the ones we have currently as they age close to failure soon

wave and tide energy capture are an unlimited source of energy we havnt gotten past experimenting with.
we have dozens of methods ready and waiting for wide scale rollout in this regard

not to mention underwater turbines to capture energy from ocean currents.

the future of humanity is for most of it to migrate into floating cities. and then centuries of work restoring the land in what will amount to a desperate attempt to save the oceans themselves from the biological collaspe they are headed for a breakneck speed.

olds are even that by 2100 the only living things in the oceans will be jellyfish...
all the oceanographers and marine biologists i know are leading shattered lives today in abject despair knowing this is happening and what the likely outcome is...

[Butcher Bob]

I am not arguing these things haven't happened. Nor that nuclear power has the potential to be deadly. I am simply pointing out that, historically, petrochemicals have killed far more living things on earth than nuclear power accidents.

Yet we still burn coal and gas, and our cars, boats and planes still burn petrol, diesel and kerosene (turbine fuel) at an enormous rate.

The same moronic reasoning used in political elections.
You have to vote for Biden, so Trump doesn't get elected.
Two terrible choices, and you want to pick one...
... rather than go through the pain of doing the right thing.
You are exactly the problem I'm pointing out.
Full steam ahead....no shits given for the future...
...the future generations can pay for our mistakes.


The fracking was a good point...but it doesn't make nuclear better...not even acceptable.

[Intrinsic]

lrus your initial statement was about solar and wind for electric generation. I addressed that. If Renewables couldn't supply all our energy needs and non-renewables are forever necessary .. but .. by definition we will run out of non-renewables therefore civilization will Collapse by your logic. Okay maybe not collapse that was hyperbole. Sooner or later we're going to have to stop relying on non-renewables, by choice or by force. It is why the American DoD stated goal to be free of non-renewables for National Security. And they say it's doable. Without covering everything in solar panels.

[Solid Gold Butt Plug]

My county is powered by geothermal electricity.

[Lrus007]

lrus your initial statement was about solar and wind for electric generation. I addressed that. If Renewables couldn't supply all our energy needs and non-renewables are forever necessary .. but .. by definition we will run out of non-renewables therefore civilization will Collapse by your logic. Okay maybe not collapse that was hyperbole. Sooner or later we're going to have to stop relying on non-renewables, by choice or by force. It is why the American DoD stated goal to be free of non-renewables for National Security. And they say it's doable. Without covering everything in solar panels.

yes i meant all our energy needs. sorry for the confusion.