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Hydro isn't exactly zero emission either. What do you think happens when a dam is created, and kills tree life? What do you think the underwater vegetation emit
by scott_karana 10y ago
Hydro isn't exactly zero emission either. What do you think happens when a dam is created, and kills tree life? What do you think the underwater vegetation emits as it decomposes?
Sure, once the back filled area is thoroughly decomposed, you're at 0 ongoing emissions, but there's a big divot needing to be repaid already.
(And that's to say nothing of loss of habitat, arable/liveable land, etc.)
- m_mueller 10y agoI think this misses the point. With that thinking virtually everything produces carbon emissions - the question is how much, and what is it a function of. Hydroelectric (which doesn't just include dams btw.) may have a positive CO2 balance, but it doesn't scale linearly with the amount of electricity you produce from it. The same goes for all other renewables. Battery manufacturing is trickier - it does scale its footprint with number of miles driven (because it has a limited service life), but I'd assume the term has a fairly low multiplier compared to directly burning gasoline to get ahead. So my point is: The devil is in the details, blanket claims like "X is bad because CO2" doesn't really help. "Zero emission" may be a bad approximation, but I'd postulate that if you live in a place with very low fossil energy mix and use a car that has negligible direct and indirect emissions for each mile driven, you can claim "Zero emission" - otherwise the term becomes rather useless.