Canada's rejection of coal will clear the air but impact workers and power billsBusiness | 207378 hits | Nov 22 1:45 pm | Posted by: N_Fiddledog Commentsview comments in forum Page 1 You need to be a member of CKA and be logged into the site, to comment on news. |
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kq-BwHwr9s
Tater Tot thinks that snuffing the birthday candle that is Canada, is going to lessen the world's pollution and CO2 levels while the raging tire dump fires of India and China will be allowed to grow even larger.
That's a false argument. First of all, it doesn't matter whether Canadian emissions matter in the global scheme of things. The only way emission reductions work is if everyone follows them.
There will be backwards laggards and "raging dump fire" countries in the developing world and the US when it's under Republican rule but inevitably they will come around and the only way that will happen is if the other countries are already leading from the front and showing through example that it works
Also pretty sure China is moving aggressively away from coal too,despite the fact that some new coal plants are being built under certain conditions for various political and economic reasons.
Tater Tot thinks that snuffing the birthday candle that is Canada, is going to lessen the world's pollution and CO2 levels while the raging tire dump fires of India and China will be allowed to grow even larger.
That's a false argument. First of all, it doesn't matter whether Canadian emissions matter in the global scheme of things. The only way emission reductions work is if everyone follows them.
There will be backwards laggards and "raging dump fire" countries in the developing world and the US when it's under Republican rule but inevitably they will come around and the only way that will happen is if the other countries are already leading from the front and showing through example that it works
Also pretty sure China is moving aggressively away from coal too,despite the fact that some new coal plants are being built under certain conditions for various political and economic reasons.Slowly, very slowly away. They've only decreased their coal consumption by 2% since 2013, and I'm betting a sizable portion of that was a result of the hit to their steel industry. China still derives 73% of it's power generation from coal. By comparison, in 2010 Canada derived just over 20% of its power generation from fossil fuels including coal.
And unfortunately, some of China's green energy projects ain't that green. Like the Three Gorges Dam that will flood an insane amount of land and displace as many as 2 million people.
Look at the previously praised leaders of green energy development. Britain: No more subsidies for wind and solar. It was killing their economy. Spain: While still working on developing completely new forms of renewable energy, have ended subsidies to wind and solar. They were losing two jobs in other sectors for every one job job created in the green energy sector. I believe Denmark is still subsidizing offshore wind power but not land based wind farms anymore. And Germany, well once Fukushima happened, the Germans got all knee-jerky and went "Oh mein Got. What if ve have an earthquake and tidal vave in Central Germany?", started the closure process for all of their nuclear plants, tossed wind and solar out the window and are going full bore coal/lignite power.
Why? Because wind and solar as they are, suck hind teat for mass generation of power. So unless Tater Tot has some new technology up his sleeve, we're just gonna be pissing into the wind.
Ontario could get away with phasing out coal because of our large nuclear capacity and decent hydroelectric capacity. Toss in a few gas plants for flexibility (sans the stupid wind and solar crap) and we would have been golden.
But not all the other provinces have that advantage. How much arable farmland are they going to fuck up to plant wind and solar farms across the country? How many tracts of woods will they chop down to make room?
And with the exception of a very small handful of specific locations with direct access to geo-thermal vents, geo-thermal power ain't happening in Canada without fracking.
Look, I'm not all "Hey, who gives a crap about the planet I'll be dead before it is". I believe in environmental responsibility. But you have to weigh that responsibility with certain realities.
If there was a way to generate truly reliable, flexible and green renewable power, trust me, I'd be cheering it as loudly as the next guy. But mass generated wind and solar in a country like Canada is NOT going to cut it.
Like I said, Tater Tot better have a trick up his sleeve, and I mean a good trick, not the kind where he manages to bend the entire country over like some national version of the Wynned Bag's rape-fest.
It's just too bad having a single power grid for the whole country is so risky. Either Quebec or Ontario alone could just about power the entire country, if not the whole thing with pretty damn clean hydro.
Electricity doesn't work this way. For every meter of cable, there is a loss of power due to heat (resistance).
