
Global Warming: For the record - billpg
http://depletedcranium.com/global-warming-for-the-record/
======
gfodor
The way I've see, for all the noise, the world has a simple choice: do we
build nuclear power everywhere now, or in 30 years once we've destroyed the
environment completely?

The solution to our problems has been here all along, we just need to grow a
pair and get it done. Putt-putt-ing around building windmills and dams to
generate our power is not only an exercise in futility but one rooted in the
fact that there's no urgency. If we really needed to end fossil fuel
consumption _now_ for some reason, you can be damn sure you'd see cooling
towers being built outside your window right now.

~~~
DaniFong
Why is it an exercise in futility? Hydro power accounts for a huge amount of
our power already, and there's enough in wind and solar for the rest of it.
Nuclear is presently quite expensive and takes a very long time to build.
There are new technologies being pursued, but there are new technologies being
pursued in wind and solar, too.

~~~
AngryParsley
6.1% is a huge amount of our power? The US generates 3x more electricity from
nuclear than hydro:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:2008_US_electricity_genera...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:2008_US_electricity_generation_by_source_v2.png)

Most of the cost-effective places to build hydroelectric dams are already
utilized. Also, the lakes created behind the dams displace people.

By choosing a more expensive form of power generation, the economy is
impacted. This is an often-overlooked external cost of renewables.

~~~
DaniFong
It's 19% of worldwide electricity generation.

<http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/wuhy.html>

Furthermore, hydropower may be throttled up and down, such that the
combination of hydro + wind and solar can hit penetrations near 50% before
more energy storage is needed.

Also, wind power is less expensive on a kwhr delivered basis than coal.
<http://www.stanford.edu/group/efmh/jacobson/Ia.html>

------
henrikschroder
"Understanding is a three edged sword. Your side, their side, and the truth"

------
vrikhter
Too many variables make the formula of global warming impossible, yes, I said,
_impossible_ to compute.

