Originally Posted by
Speed Select
Bar,
I agree with you on many points, including this post. Despite the effect of fossil fuels, this country is the cleanest it’s been in modern history. And although it took a small dip recently (largely due to lifestyle choices), life expectancy is the highest it’s been in the history of man kind.
Fossil fuels have improved quality of life FAR more than hurt it. Look into the environmental effect of burning wood or the energy deficit of windmills and electric vehicles (I know you have).
My college roommate has a PhD in chemistry and helped develop the alternative fuel that you’ll occasional see publicized by the Air Force. He says that it takes more energy to make the fuel than the fuel produces, and that because of its multitude higher energy density, fossil fuels are the cleanest source of power.
Yes, he is an actual scientist.
Anyway, the numbers are starting to consistently suggest that it is safe to start digging out of the CV hole. Hopefully that means a robust return of pax. I’m beginning to actually miss the smell of the Plane Train.
After a seven-year decline, pollution is resurgent under Trump's administration, up 5.5%. It is no wonder given his attack on the EPA as well as policies favorable to resource extraction, opening America's parks for drilling, subsidies to the oil and gas industries while allowing alternative energy supports to expire.
We should have remained in the Paris Climate Accord. What most Americans do not realize is that the big sticking point with getting China and India on board was the reliance on US technology and manufacturing to meet the goals. By leaving that agreement, we abandoned an important and profitable market that would have employed many tens of thousands of Americans.
In the next 45 to 60 days we should start to see a lot in the press about improvements to battery technology; energy density, weight, reduction in the cost of materials and ease of manufacture. Many of America's best engineering talent has taken their work to China, where their government has realized the need, seen the coming market and is taken the action to capitalize on it.***
Your roommate is quite correct. The Air Force's biofuel push was yet another subsidy to mid-America voters who have ridiculously outsized representation thanks to the Electoral College. It wasn't about the environment or efficiency, or any capitalistic rationale. Trump's global retreat back to America, where he envisions us safe behind a wall, probably will have a quite large benefit in reducing the fossil fuels used by our military.
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*** What we will see: The Koch Brothers, American's for Prosperity, Rosneft (Putin), fossil fuel funded pro-pollution right-wing have been successful in retarding American manufacturing of alternatives to their products. American companies and engineering simply moved to where the market is. China had to do something. Too many of their own people were dying.
Oil is a global market. While the business will survive the longest in backward nations, what we see now in global energy markets is simply a preview of what is coming. There is going to be less and less demand for the stinky, nasty, stuff that destroys the lands from which it is extracted.
Electric is not just cleaner, it is better. Ask anyone who drives a Tesla what they think of the powertrain in the thing.