Well, unless the raw ingredients for solar panels come out of a unicorns butt, they have the same mountains of waste associated with them – mining waste and petrochemicals.
Once again, it’s nowhere near the same as fossil fuels. Not even close. I thought we discussed this?
Wait about ten years
In ten years, the technology will be even much cleaner than it is today. You cannot say that for fossil fuels which can only be made slightly cleaner over time. With fossil fuels, it’s hopeless. With more sustainable energy, it’s inevitable.
Without an economic/envriro-friendly storage ability, one is still dependent on some sort of reliable baseline power (typically, coal/nuke).
Give it time and there’ll be much more sustainable storage as well along with a grid that makes us far less reliant on storage in the first place.
Gas isn’t great, but it’s also a more sustainable alternative than coal/nukes if the process of acquiring gas is properly regulated. Electricity from natural gas produces less CO2 per kilowatt-hour than electricity from coal if it’s done right.
Boulder, CO is doing it right and doing it very well despite the oppressive forces of industry that tried to subvert its citizens with propaganda filled with lies and half-truths. Boulder will require gas suppliers to certify their leakage rates, etc. and will switch to bio-gas when it’s possible.
In the meantime, Boulder is going to show the rest of the USA how it’s done and much more aggressively switch over to renewable energy as much is feasible (despite the forces that work against them).
Where there’s a will, there’s a goddam way.
When I told some people back in the day that we were going to make marijuana legal in my town, I was scoffed at …mocked… derided… Who’s laughing now, bitches?
Sure, we got to keep trying harder to get more sustainable energy increasingly sustainable, but please, once again… keep it in proper perspective of the much worse alternatives.
