2 ms·

Here's world data. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bp_world_energy_consumption_2016.gif https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bp_world_energy_consumpti... Nat

Here's world data. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bp_world_energy_consumption_2016.gif https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bp_world_energy_consumpti... Natural gas and other fossil fuels are soaring.

Retric 9y ago
First that ends in 2015 and coal is already dropping slightly. Second, Natural gas is used for both heating and electricity generation. It's heating not electricity production that's driving LNG demand. Further, coal is very rarely used for heating so LNG is mostly replacing fuel oil. PS: That also ignores the worlds largest uses of energy. Growing plants from sunlight which completely dominates all other energy sources.
- acidburnNSA 9y ago
  There's better data in here [1], page 9, with projections. My conclusion is unchanged. Global warming doesn't care what the energy was used for so it's important to consider the entire energy usage portfolio of the world in these discussions. We gots to decarbonize and we are not on track. [1] https://www.eia.gov/outlooks/aeo/pdf/0383(2017).pdf https://www.eia.gov/outlooks/aeo/pdf/0383(2017).pdf Growing plants from sunlight is indeed a large energy flow. However it's not dominant in our emissions to the atmosphere which are changing the climate. 70% of anthropogenic CO2 emissions are non-plant energy-related. Fact is, we use a lot of non-plant energy too because it's very dense energy and that allows us to do things like drive cars, fly airplanes, and heat homes without destroying the environment. Back when everyone was using renewable plant biomass for heat (i.e. firewood) air quality was getting bad and forests were getting destroyed. It's a very good thing we switched to coal when we did, for the forests' sake, but now we need to totally decarbonize. This means intermittent renewables, hydro, and nuclear. BTW this book [2] has all the info you could ever dream of about world energy usage. [2] https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/energy-and-civilization https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/energy-and-civilization
  - Retric 9y ago
    This is a thread about Nuclear power. Which is rarely used directly for home heating, generally it's just resistance heating after being turned into electricity. Anyway... Your link [1] is for the United States which as I said uses an unusual amount of LNG. Though if you look at Coal on page 10 it's down (~22 to ~14 = ~40%) from 2006 petroleum is also down quite a bit (40 to ~35 = ~12% drop) it's only LNG that's up but again it's up significantly less than just coal has dropped let alone coal + petroleum. (pedantic) Plants also dominate our emissions to the atmosphere. They simply also extract carbon from the atmosphere. I think most projections are wildly off base. In the end it's a combination of economics and incentives which will determine changes and while the economics favor renewable incentives are much harder to predict.
    - acidburnNSA 9y ago
      Sure nukes aren't generally used for heating, but in places like Russia and more frequently China, district heating directly from nuclear is very much on the table. And electric heating isn't exactly far-fetched of a proposal either. If we ramped up carbon-free electricity sources like nuclear, hydro, and intermittent renewables we could couple that with more electric heating pretty reasonably. Damn, you're right that it's US only. Ok [1], page 11. Still only through 2016 though. IRs are the fastest growing but they're still very tiny. We have a lot of work to do to decarbonize. https://www.bp.com/content/dam/bp/en/corporate/pdf/energy-economics/statistical-review-2017/bp-statistical-review-of-world-energy-2017-full-report.pdf https://www.bp.com/content/dam/bp/en/corporate/pdf/energy-ec...

Retric 9y ago

First that ends in 2015 and coal is already dropping slightly. Second, Natural gas is used for both heating and electricity generation. It's heating not electricity production that's driving LNG demand. Further, coal is very rarely used for heating so LNG is mostly replacing fuel oil. PS: That also ignores the worlds largest uses of energy. Growing plants from sunlight which completely dominates all other energy sources.

acidburnNSA 9y ago
There's better data in here [1], page 9, with projections. My conclusion is unchanged. Global warming doesn't care what the energy was used for so it's important to consider the entire energy usage portfolio of the world in these discussions. We gots to decarbonize and we are not on track. [1] https://www.eia.gov/outlooks/aeo/pdf/0383(2017).pdf https://www.eia.gov/outlooks/aeo/pdf/0383(2017).pdf Growing plants from sunlight is indeed a large energy flow. However it's not dominant in our emissions to the atmosphere which are changing the climate. 70% of anthropogenic CO2 emissions are non-plant energy-related. Fact is, we use a lot of non-plant energy too because it's very dense energy and that allows us to do things like drive cars, fly airplanes, and heat homes without destroying the environment. Back when everyone was using renewable plant biomass for heat (i.e. firewood) air quality was getting bad and forests were getting destroyed. It's a very good thing we switched to coal when we did, for the forests' sake, but now we need to totally decarbonize. This means intermittent renewables, hydro, and nuclear. BTW this book [2] has all the info you could ever dream of about world energy usage. [2] https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/energy-and-civilization https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/energy-and-civilization
- Retric 9y ago
  This is a thread about Nuclear power. Which is rarely used directly for home heating, generally it's just resistance heating after being turned into electricity. Anyway... Your link [1] is for the United States which as I said uses an unusual amount of LNG. Though if you look at Coal on page 10 it's down (~22 to ~14 = ~40%) from 2006 petroleum is also down quite a bit (40 to ~35 = ~12% drop) it's only LNG that's up but again it's up significantly less than just coal has dropped let alone coal + petroleum. (pedantic) Plants also dominate our emissions to the atmosphere. They simply also extract carbon from the atmosphere. I think most projections are wildly off base. In the end it's a combination of economics and incentives which will determine changes and while the economics favor renewable incentives are much harder to predict.
  - acidburnNSA 9y ago
    Sure nukes aren't generally used for heating, but in places like Russia and more frequently China, district heating directly from nuclear is very much on the table. And electric heating isn't exactly far-fetched of a proposal either. If we ramped up carbon-free electricity sources like nuclear, hydro, and intermittent renewables we could couple that with more electric heating pretty reasonably. Damn, you're right that it's US only. Ok [1], page 11. Still only through 2016 though. IRs are the fastest growing but they're still very tiny. We have a lot of work to do to decarbonize. https://www.bp.com/content/dam/bp/en/corporate/pdf/energy-economics/statistical-review-2017/bp-statistical-review-of-world-energy-2017-full-report.pdf https://www.bp.com/content/dam/bp/en/corporate/pdf/energy-ec...