Maybe if I'm bored enough, I'll do a calculation of how much land we need to replace our energy needs with solar fields. But i'm kinda tired right now.

You're right, those are weak ass reasons against alternative energy. The real reason is money.

Solar/wind aren't practical on a large enough scale to be significant, solar panels are very dirty to make and aren't very efficient once they are made. For cars, anything with battery systems are nasty to make because of all the shit in the batteries that has to be shipped all over the place and then dealt with when the battery is fried 5 years later. Cargo ships are notoriously nasty things compared to cars, so the ship used to transport all the batteries will likely offset any gains from running on electrics anyways.

The move to actually cleaner energy I understand from a pollution perspective, the whole climate change schmozzle is a different story since the last I checked nobody could conclusively prove that climate change was actually human caused.

Where did you last check? because outside the fanatical right wing fringe, it seems to be the scientific consensus.

I have been agnostic on that issue for years, but everything I look to that isn't written by nutjobs suggests that...

Those are practical problems that need practical solutions. Obviously solar power isn't the solution to everything - it depends on the scale. To even suggest using solar panels to replace all our energy needs... you must be tired if you're not just being sarcastic.

The most practical clean energy is of course nuclear, but I really hope we can find a way to use it more efficiently. Having piles of nuclear waste sitting around can't be good.

I see dropping gas prices as incentive to hoon

well Lockheed has their bets on having an operational fusion based reactor in 10 years, it's already been in the works for 4 years.

They're dumping a lot of money into alternative energy sector to hedge against cutbacks on military spending.

I think we will see an exponential increase in the rise of efficiency in alternative energy in the next few decades... and that's when we'll have TRUE population problems.

Yeah those Lockheed Martin claims are pretty big. Fusion has also been 50 years away, every year.

There's also the idea of have a mini reactor for every neighbourhood kicking around too. There are new reactors out there that use spent fuel too. From what I understand, progress is so slow in the nuclear industry because there's so much red tape and regulation. It's warranted of course.

One day our population problem will be so bad, we'll have collapsed all the fish stocks and will be reduced to eating algae pellets. I don't see that happening in my lifetime though.

I think climate change is going to happen whether it be natural or human. But the human cause makes it happen waaaay faster. I for one would like Canada to get warmer. LOL

Hmmmm global population is expected to settle at around 10B with only Asia and Africa seeing significant increases in population - if I'm not mistaken the Americas will only see an additional 1B at most, and this side of the planet can easily support that population. (Fertility rates drop as life expectancy increases)

Projections of population growth - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Clean energy is no doubt the future, the biggest change imo will be the increase in centralization and use of mass transit, incorporation of energy reduction in planning and construction of the cities of the future etc. We will still use oil/gas but hybrids will be the new norm and we will be well beyond a simple catalityc converter to reduce emissions. Urban sprawl will die a well deserved and painful death.

I'm actually strangely optimistic about the future for being such a realist lol though I will say that I feel less optimistic regarding certain geographic areas... Namely the Middle East and Africa... I think China will do alright if they actually straighten out their political problems.

Sure, the price of gas was cheap, but the fuel economy of vehicles was terrible back then.

Solar Power is bad because when we take all the energy from the Sun we won't have a Sun anymore.
:derp:

But diesel is still expensive! :(

Take your fist out of your anus and tell me how much better mpg Honda has gotten from now vs the 80's hondas

i think he's probably referring to the good old 5L's and other muscle cars of the day compared to the higher horsepower much better fuel economy versions of today

Bit of a rough ride today for us who are short oil.
Don't get scared.

it's a bull trap. they're all gonna go hang themselves in the washroom over the next few weeks.

Sweet so save 800 a year on gas but make 60k less working commercial..

96.9 in Kamloops...woot!

The rubble is crashing.

it can say it's probably on purpose.

the purpose though, i duno.

To put pressure on the Russians.

Why else would the US start dipping into their own oil reserves.

It's also really funny how just as Russia seems to show a steadiness, the US signals for more sanctions. Its like they have a belt around Russia's neck, and every time the country exhales a little sigh of relief, the US tightens that belt even further.

Russia fucked around trying to take over the European natural gas industry. They failed hard and are now suffering the consequences.

Bingo. (At least IMO)

It is more like Saudi wants to pressure Iran and Qatar to fold.. and also make sure the tarsands and North Dakota crude is not economically viable (might not be a bad thing for us, at least it will get the environmentalists off our backs for a while).

Russia is just a side show. It is not even OPEC.

Either way, Russia is and will be the only economical LNG supplier to Europe (a lot of fracking projects in Europe turn up bubkuss) .. Europe right now just wants a regime change, because they know Russia holds them by the balls.

Maybe relevant to the climate change discussion. What It Would Really Take to Reverse Climate Change - IEEE Spectrum