_The Stone Age came to an end, not beca
"The Stone Age came to an end, not because we had a lack of stones, and the oil age will come to an end not because we have a lack of oil." - Sheikh Ahmed-Zaki Yamani, Saudi oil minister, 2000.
Originally shared by glyn moodyGlobal solar dominance in sight as science trumps fossil fuels - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/ambroseevans_pritchard/10755598/Global-solar-dominance-in-sight-as-science-trumps-fossil-fuels.html … "Solar power has won"; wow (v @NickCohen4)
Global solar dominance in sight as science trumps fossil fuels - Telegraph
Dave Wonnacott - 2014-04-10 10:04:15+0000
Excellent quote, and good news too! Thx ; )
Paweł Zuzelski - 2014-04-10 13:12:57+0000
What is "pc"? Some weird unit of power? For example in this quote: "Roughly 29pc of electricity capacity added in America last year came from solar, rising to 100pc even in Massachusetts and Vermont."
Tim Hutton - 2014-04-10 14:34:40+0000
+Paweł Zuzelski "pc" = "percent" = "%"
Paweł Zuzelski - 2014-04-10 14:41:42+0000
+Tim Hutton ooh, thanks :-)
Mosh Jahán - 2014-04-10 19:35:04+0000 - Updated: 2014-04-11 15:07:03+0000
Oil and gas will always be needed for some things.
Dave Wonnacott - 2014-04-11 15:36:05+0000
+Mosh Jahan: like what? Petrochemicals are good for plastics, and gas might be a very short-term transition fuel, but neither are long-term fuel sources.
Mosh Jahán - 2014-04-11 15:38:30+0000
An A380.
Dave Wonnacott - 2014-04-11 15:43:34+0000
The rising cost of petrochemical recovery will push the development of replacements like biodiesel, 'green diesel', or algal-based hydrocarbons. Boeing and the USAF are already flying mixed fuel types.
Mosh Jahán - 2014-04-11 16:21:40+0000 - Updated: 2014-04-11 16:22:28+0000
True, if and as long as cost of recovery rises and the input/output costs of renewables fall. There is still a lot of unexplored territory, some of it has its engineering challenges; where there's a will there's a way usually.
Dave Wonnacott - 2014-04-11 16:23:44+0000
Fossil fuels are a non-renewable resource. All the 'easy' recoverables have been had, so by definition what's left is the increasingly expensive stuff. Barring some miracle of technology, costs for fossil fuels will continue to rise.
Mosh Jahán - 2014-04-11 17:37:25+0000 - Updated: 2014-04-11 17:37:37+0000
The Amazon basin is still largely untapped. If African nations can stabilize politically then there is much there yet to be extracted. Greenland also still has much potential. And of course there is the arctic.
Dave Wonnacott - 2014-04-11 18:20:29+0000
All hard to get to and hard to transport out. All a very expensive pipe-dream (if you'll pardon the pun). And all overlooking the fact that we can't pump more carbon into the atmosphere.
Mosh Jahán - 2014-04-11 19:47:56+0000
At one time deep sea was hard to reach. When needs must.... The engineering challenges can be overcome; politics more of challenge. Profit can drive technological advances. The switch will happen but not before we've exhausted the financially cheapest option. Will there be an environmental cost? Probably. Or we might also invent technology to counter that.
Dave Wonnacott - 2014-04-11 22:22:37+0000
Check out the Montreal Protocol.
Mosh Jahán - 2014-04-11 22:35:58+0000
Will do. I'll remind myself of Kyoto as well ;)
Dave Wonnacott - 2014-04-11 22:48:08+0000
Well played. Let's convene again in ten years and see who was more right.
Mosh Jahán - 2014-04-11 22:52:44+0000
Hopefully I'll be wrong.
Dave Wonnacott - 2014-04-11 23:03:58+0000
I'll drink to that! ; )
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