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If it is indeed a battle, like you say, infrastructure investment in wind + solar, reliable public transportation, a public health system, and free public educa

If it is indeed a battle, like you say, infrastructure investment in wind + solar, reliable public transportation, a public health system, and free public education would do us 100x more than playing silly games with China.

codingslave 7y ago
Clean energy will never beat oil, its a pipe dream. Oil packs too much energy per barrel, its not even worth discussing. Reliable public transportation has nothing to do with competing for industries on a mass scale, it helps but I really dont see how it could cause a categorical change. Education does nothing if you have no good jobs to employ people with, education reform is largely a myth, hundreds of millions have been pored into education by Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg, ZERO positive results have been shown. Bill Gates has said this himself. Education is a filtering mechanism, it doesn't upgrade people. The longer we continue with these pipe dreams the more jobs we lose.
- jefflombardjr 7y ago
  1) Energy density matters. You cite no data to back your claims up, in fact the opposite is true. Lithium batteries pack just as much energy per kg. Lithium is at 41.7 kJ per gram [0], Oil is at 45 kJ per gram [1] Battery tech has more room for improvement than the hard chemical/physical limits of oil. 2) Job creation is a farce. We don't more oil riggers any more than we need more lamplighters and switchboard operators. If you want to ensure everyone has a good quality of life - a basic income looks more promising.[2] [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium-ion_battery https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium-ion_battery [1]: https://hypertextbook.com/facts/2003/ArthurGolnik.shtml https://hypertextbook.com/facts/2003/ArthurGolnik.shtml [2]: https://tcf.org/content/commentary/universal-basic-income-versus-jobs-guarantee-serves-workers-better/?agreed=1 https://tcf.org/content/commentary/universal-basic-income-ve...
  - codingslave 7y ago
    1.) By cost per barrel and energy provided, oil is impossible to beat. If there was something cheaper, it would have mass adoption. 2.) Job creation is a farce? So lets just give everyone money? We passed NAFTA and destroyed the mid west, 15 years later everyone in those states realized what happened and then voted for Trump. The whole nation was caught off guard by something that was hiding in plan sight. Government policy directly affects where companies put jobs. Ignoring and completely arguing against this is a really radical position.
    - jefflombardjr 7y ago
      1.) Environmental externalities are not included in the full cost of oil and now we have a classic tragedy of the commons problem.[0] It's not just the CO2 emitted in the burning of oil, it's also the energy loss in distribution, the energy + environmental cost or resource extraction, etc. [1] 2.) Yes! Precisely. If you're paying people to dig a hole, then some one else to fill it, why not skip the meaningless labor and just give people the money? It wastes less energy/labor. Obviously we need some people to do important jobs for society, but this is a driving principle behind a universal basic income. It's not about entitlements or free money, it's about what's most efficient for our country. While I'm undecided whether I'd vote for him in the primaries, Andrew Yang is actually doing a great job of educating people on this, I suggest you take a look at his website if this is new to you: https://www.yang2020.com/what-is-freedom-dividend-faq/ https://www.yang2020.com/what-is-freedom-dividend-faq/. A really good alternative to this would be reducing the hours in the work week. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragedy_of_the_commons https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragedy_of_the_commons [1] https://www.smartcitiesdive.com/ex/sustainablecitiescollective/true-cost-gasoline-15-gallon/26284/ https://www.smartcitiesdive.com/ex/sustainablecitiescollecti...

codingslave 7y ago

Clean energy will never beat oil, its a pipe dream. Oil packs too much energy per barrel, its not even worth discussing. Reliable public transportation has nothing to do with competing for industries on a mass scale, it helps but I really dont see how it could cause a categorical change. Education does nothing if you have no good jobs to employ people with, education reform is largely a myth, hundreds of millions have been pored into education by Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg, ZERO positive results have been shown. Bill Gates has said this himself. Education is a filtering mechanism, it doesn't upgrade people. The longer we continue with these pipe dreams the more jobs we lose.

jefflombardjr 7y ago
1) Energy density matters. You cite no data to back your claims up, in fact the opposite is true. Lithium batteries pack just as much energy per kg. Lithium is at 41.7 kJ per gram [0], Oil is at 45 kJ per gram [1] Battery tech has more room for improvement than the hard chemical/physical limits of oil. 2) Job creation is a farce. We don't more oil riggers any more than we need more lamplighters and switchboard operators. If you want to ensure everyone has a good quality of life - a basic income looks more promising.[2] [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium-ion_battery https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium-ion_battery [1]: https://hypertextbook.com/facts/2003/ArthurGolnik.shtml https://hypertextbook.com/facts/2003/ArthurGolnik.shtml [2]: https://tcf.org/content/commentary/universal-basic-income-versus-jobs-guarantee-serves-workers-better/?agreed=1 https://tcf.org/content/commentary/universal-basic-income-ve...
- codingslave 7y ago
  1.) By cost per barrel and energy provided, oil is impossible to beat. If there was something cheaper, it would have mass adoption. 2.) Job creation is a farce? So lets just give everyone money? We passed NAFTA and destroyed the mid west, 15 years later everyone in those states realized what happened and then voted for Trump. The whole nation was caught off guard by something that was hiding in plan sight. Government policy directly affects where companies put jobs. Ignoring and completely arguing against this is a really radical position.
  - jefflombardjr 7y ago
    1.) Environmental externalities are not included in the full cost of oil and now we have a classic tragedy of the commons problem.[0] It's not just the CO2 emitted in the burning of oil, it's also the energy loss in distribution, the energy + environmental cost or resource extraction, etc. [1] 2.) Yes! Precisely. If you're paying people to dig a hole, then some one else to fill it, why not skip the meaningless labor and just give people the money? It wastes less energy/labor. Obviously we need some people to do important jobs for society, but this is a driving principle behind a universal basic income. It's not about entitlements or free money, it's about what's most efficient for our country. While I'm undecided whether I'd vote for him in the primaries, Andrew Yang is actually doing a great job of educating people on this, I suggest you take a look at his website if this is new to you: https://www.yang2020.com/what-is-freedom-dividend-faq/ https://www.yang2020.com/what-is-freedom-dividend-faq/. A really good alternative to this would be reducing the hours in the work week. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragedy_of_the_commons https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragedy_of_the_commons [1] https://www.smartcitiesdive.com/ex/sustainablecitiescollective/true-cost-gasoline-15-gallon/26284/ https://www.smartcitiesdive.com/ex/sustainablecitiescollecti...