Renewable energy - Thoughts?

[PDH]

Yeah that was what I was thinking...a really long cable 

Of course it would have to pass through the sun a few times a year.

You could build a giant space-hand to raise it up those times, like when the vacuum goes under the line.

[Phillip V]

The mid-range projections for natural gas are too profitable right now; so why bother with a 50 year energy solution when you can make so much more money in the next 5?

Natural gas is a 50 year energy solution.

[CountDeMoney]

You could build a giant space-hand to raise it up those times, like when the vacuum goes under the line.

I was trying to think a way of using Mars as a couch leg to keep it out of the way, but I don't think that would work. 

[lustindarkness]

Big giant hamster wheels, have the unemployed fatties lose weight on them or lose their welfare; and keep our prison populations healthy. That combined with wind, solar, hydro, gas, nuke, coal, etc.

[MadImmortalMan]

The mid-range projections for natural gas are too profitable right now; so why bother with a 50 year energy solution when you can make so much more money in the next 5?

Natural gas is a 50 year energy solution.

If wind/solar become cheaper than gas it is. Or if we all get Mr. Fusions next to the water heater in the garage.

[CountDeMoney]

The mid-range projections for natural gas are too profitable right now; so why bother with a 50 year energy solution when you can make so much more money in the next 5?

Natural gas is a 50 year energy solution.

Natural gas is a nonrenewable fuel source.  Nuclear power is not.

[DGuller]

Natural gas is a nonrenewable fuel source.  Nuclear power is not.

Is that really true?  Do we really have an unlimited (or practically unlimited) source of nuclear fuel?

[CountDeMoney]

Natural gas is a nonrenewable fuel source.  Nuclear power is not.

Is that really true?  Do we really have an unlimited (or practically unlimited) source of nuclear fuel?

It is certainly much more renewable, and on a substantially much longer timeline, than fossil fuels that are subject to immediate depletion.

[frunk]

The elephant in the room for solar and wind is cheap, effective and efficient mass energy storage.  Right now there isn't a good way to smooth out the surges in production from wind and solar, or at least coordinate them with demand surges.  One of the reasons hydro is so much better for the electrical grid is that dams are a cheap and easy (once the dam is built) way to store energy for specific times.

Batteries are way too expensive at this scale, and most other mechanical or chemical mass storage methods suffer in efficiency.

[Valmy]

The elephant in the room for solar and wind is cheap, effective and efficient mass energy storage.

It is not really an elephant in the room.  I think anybody who knows anything about energy knows about this problem.  Though usually in connection to things like electric cars than solar and wind.  With regards to solar and wind people talk about 'Smart Grids' instead.

[frunk]

It is not really an elephant in the room.  I think anybody who knows anything about energy knows about this problem.  Though usually in connection to things like electric cars than solar and wind.  With regards to solar and wind people talk about 'Smart Grids' instead.

It is when people blindly say we need more renewable energy without considering the additional infrastructure costs that are going to have to be expended.

[Admiral Yi]

That's my biggest beef with corporate thinking in general in the modern era. It used to be that long-term thinking (like 50-75 years out) was the norm. Now "long-term" for corporations is 5 years max. I honestly believe that that's a huge part of why we're such a throw-away economy anymore, and why we use so much more in natural resources than we need.

  Can you give me one or two examples of corporations thinking 50-75 years out?

[Viking]

That's my biggest beef with corporate thinking in general in the modern era. It used to be that long-term thinking (like 50-75 years out) was the norm. Now "long-term" for corporations is 5 years max. I honestly believe that that's a huge part of why we're such a throw-away economy anymore, and why we use so much more in natural resources than we need.

  Can you give me one or two examples of corporations thinking 50-75 years out?

Last year conoco-phillips announced a 5 billion dollar program to extend the life of the Ekofisk field



til 2050. While this was 39 years when it was announced, but they have been projecting the plans for 10 years now.

[Phillip V]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444549204578020602281237088.html

[Eddie Teach]

A rising tide? Are we gonna drown in it?