A couple of interesting pieces in the Guardian that follow some of my comments in the ‘Sustainable Energy’ thread.
The first relates to Shell’s report that it will be dangerous to cut fossil fuel production before 2030. This suggests that Shell have actually done to Project Planning work on renewable energy sources and know what limitations there are on installation of wind and solar, lack of raw materials, lack of skilled labour, lack of interconnection power lines etc. If insufficient sustainable energy resources will be available in the time frame Shell and the others need to keep drilling for oil and gas.
As I have said many times I would like to see the Project Plan for ‘Sustainable Energy’ for just one country, real numbers for materials consumption, energy payback, financial payback and if the payback is negative who pays for it.
I have also commented that the Green Movement doesn’t understand that everything requires resources and these resources are finite. The columnist here confirms that the environmentalists have broken up into cliques each with their own agenda and self-interest.
They are no longer interested in finding an optimum solution, just getting their pet idea into production and hopefully making some money from government subsidies. The Movement has drifted completely away from the science (and engineering).