Ridiculously abundant solar energy is coming, if we want it.
Could we use it to pull CO2 from air and create limitless carbon-neutral fuels?
Ridiculously abundant solar energy is coming, if we want it.
Could we use it to pull CO2 from air and create limitless carbon-neutral fuels?
Absurd optimist. As nature & civilization collapse because those with power & money refuse to let any effective advances happen, he thinks they’re going to simply change their mind?
Be overpowered? And that no damage will occur while that’s happening?
ICVs aren’t 30% efficient; they’re 5% efficient, well to wheel, & getting worse, while EVs are 40-60% efficient & getting better. We’re vastly increasing efficiency because we’re ditching fossils, & huge parts of that are 1) not burning things for energy, 2) not moving fuels around, & 3) not making unnecessary shifts in energy form. He wants to re-introduce all 3.
Did everyone forget that methane systems leak, that it’s a much more powerful greenhouse gas than CO2, & that it slowly degrades to CO2 in the atmosphere & lasts up to a thousand years?
“Did everyone forget that methane systems leak, that it’s a much more powerful greenhouse gas than CO2, & that it slowly degrades to CO2 in the atmosphere & lasts up to a thousand years?” – Good question, I think this has been understood and accepted for quite a few decades now, so why suddenly, is it that so many don’t trust science and accept plain, known facts – they certainly used to do, look at the Montreal Protocol, back in 1987. ”
Could it be something like too much plastic circulating in peoples brains ? Maybe we should start taking science seriously, if it’s not too late.
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“Researchers also found that people diagnosed with dementia have up to 10 times more microplastics present in their brains than those without the condition.”
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/dementia-are-microplastics-accumulating-in-our-brains-a-risk-factor
Good point. Could microplastics be interacting with the lead, mercury, other heavy metals, PM2.5, CO2, heat, radiation, etc. released by burning fossil fuels? They cause lower IQ, aggression, cognitive disorders, (Mad Hatter’s syndrome/word salad, eg) depression, dementia, & lots of other psychological & neurological conditions as well as hundreds of physiological illnesses.
Not to mention the worms…
https://youtu.be/zkwRyh9m8Xk?t=214
“Did everyone forget that methane systems leak, that it’s a much more powerful greenhouse gas than CO2, & that it slowly degrades to CO2 in the atmosphere & lasts up to a thousand years?”
Actually, methane degrades to CO2 very quickly – it’s completely gone in 12 years. CO2, on the other hand, lasts way more than 1000 years – more like 100,000 to 200,000 years.
The physics of CH4 and CO2 is very different. CH4, because it degrades so quickly, is a “flow gas”. It doesn’t accumulate in the atmosphere. CO2 is a “stock gas”, because it does accumulate.
And all this means that if there is a constant source of methane, its warming effect only lasts for 12 years. After that, there is NO additional warming unless that source increases. The opposite is true for CO2. Which is why climate scientists are way more concerned about CO2 than methane.
Environmental educator Steve Van Matre used to tell a story about how some of the water molecules that fell on dinosaurs in rain showers are the same ones falling on you in your shower. I think that has about the same degree of truth that what’s said about CO2 does. Both molecules are easily broken down & recombined; each one may or may not stick around that long individually. It’s the persistence of overall amounts that the numbers suggest, that are the important thing. Or at least an important thing.
I should have been more clear at the end of the 1st comment: the CO2 that’s the product of methane leaks’ breakdown can last a thousand years, not the methane. (Methane that’s burned stops existing & becomes CO2 (etc.) immediately, of course.) But no significant amount of CO2 lasts for 100,000 years, according to everything I’ve read. (NASA says 300-1000, eg.) The natural, cultural, & political world created by the release is likely to last a lot longer.
Let’s keep our eyes on the real prize. This guy is wildly exaggerating some things & ignoring, dismissing, & downplaying others in an attempt to sell an unnecessary, wasteful, & polluting product. Combinations of solar, wind, hydro, geothermal, & tidal power in geographically widely distributed generation grids, with pumped hydro, chemical-electrical & possibly other storage can provide all the energy the world needs, at lower cost & vastly lower ecological & human health impact than the current system.