Quote:
Originally Posted by Smokieflame
and I also hope either incandescent light bulbs are made illegal, or better yet coal and oil electricity become illegal. Either way both are a huge waste when so many other real ideas have been presented and until oil and coil cant make any money they will out weigh the small guys trying to change things.
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Read up on "energy density" - that's the prime reason oil and coal are still the primary energy source for many things.
The quantity of potential power contained in a small quantity of coal or a gallon of gasoline is quite large and difficult to match with solar or wind. Hydro is a viable alternative, but is of very limited availability; productive dams are few and far between.
Nuclear is about the only real alternative for large-scale power generation, but obviously comes with numerous drawbacks, such as disposal and security (they're related to each other in regards to why there's so much nuclear waste generated from U.S. reactors).
Small-scale power generation is another path, and is about the only place where solar, in particular, can be viable, but as of now, the costs of panels is still very high; externalized costs, since it takes a lot of energy to make solar panels and related components, such as batteries.
Ron