It Is Simply Not Sustainable

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As the cost of Hdrocarbons becomes more expensive alternative energy sources begins to look cheaper or more cost efffective.

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I suppose the ultimate fuel or energy source would be to use a living organism (plankton) to recycle the CO2 out of the atmosphere to create energy.

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People will still be diverting more of their income towards energy costs. In the old days it might cost a dime to generate a Watt of electricty. With higher Hydrocarbon costs it might now cost a quarter, which makes the 20 cents for Solar look cheap by comparison however 20 cents is still double the dime it used to cost.

Now comes the economy of scale, like Plasma TVs the more that are made and as the technology increase the unit cost can go down like Gajin suggested.

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MRM...the nick of time might be sooner than one thinks or man can muster his will and intellect to meet and or solve the problem.

Mans intellect is limited however his greed is not. It should be the other way around.

[Mule]

Nostradamus lives! His name is Tabdullah. Dude, if I was smokin' those cheap ass cigars you buy, I'd be ready to go right now. Sell off some spoons & buy something worth smoking!

[MRM]

Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what is heaven for?

Bonus points to whoever names the quote.

[nostatic]

two words: solar cyborgs

[MichiganMat]

As an engineer, thinking about the (in)efficiencies of the world are enough to drive me off the deep end.

I see the beautiful new house I recently moved into and I think of all the water, gas, and electricity we'll use, the food we'll eat, the transportation of all the goods we'll require. Furnace, dryer, carpet, flush flush flush.

I see the oil required to transport the oil, the coal to excavate the coal, and the energy to recycle all the waste we'll create. Rail cars, tanker trucks, big rigs, jumbo jets.

I see the power grids, the sewer networks, the highway systems and traffic jams.

I see the steel in every structure, the rubber in every tire, the chemicals in every battery, television and computer. Paper, PTE bottles, plastic wrap and aluminum foil.

Surely change is coming. In the meantime Im going to embrace the inevitable and get the most out of my P-car, Land Rover, and my 1500sq/ft as I can.

[MRM]

As an example of inevitable progress that will eventually save us when we are foced to adapt, my wife's company manufactures a composite pruduct lighter, stronger and cleaner than steel. It has one main drawback: No one will buy it because it is not steel.

Everyone is afraid to spec the product into their bridges, cars, buildings, what have you because they have a 500 year history of being able to predict steel performance. No matter how many lab test are done, they don't want to take the risk of the new product, just on the off chance that something goes wrong and someone asks why they didn't use steel.

Some day that won't matter and we'll accept composites and other new technologies the way that we take electronic communications for granted today.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Yes. So-called "embedded energy" is a lot harder to quantify, and a HUGE problem in a consumer-driven society like ours.

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When I was doing my calculations on cost I was including the "embedded" energy costs...

[Sapporo Guy]

I'm gonna die anyway.

The earth is still in an ice age so what is the big deal if the polars melt. Just buy some land a bit more inland and sit and wait. You'll have beach front property for pennies.

However, the ozone is tad bit more scarier.

Or, we can become Omish and drive a horse and buggy. Talk about hp!!!

Tabs get some sleep guy or at least help us to figure the rise in ocean level and where the prime properties will have relocated too !

[pmax]

Here's what happened last time.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-51201168

Scientists believe the planet was previously in one of its "Snowball Earth" periods, when it was largely covered in ice. At some point, the ice sheets melted and the planet began to rapidly warm.

"The age of the [crater] corresponds pretty precisely with the end of a potential global glacial period," Prof Kirkland said.

"So the impact may have had significant changes to our planetary climate."

Using computer modelling, the team calculated that the asteroid struck a kilometres-thick ice sheet covering the Earth. The event would have released huge volumes of water vapour, a greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere.

This could have helped the planet's warming during the Proterozoic era - a stage when oxygen had just appeared in the atmosphere and complex life had not yet formed.

[Joe Bob]

Congrats on digging up a twelve year old scat thread....

[manbridge 74]

Yes and whatta guess they’ve come up with! Scientists used to be engaged in science....

[john70t]

One meteor is enough to ruin everyone's day.

[pmax]

A decade is hardly long enough for an end of the world discussion ! We'll check back again in another.

Originally Posted by john70t

One meteor is enough to ruin everyone's day.

Notably, the world did not end then !

[pmax]

Originally Posted by manbridge 74

Yes and whatta guess they’ve come up with! Scientists used to be engaged in science....

I do wonder how the "global warming" scientific community missed this.

Driven by the recognition that trees suck Earth-warming carbon out of the atmosphere far more efficiently than any machine, the effort has attracted millions of dollars in support — and inspired hope that trees could become an even more potent weapon in the battle against climate change.

“We’ve been astonished to find that it is up there with all the best climate change solutions,” said ETH Zurich ecologist Thomas Crowther

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/climate-solutions/trillion-tree-reforestation-climate-change-philippines/

[OK-944]

As a species, we removed ourselves from the loop of nature as soon as we learned how to create and sustain fire, and have been taxing and destroying the natural order ever since.

[Hawkeye's-911T]

and the meek shall inherit the Earth.

Who the hell else would want it - given the present rate we seem hell-bent on effing things up?