astronork

 
   Posted by at  No Responses »

Forum Replies Created

Viewing 1 post (of 1 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • in reply to: Renewables Are Dead #47214
    astronork
    Participant

    Using energy produces waste. Using more energy produces more waste. It doesn’t matter -much- what kind of energy is used, or what kind of waste is produced. The energy WE use produces waste, in a medium of which WE cannot survive.

    There are two mistakes in your interpretation of the second law of thermodynamics. Firstly, the Earth is not a closed system; it rejects heat to space. Secondly, the solar energy absorbed by the Earth is converted to waste heat whether or not we make use of it. For example, wind eventually dissipates against hillsides, trees, buildings, etc and its kinetic energy is converted to heat. Putting a wind turbine in the way still converts it to the same amount of heat, but that is generated in the turbine and at the point of use of the electricity. Solar PV does a similar thing by intercepting energy that would otherwise heat the ground.

    Renewables don’t change the energy balance of the Earth very much at all.

    The rest of your article is about how harnessing renewable energy at large scale is difficult. I don’t disagree with that at all.

Viewing 1 post (of 1 total)