Bensozia's blog on my side line, always has interesting links. So in his tradition I shall pick up some points about the world so far. Yesterday I came across a photo of Putin sitting in a vast assembly room, with the group he was speaking to. Study it, the great long walk up to his table. An emperor in the making? No of course not, the trappings maybe, but see the lurking henchman to protect him, he is frightened of course. Then this morning I read this interesting article in Bylines
"Combined with unfolding transformations of our transport and food systems, we could usher in what Seba and Arbib call an ‘Age of Freedom’: one in which an advanced, high-quality lifestyle including clean energy consumption, transport needs, nutritional value, housing and education could be accessible to anyone for as little as $250 a month by 2030, based on the deployment of key, decentralised technologies that are scaling today.
This, of course, is a future where there is no need for Russian oil and gas, no need for a corrupt, centralised oligarchy, no need for an apparatus of repression that sends its citizens to fight futile wars to fulfil archaic fantasies about ‘great power’: this is a future in which neither the world nor even Russians themselves, have any need for Putin’s fossil fuel oligarchy.
This is a future that Putin fears the most"
The war in Ukraine is about oil and the continuing economy of Russia into the future. I have known for a long time now that getting oil out of the earth is expensive, the threat of fracking in North Yorkshire was bitter, and when you need a quarter of the energy gained to extract it, it becomes an expensive commodity. So Putin is more interested in creating chaos in Europe because alternative energies are beginning to win the day, they are in the long run much cheaper.
The terrible thing is of course that the people of Ukraine have to suffer the terrible measures of a war at the whim of a man bent on his own glorification. Madness indeed. Why are the oligarchs attacked? read the article and find out.
Why does energy cost so much? We have a white elephant in the kitchen, its called an Aga!
There are some minor problems with the wind/solar dream:
ReplyDelete- the need for and use of energy is continuous, these are neither
- many of the materials used for their construction are inextricably linked to oil-based materials
- electricity is difficult and very expensive to store against future use
- both are sparse resources, requiring huge amounts of valuable ground
There are others - surely we should be looking for a compromise that takes advantage of the best of each energy source.
Hi, Well you seem to know what you ae talking about, I am just trying to be positive rather than negative. Small nuclear plants are talked about. There are consequences of course but it is a balancing act one against the other. Either we go into climate change, and all that will entail, or we just pull back on using oil. Not sure we ever got to Peak Oil but it will gradually get more expensive as it takes more energy to pull it out of the ground.
ReplyDeleteSolar power takes up a lot of room, and of course everything has to be manufactured but only this morning I saw a field of solar panels with crops underneath. Economies have to change but people are clever when it comes to solving problems. Not sure where we will go, wave energy with our coast line is a possibility, grouping together to share wind energy, centralisation does not seem to work.
The other aspect to this discussion is that, far from the mainstream media claims, the "science" on climate change is not settled, and the contribution of human activity to atmospheric CO2 levels not clear. For example - from satellite data: On the UAH satellite monthly global mean lower-troposphere temperature dataset, seven and a half years have passed since there was any trend in global warming at all.
DeleteAnd from the Mona Lisa Atmospheric CO2 record the dramatic drop in activity in 2020/21 consequent on government responses to the CV pandemic is pretty much lost in the noise of the measurements.
Actually I did go and look at the data from the UAH satellite monthly report, and not being the brightest of brains it made little sense to me. My reactions are to the actual physical trends I see happening in the world. Also the fact that measures are being taken by governments to work towards greener energy. Committed 'Greens' have been nagging for years to slow down the progress of growth, which lies at the heart of the discussion and of course over-population.
DeleteWhat is happening of course is an interesting experiment of how to cope in changing times, the drop in activity because of Covid surely shows that. Already working from home and a four day work week makes a difference.
I think that you have nailed the elephant in the room that no-one will discuss, namely overpopulation. Just in the UK I was born into a country of around 50million people, and now that is nearly 70millon. I have witnessed the massive habitat destruction that this has caused, and despair that the Greens, for all their so-called concerns, are not prepared to call out just how destructive population growth is.
DeleteThere is no answer to population growth. As we overcome pandemics and eventually wars, the human race will increase. Of course there is is the option of meat free diets, less domestic animals on the land but here in England our poor wildlife suffers because of farming methods.
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