> in the present huge amounts of that energy comes from burning fossil fuels
That is true, and unfortunate, in the US. At least fossil energy is declining and wind is on the rise. Brazil and Canada are more than 50% hydro. We can, if we choose, reduce and eliminate fossil energy. Choosing is the hard part.
> Everything requires resources, which costs are real
Of course that’s true as a generalization. But, you’ve just compared burning some coal for every single watt to building a windmill or dam once and letting the watts generate themselves for years and years. There is a massive difference in the resources needed to produce energy with fossil fuels vs wind, solar, and hydro, so please don’t imply it’s some kind of equivalence.
> When things don’t happen because voters don’t want them that’s democracy.
This is cute sounding, but not very helpful or even particularly true. The majority of US voters have never voted on whether Evian bottles should have deposits or whether grocery stores should use plastic bags. Now that some cities are voting on bags, they’re starting to vote them down.
Other reasons things don’t happen are not knowing what’s possible, lacking imagination, inability to work together and/or pool resources, fear and misinformation, fear of regulation & taxes, etc.
That is true, and unfortunate, in the US. At least fossil energy is declining and wind is on the rise. Brazil and Canada are more than 50% hydro. We can, if we choose, reduce and eliminate fossil energy. Choosing is the hard part.
> Everything requires resources, which costs are real
Of course that’s true as a generalization. But, you’ve just compared burning some coal for every single watt to building a windmill or dam once and letting the watts generate themselves for years and years. There is a massive difference in the resources needed to produce energy with fossil fuels vs wind, solar, and hydro, so please don’t imply it’s some kind of equivalence.
> When things don’t happen because voters don’t want them that’s democracy.
This is cute sounding, but not very helpful or even particularly true. The majority of US voters have never voted on whether Evian bottles should have deposits or whether grocery stores should use plastic bags. Now that some cities are voting on bags, they’re starting to vote them down.
Other reasons things don’t happen are not knowing what’s possible, lacking imagination, inability to work together and/or pool resources, fear and misinformation, fear of regulation & taxes, etc.