Electrifying our World by Robert Hargraves is available on Amazon. Free copies of the slides used to teach that course at Dartmouth are available for downloading at ElectrifyingOurWorld.com.
If a massive build out of fission reactors is there answer, then we're asking the wrong questions... 'Sustain what' is the right question, and current or increased levels of industrial output are unsustainable in a literal and absolute sense. The declining net energy from our energy extraction ecosystem forbids it, as Tim Morgan bit.ly/SEE_Summ , Nate Hagens, Charles Hall http://stanford.io/1yifujq , Josh Floyd bit.ly/1SJImeZ , Gail Tverberg bit.ly/3hDiHLP and many others are explaining.
QUESTION: Electric cars are powered by electricity generated by power plants, most of which still use fossil fuels. How much CO2 release are we avoiding by moving the burning of fossil fuels from the vehicle to the power plant?
This is a question, not a point. I assume the shift is helpful, but I've not heard much analysis of how helpful it is. Does this shift from vehicle to power plant save a LOT of CO2 emission, some, a little? I have no idea.
If electrical products and the systems that energize them are limited in future affordability and availability by the meta-crises we are now witnessing, then a "Great Simplification" is our only pathway, whether we choose to take it or are forced to by biophysical constraints. Witness the phenomenal spike in Swedish electricity costs, which are currently 35-40x higher than this time last year (https://www.thegreatsimplification.com/frankly-original/20-keeping-warm-data).
This is borne out by inquiry in the field of biophysical economics, neatly summarised here: https://bit.ly/aedbiphec
I get your main point and I've made the case for energy conservation in my pre-Substack days on this Sustain What project: https://revkin.substack.com/p/facing-energy-water-and-climate-crises-22-06-07 But I'm not sure Sweden's electricity prices are a useful metric given the swings of late (way down from that wacky peak)?
Electrifying our World by Robert Hargraves is available on Amazon. Free copies of the slides used to teach that course at Dartmouth are available for downloading at ElectrifyingOurWorld.com.
Great resource. Thanks!
If a massive build out of fission reactors is there answer, then we're asking the wrong questions... 'Sustain what' is the right question, and current or increased levels of industrial output are unsustainable in a literal and absolute sense. The declining net energy from our energy extraction ecosystem forbids it, as Tim Morgan bit.ly/SEE_Summ , Nate Hagens, Charles Hall http://stanford.io/1yifujq , Josh Floyd bit.ly/1SJImeZ , Gail Tverberg bit.ly/3hDiHLP and many others are explaining.
Be a better deal if we teamed up with Canada and Mexico.
QUESTION: Electric cars are powered by electricity generated by power plants, most of which still use fossil fuels. How much CO2 release are we avoiding by moving the burning of fossil fuels from the vehicle to the power plant?
This is a question, not a point. I assume the shift is helpful, but I've not heard much analysis of how helpful it is. Does this shift from vehicle to power plant save a LOT of CO2 emission, some, a little? I have no idea.
Thanks.
If electrical products and the systems that energize them are limited in future affordability and availability by the meta-crises we are now witnessing, then a "Great Simplification" is our only pathway, whether we choose to take it or are forced to by biophysical constraints. Witness the phenomenal spike in Swedish electricity costs, which are currently 35-40x higher than this time last year (https://www.thegreatsimplification.com/frankly-original/20-keeping-warm-data).
This is borne out by inquiry in the field of biophysical economics, neatly summarised here: https://bit.ly/aedbiphec
I get your main point and I've made the case for energy conservation in my pre-Substack days on this Sustain What project: https://revkin.substack.com/p/facing-energy-water-and-climate-crises-22-06-07 But I'm not sure Sweden's electricity prices are a useful metric given the swings of late (way down from that wacky peak)?