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0 pointsGravey6y ago0 comments

I think you’ve made some valid points in your previous post, but I’m not sure I buy this as a valid argument.

A quick google search tells me that 30.1% of US energy generation comes from coal [1] (at least in 2017), with 62.7% coming from fossil fuels overall.

Unless you’re proposing switching to a ‘cleaner’ fossil fuel source, there’s only so much wind/solar/geothermal can contribute until we see major leaps in the available technologies. Until that time I will continue to view them as a supplemental power source, rather than a primary one.

[1]https://toxmap.nlm.nih.gov/toxmap/faq/2009/08/how-much-of-th...

0 pointsGravey6y ago0 comments

I think you’ve made some valid points in your previous post, but I’m not sure I buy this as a valid argument.

A quick google search tells me that 30.1% of US energy generation comes from coal [1] (at least in 2017), with 62.7% coming from fossil fuels overall.

[1]https://toxmap.nlm.nih.gov/toxmap/faq/2009/08/how-much-of-th...

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4 comments · 1 top-level

ErrantX6y ago· 3 in thread

Just on your specific point; the US is a bit of an outlier on coal due to protectionist practices around the coal industry.

If you look at Europe on the other hand coal is in rapid decline (9% decrease 2017-2018 for example[1]) with many countries now being coal free.

In the UK we measure coal free time in weeks now. I expect us to be coal free for good in only a couple of years.

In some countries this is a straight switch to renewables but but often I think it's a staged switch through natural gas.

1. https://sandbag.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/The-Europe...

durandal16y ago

On the other hand look at Germany, who has arguable gone the furthest in the "green transition", which includes shutting down their nuclear power plats. It imports 60+% of its energy, most of it from fossil fuel sources.

But hey, German energy production looks awesome from an environmental perspective!

svara6y ago

That's totally false, where did you get this from? Germany is a net exporter of electricity [0]. Nuclear is being phased out and replaced by renewables. [1] Yes, that totally sucks for CO_2 emissions...

[0] https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/153533/umfrag...

[1] https://i2.wp.com/adveco.co/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/EU-po...

ErrantX6y ago

That was mostly a (slightly wierd) knee jerk after Fukushima. They are definitely another outlier.

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