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You're confusing primary energy with useful energy. What people need to realize is that if we go to renewable, electric energy, in most cases this will also in
by hannob 3y ago
You're confusing primary energy with useful energy.
What people need to realize is that if we go to renewable, electric energy, in most cases this will also involve efficiency improvements. Many fossil fuel based processes are horribly inefficient, with electricity you can often avoid doing things like "80% of our energy goes into heating up the air around whatever we're doing".
That said: Yes, we'll need a lot of wind turbines.
- jl6 3y agoI don't mind being conservative for this exercise, and renewables have their own inefficiency issue: we'll need to accept the inefficiency of using electrolysis to produce the hydrogen needed to synthesize the feedstocks needed to run petrochemical processes (e.g. producing plastic), because energy production isn't the only thing that depends on fossil fuels.
- Dylan16807 3y agoThe goal is to stop turning fossil fuels into CO2. Plastic production is not an urgent issue.
- ZeroGravitas 3y agoThere are however various companies looking to e.g. make ethylene from CO2 which, if made economically viable, simultaneously fixes previous fossil CO2 release, and further reduces the financial viability of continuing to drill for more fossil gasses.
- adrianN 3y agoHydrogen production is about 80% efficient and only a small part of our needs depend of hydrogen.