Environment & Energy

...and minerals squandered on it.

If Dr. Hansen or anyone wants to claim that solar and wind are "cheap" they are ignoring the cost of redundancy, generally provided by fossil fuels, although there are plenty of human slaves in Africa to dig cobalt for batteries and copper to wire all this useless shit together.

I pointed to the excellent paper by Dr. Robert Idel blowing this "cheap" nonsense up:

LFSCOE: The True Cost of Solar and Wind Energy in Texas and Germany in Answer to the Question...

I agree with Dr. Hansen however that the need for large storage is pernicious. It is also unnecessary, since nuclear power plants can do something that land intensive and mineral intensive solar and wind junk can't do: Run continuously, day and night, without interruption.

Of course the real point of the OP is that I agree with him that antinukism is a quasi-religious cult. I might have slight reservations as to whether Dr. Hansen's prefix "quasi" actually applies and I've suggested in the OP places where, despite his strong support for nuclear energy, he may be mistaken on particulars with data.

But, again, I certainly agree emphatically antinukism is a cult.

A member of this cult, I've actually observed, attempted to imply that the World Nuclear Association is antinuclear the other day.

One hears these sorts of things, and one doesn't want to believe that one is hearing them.

This led to an exchange about "straw men" which I found to be appropriate, noting that I admired the strawman in the Wizard of Oz played by Ray Bolger in the movie, wanted to have a brain. Other strawmen in my experience seem to be uninterested in having brains.

The interview with Dr. Hansen in the OP took place in March of 2017. The average concentration of the dangerous fossil fuel waste carbon dioxide as reported at the Mauna Loa CO₂ Observatory was 407.18 ppm. On April 29 of this year it was 432.48 ppm.

We're doing just great!!!!!

From 2018-2025, the investment in so called "renewable energy" was 4.563 trillion dollars.

What do we have to show for it?

I did watch a bit of the interview, wherein Dr. Hansen argued strongly against "received wisdom," as well as the inability to question one's self. I'm quite sure, as a good scientist, he would not regard himself as oracular, although there seem to be people who think he is.

I agree with him on many, most things, but I also feel quite ready to disagree with him as well, which I do if he claims that solar and wind junk is useful. It isn't.

There was a time, even in my early days at DU back in the early 2000's where I supported the idea that solar and wind had value. I am, after all, a good Democrat and that was part of our party line. This said, I've come to think of it as our answer to creationism. So called "renewable energy" doesn't work to reduce fossil fuel use. It entrenches fossil fuels. After the expenditure of trillions of dollars on that junk, none of which went to ameliorate the lives of the de facto slaves described in the Elements of Power, and after careful extensive work reviewing the geology of materials, issues in land use, and the huge environmental and material costs of connecting all this rickety shit together, I've changed my mind based on careful analysis of the data. There isn't enough copper on Earth to get solar and wind to the 148 Exajoules of energy that dangerous natural gas produced in 2024, never mind the 178 Exajoules produced by dangerous coal and the 193 Exajoules produced by dangerous petroleum.

The process of coming to this conclusion came from a conversation I had with the nuclear activist Rod Adams in his home many years ago.

Solar and wind to my mind are useless bourgeois affectations that is the province of the antinuke and "I'm not an antinuke" antinuke cults I observe here and elsewhere.

I think them to be absurd and clueless.

I am quite secure in asserting that nuclear energy is the only form of sustainable energy. The sooner this becomes recognized throughout the world, the better chance we'll have to save anything left to save, stuff that is left to save diminishing daily. No amount of strawman/scarecrow whining can change my mind in respect to this view, although I am proud to say, I have a long history of being able to change my mind, something with which antinukes and "I'm not an antinuke" antinukes clearly struggle.

Have a nice day.