Mining for the rare earth elements used in solar panels is pretty ugly, too. But once they’re taken out they can be reused, it’s not like coal or oil where you use it once and it’s gone forever.
That’s why the actual solution is degrowth, not a technology of any kind. Nuclear is better than coal, renewables are better than nuclear, but none are good.
Uranium and rare earth elements mining are cause of massive biodiversity reductions, political destabilisations, wars, and they have to be transformed, transported and disposed (and we use a lot of fossil energies for that). So no it’s not green, it’s just less brown (and the direct effect are mostly sensible in third world countries, so nobody cares in the first world).
Moreover, nuclear and renewables never caused a reduction of coal in a global perspective. They just added themselves to the mix.
Ambulances and fire engines are probably an example of a top choices to convert to ev. They don’t drive far at all and they are parked at a central location most of the time.
Also puts incentives to install solar panels at hospitals and fire stations.
We should be banning, or more accurately, phasing out combustion engines for all vehicles including government and emergency vehicles. If anything should be EVs these should be it. Also consider that American fire trucks are massively oversized compared to ones in the rest of the world. They don’t need to be that big, and thus more compact European-style ones could easily be replaced with electric equivalents.
Combustion engines will likely have a place for a long time. Large equipment just doesn’t do well on battery power. They can’t get the required runtime. Also, in places where they are used, electrical power is often limited.
Hydrocarbons are an excellent way of storing energy. We will also need to overproduce renewables, to keep grids stable. Synthetic hydrocarbons could be a good solution to both issues. Currently, they are nowhere close to competing with fossil fuels, but that will change in time.
How they actually actually do.
Mining for the rare earth elements used in solar panels is pretty ugly, too. But once they’re taken out they can be reused, it’s not like coal or oil where you use it once and it’s gone forever.
You can make a solar panel out of recycled materials or without destroying the planet
That’s why the actual solution is degrowth, not a technology of any kind. Nuclear is better than coal, renewables are better than nuclear, but none are good.
Uranium and rare earth elements mining are cause of massive biodiversity reductions, political destabilisations, wars, and they have to be transformed, transported and disposed (and we use a lot of fossil energies for that). So no it’s not green, it’s just less brown (and the direct effect are mostly sensible in third world countries, so nobody cares in the first world).
Moreover, nuclear and renewables never caused a reduction of coal in a global perspective. They just added themselves to the mix.
We should ban petrol except for ambulances and fire engines
Ambulances and fire engines are probably an example of a top choices to convert to ev. They don’t drive far at all and they are parked at a central location most of the time.
Also puts incentives to install solar panels at hospitals and fire stations.
We should be banning, or more accurately, phasing out combustion engines for all vehicles including government and emergency vehicles. If anything should be EVs these should be it. Also consider that American fire trucks are massively oversized compared to ones in the rest of the world. They don’t need to be that big, and thus more compact European-style ones could easily be replaced with electric equivalents.
Combustion engines will likely have a place for a long time. Large equipment just doesn’t do well on battery power. They can’t get the required runtime. Also, in places where they are used, electrical power is often limited.
Hydrocarbons are an excellent way of storing energy. We will also need to overproduce renewables, to keep grids stable. Synthetic hydrocarbons could be a good solution to both issues. Currently, they are nowhere close to competing with fossil fuels, but that will change in time.
A lot of progress has also been made in hybrid/organic solar panels in recent years. The things state of the art stuff can do is frankly nuts.
(Me reading this while watching Beyond 2000, an 80’s show describing state-of-the-art tech (of its time), having speculations of solar energy tech)