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Cake day: November 28th, 2023

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  • You’ve never seen anything about solar and wind because it’s a zero sum game. Both are dependent on the light and heat output of the sun, which is estimated to burn for more than 4 billion years more. So, basically it comes down to earth’s ability to retain the light/heat of the sun versus the sun’s output on the grand scheme of things. And on the local side (the energy consumer) it comes down to the first law of Thermo dynamics: Energy can’t be created or destroyed, only reformed and/or transferred. So basically, since the amount of energy is set by the dynamic of the sun Vs isolation, for humans it equals out, because all we do is reforming energy and transferring it.

    So then, how about geothermal and fossil energy (and nuclear)? Well, for both of them, they are stored energy. Fossil is stored sunlight from 500 million years ago, as in stored in chemical compounds created by the life that existed at that time by eating plants that harvested the sunlight by photosynthesis. (The same things our silar panels are doing after all).

    For geothermal it becomes a bit more complicated, as it is part chemical energy of the matter that makes up the earth, and part kinetic energy left overs from the creation of the planet. Only very well isolated by the crust.

    And here is the crux of the question: how much energy is stored in the core and will human intervention be able to change anything in the equilibrium of the core? In a way I want us to be able and in a way I don’t. Because if the human outtake of energy is miniscule it won’t matter and then the problem is moot. However if we are able to affect the core, we could possibly charge the core and its ability to deflect the solar wind, which might come in handy…

    Regardless, for all of them, they release more energy into the atmosphere than the sun put there and thus will affect the energy equilibrium. But that is probably such a small problem that it might not do any difference in total. What is it they say? 1% of the energy that hits the earth from the sun would supply all our energy needs? So probably not that much of effect.





  • For a long time I imagined an oil war at the end of oil where the powers that be would fight for the last drips of the stuff. Never did I imagine it would be over before it even broke out. Nor that the US would be loosing, making themselves uniquely dependent on such a commodity.

    China’s strive for energy and Europe’s wake up call three years ago has paved the way for decarbonisation of the energy sector faster than I thought possible. And that in spite of the “deny defend depose”-campaign pushing for nuclear in 15 years time, which could well have gotten traction had Russia, and now the US, not turned expansive…



  • Yeah, no, livving isn’t free. You aren’t paid to study. However the loans offered, at least in Sweden, are at the lowest interest found. They even beat public sector interest rates. So you’d be hard pressed to find better terms.

    Imagine having to pay 20-30k extra per year on top of that. Unless you are ambitious…




  • Yeah, kinda, but not at all. You are trying to diminish something that has never been done before. Spin it any way you want, no country, oil producer or not, has reached a level where it is possible. And you get to benefit from it.

    Had there not been a market for a new type of power train, nobody would have made the cars. So we may not like it, but Tesla and an oil producing country are in some ways instrumental in bringing about this change.

    So, your allegory is only correct if your farmer is the first ever producer of vegan food. It’s still a feat.

    Look, I want oil to be deprecated as fast as anyone. That doesn’t stop me from seeing the effects it would have if oil dried up tomorrow. Neither of us would like that world. So while it seems excruciatingly slow, we need to do it one step at a time. Now when the ball is rolling, it should start to pick up speed.