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Serious question. How do we make enough solar panels and wind turbines that will be capable of producing all of this energy without destroying all of our natura
by sacomo 5y ago
Serious question. How do we make enough solar panels and wind turbines that will be capable of producing all of this energy without destroying all of our natural resources/habitats?
- tamaharbor 5y agoReminds me of a joke: This machine does the work of 10 men. Unfortunately it takes 15 men to operate it.
- insert_coin 5y agoIt's a funny joke, don't get me wrong. But I'll take the 15 men sitting behind a computer operating remotely a digger inside a mine instead of 10 men breaking their backs and probably risking their lives with a shovel.
- bpcpdx 5y agoNot to mention what do we do with old solar panels after they've lived their life. There's going to be a lot since a lot is needed to generate the amount of power needed. There's a good chance it will just get shoved onto some 3rd world country for them to deal with.
- soarfourmore 5y agoCould they be renovated to serve lower power items like street lamps?
- rad_gruchalski 5y agoAnd where do we build them? Because where I live, in order to have them installed, whole chunks of forests are being wiped.
- xnx 5y agoWhere is that?
- rad_gruchalski 5y agoGermany, region of National Park Eifel. These things stand even in the park. They’re taller than trees around.
- xnx 5y agoThat problem doesn't seem any more significant for wind and solar than other powers sources: mountain top removal for coal, transporting tons of coal in diesel trains, building (and eventually disposing of) giant power plants, etc.
- sacomo 5y agoI can't help but wonder, "what's the point?", if this is all going to result in the destruction of our natural habitats in the end anyway.
- xnx 5y agoWind and solar results in much much less destruction of natural habitat than fossil fuels.
- sacomo 5y agoI'm not up to date on current industrial-scale solar cell manufacturing processes, but doesn't the manufacturing proccess still require massive amounts of coal? And what is the lifespan of the cells before they have to be replaced with new cells that also require coal to be produced? On the battery side, I'm pretty sure that industrial-scale production still requires mining and mountain top removal. And what are wind turbines made out of? Where are we getting those resources from? Like I said, I'm not up to date on the state-of-the-art industrial manufacturing processes required to make solar cells / turbines. But I'm pretty sure it will still require massive habitat destruction and the release of unimaginable amounts of greenhouse gasses to get us where we need to be.