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That's never going to happen. Americans will never give up their trucks. The Chinese won't give up their coal fired power plants. Developing nations won't give

That's never going to happen. Americans will never give up their trucks. The Chinese won't give up their coal fired power plants. Developing nations won't give up slash and burn forestry programs. Why? Because we're all motivated by greed. Instead I think the solution is to make pollution expensive: some have proposed a carbon tax as one way of dealing with this. Perhaps there are other ways involving behavioral economics or something that could also be attempted.

eloff 10y ago
I think you're right in that any lasting solution must come about because it's in our best short term economic interests - because, by and large, it's how we make our decisions
LargoLasskhyfv 10y ago
Lookie, lookie! Isn't it spooky? Just now: http://atomicinsights.com/will-china-convert-existing-coal-plants-nuclear-using-htr-pm-reactors/ http://atomicinsights.com/will-china-convert-existing-coal-p... Recently: http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/ENF-Irradiation-trials-of-HTR-PM-fuel-completed-0501154.html http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/ENF-Irradiation-trials-of-... A while ago: https://www.iaea.org/NuclearPower/Downloadable/Meetings/2014/2014-04-08-04-11-TM-NPTDS/2_Li01.pdf https://www.iaea.org/NuclearPower/Downloadable/Meetings/2014... & http://atomicinsights.com/htr-pm-nuclear-heated-gas-producing-superheated-steam/ http://atomicinsights.com/htr-pm-nuclear-heated-gas-producin... Once upon a time, a road not taken: http://nucleargreen.blogspot.com/2008/10/primer-on-nuclear-safety-25-defense-in.html http://nucleargreen.blogspot.com/2008/10/primer-on-nuclear-s... So, despite all the knowledge surrounding this, only China seems trying to implement this currently, after the Germans failed miserably. Search for skyshine here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AVR_reactor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AVR_reactor and mishandling mechanics here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/THTR-300 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/THTR-300 So, who again insists on staying with coal power? (Pick your poison)
astrodust 10y ago
Americans are giving up on their trucks: http://www.citylab.com/commute/2015/07/the-clearest-explanation-yet-for-why-millennials-are-driving-less/398366/ http://www.citylab.com/commute/2015/07/the-clearest-explanat... China is giving up on coal fired power plants: http://energydesk.greenpeace.org/2016/10/21/china-coal-crackdown-cancel-new-power-plants/ http://energydesk.greenpeace.org/2016/10/21/china-coal-crack... Why? Because things change.
- ScottBurson 10y ago
  There are some encouraging trends, but the progress they've made to date is still very small compared to the size of the problem. Perhaps the most encouraging trend is the exponential growth of the photovoltaic solar panel industry. If that continues, it will certainly be a huge help. But you have to weigh that against the fact that there are still a couple of billion people with no access to power at all. All together, world carbon emissions are not likely to fall anytime soon.
  - astrodust 10y ago
    A 40% decline in licenses is not "very small". It's enormous. Likewise China realized it couldn't double down on coal indefinitely, they had to back off. When your pollution becomes so bad planes can't take off you have to re-think your strategy. China used coal because it was cost-effective, but now the costs of coal are too high to sustain its use. They're just going where the money is, and right now that's solar. China itself doesn't have a lot of fossil fuels other than oil so naturally they're interested in something that makes them energy independent. Energy is, after all, power.
lisivka 10y ago
I agree: taxing of pollution will change behavior of polluters while also will gather money for ecological programs. European Union is already doing that: The total revenue from environmental taxes in the EU-28 in 2014 was EUR 343.6 billion; this figure equates to 2.5 % of gross domestic product (GDP) and to 6.3 % of the total revenues derived from all taxes and social contributions (see Table 1). http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Environmental_tax_statistics#Environmental_taxes_in_the_EU http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/...

eloff 10y ago

I think you're right in that any lasting solution must come about because it's in our best short term economic interests - because, by and large, it's how we make our decisions

LargoLasskhyfv 10y ago

Lookie, lookie! Isn't it spooky? Just now: http://atomicinsights.com/will-china-convert-existing-coal-plants-nuclear-using-htr-pm-reactors/ http://atomicinsights.com/will-china-convert-existing-coal-p... Recently: http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/ENF-Irradiation-trials-of-HTR-PM-fuel-completed-0501154.html http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/ENF-Irradiation-trials-of-... A while ago: https://www.iaea.org/NuclearPower/Downloadable/Meetings/2014/2014-04-08-04-11-TM-NPTDS/2_Li01.pdf https://www.iaea.org/NuclearPower/Downloadable/Meetings/2014... & http://atomicinsights.com/htr-pm-nuclear-heated-gas-producing-superheated-steam/ http://atomicinsights.com/htr-pm-nuclear-heated-gas-producin... Once upon a time, a road not taken: http://nucleargreen.blogspot.com/2008/10/primer-on-nuclear-safety-25-defense-in.html http://nucleargreen.blogspot.com/2008/10/primer-on-nuclear-s... So, despite all the knowledge surrounding this, only China seems trying to implement this currently, after the Germans failed miserably. Search for skyshine here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AVR_reactor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AVR_reactor and mishandling mechanics here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/THTR-300 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/THTR-300 So, who again insists on staying with coal power? (Pick your poison)

astrodust 10y ago

Americans are giving up on their trucks: http://www.citylab.com/commute/2015/07/the-clearest-explanation-yet-for-why-millennials-are-driving-less/398366/ http://www.citylab.com/commute/2015/07/the-clearest-explanat... China is giving up on coal fired power plants: http://energydesk.greenpeace.org/2016/10/21/china-coal-crackdown-cancel-new-power-plants/ http://energydesk.greenpeace.org/2016/10/21/china-coal-crack... Why? Because things change.

ScottBurson 10y ago
There are some encouraging trends, but the progress they've made to date is still very small compared to the size of the problem. Perhaps the most encouraging trend is the exponential growth of the photovoltaic solar panel industry. If that continues, it will certainly be a huge help. But you have to weigh that against the fact that there are still a couple of billion people with no access to power at all. All together, world carbon emissions are not likely to fall anytime soon.
- astrodust 10y ago
  A 40% decline in licenses is not "very small". It's enormous. Likewise China realized it couldn't double down on coal indefinitely, they had to back off. When your pollution becomes so bad planes can't take off you have to re-think your strategy. China used coal because it was cost-effective, but now the costs of coal are too high to sustain its use. They're just going where the money is, and right now that's solar. China itself doesn't have a lot of fossil fuels other than oil so naturally they're interested in something that makes them energy independent. Energy is, after all, power.

lisivka 10y ago

I agree: taxing of pollution will change behavior of polluters while also will gather money for ecological programs. European Union is already doing that: The total revenue from environmental taxes in the EU-28 in 2014 was EUR 343.6 billion; this figure equates to 2.5 % of gross domestic product (GDP) and to 6.3 % of the total revenues derived from all taxes and social contributions (see Table 1). http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Environmental_tax_statistics#Environmental_taxes_in_the_EU http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/...