Community Chat

[JamandBread]

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@ValuSkr wrote:

It's important to think ahead to the world we leave for our children and grandchildren.  You know the old cliche - no pain, no gain.  It's hard to do; I understand the push-back.

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You will find many people here have no children. For some, there is no thought to future generations.

Fortunately, there is a season for everything and the season for gas guzzling vehicles and coal burning plants and the people who support the old ways is coming to an end quickly. 20 years from now, we'll be all hybrid and electric for most vehicles. Those who rail against the idea don't have much longer to drive. The upcoming generations are demanding Green and that's who manufacturers are listening to.

Just a matter of time and the patience to tune out the noise.

[Johnnyeager]

What does your crystal ball tell you about the source of fuel for all of the needed generation of electricity.......

[JamandBread]

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@Johnnyeager wrote:

What does your crystal ball tell you about the source of fuel for all of the needed generation of electricity.......

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Are you speaking to me? I have logic. No crystal ball.

Energy sources will be varied. Wind, solar, nuclear, water, fossil fuel.

[Johnnyeager]

The Indian Point nuclear power plant is decommissioned at the insistence of environmental activists.

Con Ed residential electric bills have climbed 20%-40% as a consequence. 

And let's create more water for hydroelectric generation.   Laughing hysterically.

[JamandBread]

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@Johnnyeager wrote:

The Indian Point nuclear power plant is decommissioned at the insistence of environmental activists.

Con Ed residential electric bills have climbed 20%-40% as a consequence. 

And let's create more water for hydroelectric generation.   Laughing hysterically.I 

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There are 60 operating nuclear power plants in the US today.

Much of the earth's surface is actually water. We don't need to "create" any. 

[Isobel Archer]

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@JamandBread wrote:

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@ValuSkr wrote:

It's important to think ahead to the world we leave for our children and grandchildren.  You know the old cliche - no pain, no gain.  It's hard to do; I understand the push-back.

---

You will find many people here have no children. For some, there is no thought to future generations.

Fortunately, there is a season for everything and the season for gas guzzling vehicles and coal burning plants and the people who support the old ways is coming to an end quickly. 20 years from now, we'll be all hybrid and electric for most vehicles. Those who rail against the idea don't have much longer to drive. The upcoming generations are demanding Green and that's who manufacturers are listening to.

Just a matter of time and the patience to tune out the noise.

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And just how will that electricity be produced - without any fossil fuels?  And - again if you care much about children -what about the children mining cobalt for your precious EV batteries?

[JamandBread]

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@Isobel Archer wrote:

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@JamandBread wrote:

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@ValuSkr wrote:

It's important to think ahead to the world we leave for our children and grandchildren.  You know the old cliche - no pain, no gain.  It's hard to do; I understand the push-back.

---

You will find many people here have no children. For some, there is no thought to future generations.

Fortunately, there is a season for everything and the season for gas guzzling vehicles and coal burning plants and the people who support the old ways is coming to an end quickly. 20 years from now, we'll be all hybrid and electric for most vehicles. Those who rail against the idea don't have much longer to drive. The upcoming generations are demanding Green and that's who manufacturers are listening to.

Just a matter of time and the patience to tune out the noise.

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And just how will that electricity be produced - without any fossil fuels?  And - again if you care much about children -what about the children mining cobalt for your precious EV batteries?

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Please see my post above, answering this same question from JohnnyEager.

I don't have precious EV batteries. I drive a gas powered Subaru.

But I do have kids and grandkids and I can see the attitudes and buying habits of them and their friends. Our ways are dying out. Literally.

[Isobel Archer]

From the New Yorker magazine - The Dark Side of Congo's Cobalt Rush

Researchers estimate that thousands of children work in mining in Kolwezi alone.  Children who work in the mines are often drugged, in order to suppress hunger.Some children we interviewed did not remember the last time they had a meal.

