Originally posted on 11/18/2020:

Quote Originally Posted by thechaoz View Post
As a liberal, it takes more energy to make renewable sources of energy then just using said energy. Even Michael Moore did a Youtube doc on bio diesel and hows it's a waste. Think about how we get ENOUGH electricity to power cars. Wind/solar/Turbine/Dam are not even remotetly enough. Fossil fuels, which turns and goes through all the processes to become the electrictiy.

The only way to pull this off is to accept that Nuclear energy is INCREDIBLE, incredibly safe, emits condensation into the air and that's it. Obv the rods and nuclear waste at the end are a problem. We can bury it deep in the ocean, siberia, surrounding dead planets. I know it's not perfect.

Eventually we will run out of dino juice. Those are the only options right now.
Biodiesel ain't a renewable. It doesn't cost more to make a renewable vs mining, processing, refining, distribution, transportation, storage, etc. It takes equipment using gas/diesel to extract/mine/drill for oil, natural gas and coal. Then it takes heavy duty trucks/ships/barges using gas/diesel to transport them. Then more heavy duty equipment powered by gas/diesel for any refining and processing. Again in transport to any storage facilities. Plus the use of any pumps and conveyors powered by electricity derived from fossil fuels during the logistics and transportation process. And again at the stations, the need to pump fuel into the storage tanks and then the use of pumps to refill peoples vehicles.
If, and a big IF, we can get ourselves on a world relying more on the use of true renewables vs drilling, extracting, mining of finite sources of fossil fuels. The sun and wind are free. Even the motion of the ocean, along with rivers, are free as well.
We as a society need to imagine and embrace the possibility of having solar shingles, panels, etc. on damn near every rooftop. From homes, businesses, warehouses, schools, churches, or as Samuel Gerard would say "...every gas station, residence, warehouse, farmhouse, henhouse, outhouse and doghouse..." is what we need to be striving for.
At one point it was the norm to see huge antennas on the roofs of homes/garages/sheds etc. Nowadays there are compact wind turbines people could easily mount on back corner of their homes/garages/sheds or even a pole in the backyard. Combine that with some solar panels, and most people would have plenty of power for everyday use. Along with having the grid of power for purchase being generated by hydro, large scale wind turbines and solar, will make the demand for electricity generated by fossil fuels only needed by certain large scale manufacturing plants powering super heavy duty machinery. But even that can be done with use of amps.
I get it that people don't like change. Hell we all have a parent, grand-parent, uncle, great aunt/uncle, that are always talking about the days when loaf of bread and gallon of milk were a dime and a quarter.
The thing is, is that this whole charade of the game called capitalism is based on everything going up, up and up. Wages, inflation, consumer goods, stocks, etc. etc.
I know the argument out there is that the tech ain't there, or that the solar panels or solar shingles aren't cost saving vs estimated life of the product. That is speculative to an extent. So many variables in part of country someone lives in and the average cost of electricity in their area, along with any local, state tax breaks one might receive, along with any federal subsidies/tax breaks.
But what I do know, is that demand drives innovation. Innovation drives competition. Competition drives prices down when for choices are available. And when more and more people want a product, that drives production up. Leading to increased mass production, therefore lowering the cost per unit. VCR's were $1000 and within a couple years they were $600, and then $300, and eventually top of the line were $100-150 and cheap ones were $50-90.
There is no reason to not want to harness the free power of the sun. If enough people, along with businesses, and all government buildings, started putting solar panels/shingles on their roofs, along with mini wind turbine(s), the dependency for oil/coal would be almost zilch. Except for military and certain small sectors of businesses ie: agriculture, quarries, steel mills and other places using super heavy duty equipment and machinery all come to mind. And the cost would drop for solar equipment AND the technology would increase. A win win for all.
For quite a few years there's been the same repeating story circulating around the web involving the comparison of energy usage between a standard petrol car and an EV. I can't remember if the data was based on 5 yr or 10 yr or what - but what I do remember is that the premise and summary leave out one huge fact. The data/numbers will show the petrol car being slightly more cost effective over 5 or maybe 10 yrs. But the key part in the article shared around the web is that the petrol car's numbers are based on the car having an unlimited amount of gas.
But when you start accounting for the drilling and extracting of a oil, along with refining and storage/distribution, one starts to realize how much "energy" is wasted to keep the petrol car operating over the years. Therefore wasting energy. Where as once the EV's battery is manufactured, it will last for 10 yrs at least. Basically the comparison is skewed and doesn't account for the need to keep replacing the burning and loss of the petrol car's fuel.
I totally get the push back and fear-mongering stories that get conjured up and circulated around the web from the pro-oil/gas people. There is a lot to lose in the terms of making and selling disposable products for petrol vehicles. Stores like AutoZone's and even the Automotive dept in retail stores like Walmart - will shrink in size from no longer needing to stock so many wasteful products. Ev's have have less moving parts for motor and drivetrain. All of the additives and potions and lotions that are marketed to stop a leak or increase HP and blah blah blah, will all be obsolete. No changing oil every 3k and having a gazillion brands of filters along with brands/weights of motor oil to choose from. No starter, no water pump(in traditional sense), no valves, no head gaskets, no spark plugs, no distributor, no PCV valves, no radiator in the traditional sense for cooling of engine and transmission, no serpentine belt, and on and on down the list for replacement parts/filters/fluids not needing replacement in an EV.
If anyone has ever owned a hobby grade electric RC vehicle - the advances in tech over the years, granted on a smaller scale, was/has been game changing for the die-hards in the hobby world. Basically EV's are just electric RC cars on a larger scale.

It's always baffling how society will embrace the communicating aspect of technology, ie: phones, cordless, fax, computers, internet, broadband, smart-phones, etc. Yet thumb their nose's at the idea of harnessing natural free energy sources.