Peter GleickMar 9
Interesting to think that Donald Trump may have, completely inadvertently and at a horrific cost, finally woken up the world to how urgent it is we get off our dangerous addiction to fossil fuels.
Electrify everything.
Ban the production of gasoline-powered vehicles.
Tax oil companies dry.
Subsidize all renewables and EVs.
Show threadAndrew ZonenbergMar 9

@petergleick I don't understand why more governments around the world don't see "our entire economy revolves around an expensive quantity in limited supply, primarily found in one of the most war-torn and politically unstable regions in the planet" as a serious national security risk.

Like, forget all of the environmental concerns, if your country were utterly dependent on corn or steel or any other commodity only found in a region that was constantly at war causing random price spikes, you'd think you'd be making removal of that dependency a nationwide priority.

Show threadIlka 🌐
@azonenberg dependancy on politically high risk countries again does not pay out, it literally only pays out for the polititians signing the contracts. Green - renewable energy - is available in independance of politics as long as the sun shines and the wind blows.
And there lies the answer why our politicians cling so hard on fossil resources: it fills their personal pockets.
#politics #energycrisis #TrumpEpsteinFilesDistractionAttemptWar
@petergleick
edit: 1 typo removed
Mar 9 at 9:52amWeb
Show threadGhostOnTheHalfShellMar 9

@Ilka4You @azonenberg @petergleick

If you have a global supply chain to produce solar and wind.

The presumption is swapping out the energy source for the planet killing global economy, to make the CO2 go away and that will save us when the problem is a planet killing global economy.

It will never ever live within planetary boundaries because it’s structured on being outside of them. The cheapest and healthiest and most prosperous pathway is to re-localize economies.

Show threadMisuse CaseMar 9
@GhostOnTheHalfShell @Ilka4You @azonenberg @petergleick People be like “sunshine is free and it’s everywhere,” but the rare earths for making solar panels and batteries are not.
Show threadConnor CadellinMar 9
@MisuseCase @GhostOnTheHalfShell @Ilka4You @azonenberg @petergleick on the battery front there's been progress recently on sodium ion, which doesn't require rare earth metals. The first sodium ion EV is launching this year.
Show threadMisuse CaseMar 9
@cadellin @GhostOnTheHalfShell @Ilka4You @azonenberg @petergleick Well if we could stop using lithium and cobalt mined with child slave labor that would be nice.
Show threadIlka 🌐Mar 9

@MisuseCase agreed, it would be. Science is tirelessly working on this. Politics cut fundings as they please to continue the cash flow to their pockets.

@cadellin @GhostOnTheHalfShell @azonenberg @petergleick

Show threadValdusMar 9
@MisuseCase
For grid storage, lithium ion batteries, which contain cobalt and nickel, aren't suitable. Lithium iron phosphate has only lithium as a rare mineral, so it's cheaper, and it's also more durable, safer, and more cold tolerant, so it's already becoming the default for all large scale batteries. And even the lithium is eliminated in sodium batteries, which improve again upon cost, durability, safety, and cold temperature performance; they lose out on energy density, but noone cares about that for grid storage.
@cadellin @GhostOnTheHalfShell @Ilka4You @azonenberg @petergleick
Show threadIlka 🌐Mar 9

@MisuseCase I recognize this is over simplyfied - in a post that is limited to 500 signs you kinda have to rely on ppls common sense and ability to use it.
Weigh up the pro & contra - you might be suprised how beneficial sustainability is. I am stating renewable energy can be unrelated to political dependancies, I DID NOT say it is for free.

@GhostOnTheHalfShell @azonenberg @petergleick

Show threadMisuse CaseMar 9
@Ilka4You @GhostOnTheHalfShell @azonenberg @petergleick I am not saying that because I don’t know how renewables work or because I don’t know how they compare to burning dead dinosaurs. I’m saying that because I *do* know.