The problem with "transitioning" is that it's all for show. These people don't care about the environment. If they did, they'd be pushing for the solutions we know work today. Instead they're chasing magic environmentalism boxes that don't work but "if only we could pour more money into this bet, maybe we'd win someday!"
If they cared, there'd be a hard push for hydroelectric in places that have the geography for it. Instead, there's been a hard push against hydroelectric.
In Canada, every province has geography that can support massive hydroelectric. British Columbia, Manitoba, and Quebec, and Newfoundland and Labrador are exclusively hydroelectric. Those four provinces have incredibly low power rates such that people don't bother burning fossil fuels to heat their homes, and a lot of industry that would otherwise burn fossil fuels for energy can use carbon neutral renewable electricity. Not only do these provinces create enough electricity to make it cheap and practical for themselves, they usually export green power to surrounding jurisdictions! Imagine that -- so much renewable power it spills into places around it that would otherwise be burning fossil fuels!
Meanwhile, Ontario has been chasing expensive and impractical solutions for decades. First nuclear which does provide electrical power but it's very expensive and there's lots of asterisks next to that "Carbon Neutral", and then wind and solar. Electricity rates have shot up so high that electricity is not an option at all for heating one's home in many cases, and many people who have electrical heat have installed fossil fuel burners in their homes. The "Global adjustment charge" that is paying for all this wind and solar has massively driven up power to the point that there's a huge boom in in-situ fossil fuel powered electric generators because it's cheaper to run generators at times than to pay the global adjustment charge.
"Maybe Ontario doesn't have the geography for it?" That's dumb (person in my head who argues with me sometimes). Northern Manitoba and Northern Quebec are extremely similar to Northern Ontario(incl. Northwestern Ontario), there's tons of places we could build dams. They just don't want to, because it's not a politically exciting solution.
But making people's lives better and installing proven century-old technology and making the whole world better thereby is boring, and magic environmentalism boxes get us butt pats from southern California, so to hell with it -- more solar!
If they cared, there'd be a hard push for hydroelectric in places that have the geography for it. Instead, there's been a hard push against hydroelectric.
In Canada, every province has geography that can support massive hydroelectric. British Columbia, Manitoba, and Quebec, and Newfoundland and Labrador are exclusively hydroelectric. Those four provinces have incredibly low power rates such that people don't bother burning fossil fuels to heat their homes, and a lot of industry that would otherwise burn fossil fuels for energy can use carbon neutral renewable electricity. Not only do these provinces create enough electricity to make it cheap and practical for themselves, they usually export green power to surrounding jurisdictions! Imagine that -- so much renewable power it spills into places around it that would otherwise be burning fossil fuels!
Meanwhile, Ontario has been chasing expensive and impractical solutions for decades. First nuclear which does provide electrical power but it's very expensive and there's lots of asterisks next to that "Carbon Neutral", and then wind and solar. Electricity rates have shot up so high that electricity is not an option at all for heating one's home in many cases, and many people who have electrical heat have installed fossil fuel burners in their homes. The "Global adjustment charge" that is paying for all this wind and solar has massively driven up power to the point that there's a huge boom in in-situ fossil fuel powered electric generators because it's cheaper to run generators at times than to pay the global adjustment charge.
"Maybe Ontario doesn't have the geography for it?" That's dumb (person in my head who argues with me sometimes). Northern Manitoba and Northern Quebec are extremely similar to Northern Ontario(incl. Northwestern Ontario), there's tons of places we could build dams. They just don't want to, because it's not a politically exciting solution.
But making people's lives better and installing proven century-old technology and making the whole world better thereby is boring, and magic environmentalism boxes get us butt pats from southern California, so to hell with it -- more solar!
And another thing! (sorry)
If we cared as much about public transportation and sustainable transportation as we pretend to, we have another 100 year old technology that worked just fine forever -- the electric streetcar. for places you don't want to install tracks, another 100 year old technology: The trackless trolley. Not only could we make these relatively cheaply, we could do it using non-exotic materials we can get from the countries we live in instead of using slave labor to mine rare earth minerals in dictatorships!
Nooooo, we need some special super sexy battery bus with seven figures of fancy metals we have to mine with child slaves on the moon because who wants to use practical, proven technology when we can pretend the past didn't exist so we have to create everything using technology that may someday be there if only we just invest another 6 trillion dollars!
If we cared as much about public transportation and sustainable transportation as we pretend to, we have another 100 year old technology that worked just fine forever -- the electric streetcar. for places you don't want to install tracks, another 100 year old technology: The trackless trolley. Not only could we make these relatively cheaply, we could do it using non-exotic materials we can get from the countries we live in instead of using slave labor to mine rare earth minerals in dictatorships!
Nooooo, we need some special super sexy battery bus with seven figures of fancy metals we have to mine with child slaves on the moon because who wants to use practical, proven technology when we can pretend the past didn't exist so we have to create everything using technology that may someday be there if only we just invest another 6 trillion dollars!
- replies
- 0
- announces
- 1
- likes
- 3