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> Get shipping off oil and onto renewables Good luck moving container ships without diesel. You'll also have to put the passenger airlines and air cargo carrie

> Get shipping off oil and onto renewables Good luck moving container ships without diesel. You'll also have to put the passenger airlines and air cargo carriers completely out of business. It is honestly something we need to do but doing so would require every continent to rely entirely upon the resources on that continent. It would also mean all of those hundreds of millions to billions of newly middle class folks around the world would have to give up their newly won quality of life and go back to living how they were before. We either have to radically change society on nearly every level or cross our fingers and hope a humanitarian (alientarian?) fleet of alien ships show up in orbit with highly advanced technology that can replace all of our energy needs AND actively remove huge amounts of CO2 out of the air.

Beltiras 7y ago
Jet fuel can be generated carbon neutrally with these 4th gen reactors. They provide high enough thermals to split water and hydrogen energy efficiently and any process where you generate hydrogen you can very easily produce hydrocarbons instead. We have the technology. It's economical. It's safer than any alternative ALREADY HERE. Solar is not carbon free and environmentally friendly. Silicon smelting is a really dirty process. None of the alternatives have the capability to scale the same way.
- ryanmercer 7y ago
  Assuming they can produce jet fuel, I doubt it would be anywhere close to enough to replace the current fossil fuel. I've looked before and it is hard to get a decent figure due to military/private/commercial passenger flights, non-passenger military flights, freight flights etc but >Collectively, United States air carriers burn through 17 billion gallons of jet fuel annually https://thepointsguy.com/guide/cost-of-fueling-an-airliner/ https://thepointsguy.com/guide/cost-of-fueling-an-airliner/ I think that figure is only commercial passenger flights.
  - Beltiras 7y ago
    It's simple really. They need to be cheaper than fossil fuels. Can't find the link right now but I remember reading about it being possible with a little subsidy (way less than oil companies are getting now).
tremon 7y ago
Good luck moving container ships without diesel. The US navy already has a massive part of their fleet running without diesel. It's not technology that's holding back carbon-free shipping. You'll also have to put the passenger airlines and air cargo carriers completely out of business. Why is that required to get shipping off oil and onto renewables?

Beltiras 7y ago

Jet fuel can be generated carbon neutrally with these 4th gen reactors. They provide high enough thermals to split water and hydrogen energy efficiently and any process where you generate hydrogen you can very easily produce hydrocarbons instead. We have the technology. It's economical. It's safer than any alternative ALREADY HERE. Solar is not carbon free and environmentally friendly. Silicon smelting is a really dirty process. None of the alternatives have the capability to scale the same way.

ryanmercer 7y ago
Assuming they can produce jet fuel, I doubt it would be anywhere close to enough to replace the current fossil fuel. I've looked before and it is hard to get a decent figure due to military/private/commercial passenger flights, non-passenger military flights, freight flights etc but >Collectively, United States air carriers burn through 17 billion gallons of jet fuel annually https://thepointsguy.com/guide/cost-of-fueling-an-airliner/ https://thepointsguy.com/guide/cost-of-fueling-an-airliner/ I think that figure is only commercial passenger flights.
- Beltiras 7y ago
  It's simple really. They need to be cheaper than fossil fuels. Can't find the link right now but I remember reading about it being possible with a little subsidy (way less than oil companies are getting now).

tremon 7y ago

Good luck moving container ships without diesel. The US navy already has a massive part of their fleet running without diesel. It's not technology that's holding back carbon-free shipping. You'll also have to put the passenger airlines and air cargo carriers completely out of business. Why is that required to get shipping off oil and onto renewables?