Among the prevailing superstitions in the region is a belief that having sex with a virgin girl will enhance one’s luck in the mines. While I was in Kolwezi, Mutindi, of Good Shepherd, showed me photographs of the bruised corpse of an eight-year-old girl who had been abducted and raped by a creuseur the previous week. (The miner was later apprehended; she sent me a video of him in prison.) Children frequently die while being raped. In one case, Mutindi said, she saw the body of an eighteen-month-old infant who had been raped by a creuseur.

Creuseurs around Kolwezi frequently complained to me that Chinese-owned mines had replicated the harsh conditions of China’s own mining industry. Congolese often say, “If they work without shoes there, how can they be expected to give us shoes to work here?” A Western mine official told me he had visited a mine in Congo, owned by a small Chinese company, that had many Chinese laborers. It reminded him of an internment camp: “The Chinese were barefoot, they were digging with shovels, and they couldn’t leave.”

I asked Ziki what he thought of people who profited from cobalt mining. “I have sadness in my heart when I think of people who buy the minerals,” he said. “They make so much money, and we have to stay like this.”

[JamandBread]

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@Isobel Archer wrote:

From the New Yorker magazine - The Dark Side of Congo's Cobalt Rush

Researchers estimate that thousands of children work in mining in Kolwezi alone.  Children who work in the mines are often drugged, in order to suppress hunger.Some children we interviewed did not remember the last time they had a meal.

Among the prevailing superstitions in the region is a belief that having sex with a virgin girl will enhance one’s luck in the mines. While I was in Kolwezi, Mutindi, of Good Shepherd, showed me photographs of the bruised corpse of an eight-year-old girl who had been abducted and raped by a creuseur the previous week. (The miner was later apprehended; she sent me a video of him in prison.) Children frequently die while being raped. In one case, Mutindi said, she saw the body of an eighteen-month-old infant who had been raped by a creuseur.

Creuseurs around Kolwezi frequently complained to me that Chinese-owned mines had replicated the harsh conditions of China’s own mining industry. Congolese often say, “If they work without shoes there, how can they be expected to give us shoes to work here?” A Western mine official told me he had visited a mine in Congo, owned by a small Chinese company, that had many Chinese laborers. It reminded him of an internment camp: “The Chinese were barefoot, they were digging with shovels, and they couldn’t leave.”

I asked Ziki what he thought of people who profited from cobalt mining. “I have sadness in my heart when I think of people who buy the minerals,” he said. “They make so much money, and we have to stay like this.”

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A lot of bad stuff happens in developing countries. Its very sad. But it will not stop green energy. 

The upcoming generations will make the necessary changes we couldn't or wouldn't.

[Spurt]

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@RoughDraft wrote:

@hckynutjohn Oh, I don't know.  Perhaps wind turbines or solar panels?

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@RoughDraft 

Oh, you mean the wind and solar power that conked out in the middle of the Texas artic storm in February 2021????🤔  Winterazation is needed on the wind turbines whidch will cost more more money and already wind power isnt that economical.....

www.energy.gov

CHALLENGES OF WIND POWER

• Wind power must still compete with conventional generation sources on a cost basis.  Even though the cost of wind power has decreased dramatically in the past several decades, wind projects must be able to compete economically with the lowest-cost source of electricity, and some locations may not be windy enough to be cost competitive.
• Good land-based wind sites are often located in remote locations, far from cities where the electricity is needed. Transmission lines must be built to bring the electricity from the wind farm to the city. However, building just a few already-proposed transmission lines could significantly reduce the costs of expanding wind energy.
• Wind resource development might not be the most profitable use of the land. Land suitable for wind-turbine installation must compete with alternative uses for the land, which might be more highly valued than electricity generation.
• Turbines might cause noise and aesthetic pollution. Although wind power plants have relatively little impact on the environment compared to conventional power plants, concern exists over the noise produced by the turbine blades and visual impacts to the landscape.
• Wind plants can impact local wildlife. Birds have been killed by flying into spinning turbine blades. Most of these problems have been resolved or greatly reduced through technology development or by properly siting wind plants. Bats have also been killed by turbine blades, and research is ongoing to develop and improve solutions to reduce the impact of wind turbines on these species. Like all energy sources, wind projects can alter the habitat on which they are built, which may alter the suitability of that habitat for certain species.