A power line driven by a Quebec hydro dam would have nothing in it by the time it reached Alberta. Just the way the physics is.
Still think we should be looking into developing Thorium as an energy source. It has a very high energy potential, is safer than Uranium-derived energy, has an awesome name, and we have a fuckload of it.
Thorium has one major problem though. It can't start the fission reaction by itself. It needs a uranium 'glow plug' or a particle accelerator to provide the initial neutrons to start the reaction.
But I agree, the waste products alone make the thorium fuel greatly desirable to uranium or plutonium.
That's a false argument. First of all, it doesn't matter whether Canadian emissions matter in the global scheme of things. The only way emission reductions work is if everyone follows them.
Doesn't matter that it's a flase argument. It "feels" like it's a good one, that's why it's the #1 argument out there.
Why should I stop pissing in the pool? Johnny still pisses in the pool.
- cuz Johnny won't stop until everyone else does and shames him into it.
Still think we should be looking into developing Thorium as an energy source. It has a very high energy potential, is safer than Uranium-derived energy, has an awesome name, and we have a fuckload of it.
Thorium has one major problem though. It can't start the fission reaction by itself. It needs a uranium 'glow plug' or a particle accelerator to provide the initial neutrons to start the reaction.
But I agree, the waste products alone make the thorium fuel greatly desirable to uranium or plutonium.
How is that any worse than say, blended gasoline? You are still significantly reducing uranium usage when generating power, which will significantly reduce the remaining harmful byproducts.
If we are stuck with a nationwide carbon tax, it will result in billions of dollars worth of revenue. Don't mix it with general revenue. those billions should go directly towards developing a practical, efficient, scalable, cheaply produced reactor design that we can built everywhere from the big provinces like BC, Ontario, and Quebec, to the little ones like Saskatchewan and the Maritimes.
No more coal or fossil fuels of any kind, no more harmful turbines, no more potentially harmful tidal power stations, no need for any unnecisary dam projects, and it gives the miners displaced by the coal industry sustainable employment with minimal change in the skill requirements. If we can export the design, we may even make money off the damn thing!
Those billions should go directly towards developing a practical, efficient, scalable, cheaply produced reactor design that we can built everywhere from the big provinces like BC, Ontario, and Quebec, to the little ones like Saskatchewan and the Maritimes.
Although cheap may be a stretch, it is already being worked on. Research the AFCR (Advanced Fuel CANDU Reactor). CANDU and China. Existing CANDU's can run on thorium, but not as efficiently as one would like for the cost of the reactor. The AFCR will hopefully remedy that.
If that doesn't pan out, the ITER Tokamak is still progressing.
That's a false argument. First of all, it doesn't matter whether Canadian emissions matter in the global scheme of things. The only way emission reductions work is if everyone follows them.
Doesn't matter that it's a flase argument. It "feels" like it's a good one, that's why it's the #1 argument out there.
Why should I stop pissing in the pool? Johnny still pisses in the pool.
- cuz Johnny won't stop until everyone else does and shames him into it.
That's a bad analogy, and unfortunately like all bad analogies it requires alterations until it gets silly to make it work.
First of all? We're still waiting for evidence piss in the pool is a problem. But if it is a problem the bigger problem would be that we can't get out of the pool. So along comes Johnny China and his buddy Inja. They're not just pissing in the pool. They're pouring gallon jugs of piss into the pool.
Way, way off in the back of the pool we have little Katy Canada. Some of us are not even sure she ever did pee in the pool, but she says she's going to hold it in forever anyway. Good for you Katy you've solved absolutely nothing and the chance that Johnny China and his bad little buddy Inja are going to stop pouring gallons of piss into the pool because you're willing to virtue signal until you turn purple is absolutely nil.
Now as to this:
Also pretty sure China is moving aggressively away from coal too,despite the fact that some new coal plants are being built under certain conditions for various political and economic reasons.
Kind of, but not actually. Check this one out and follow the links inside.
The Great Green Game: China to Supply Paris Agreement Sanctioned Coal Power to Europe?