Elie: Elie moved page Energy/solutions to Archive:000/Energy/solutions without leaving a redirect: Huge_refactor

2024-10-26T20:29:40Z

Elie moved page Energy/solutions to Archive:000/Energy/solutions without leaving a redirect: Huge_refactor

← Older revision	Revision as of 16:29, 26 October 2024
(No difference)

Elie: Created page with "These are some possible solutions to the energy crisis - everything ranging from tangible to pie-in-the-sky. {|class="wikitable" |#Consuming less |Viable but requires both personal and systemic changes |- |#Renewables + energy storage |Requires innovations |- |Nuclear fission breeder reactors |Requires innovations |- |Nuclear fusion |Requires massive & unlikely{{p|unlikely in the near future}} innovations |- |Fossil fuels with direct air carbon..."

2023-03-10T21:35:58Z

Created page with "These are some possible solutions to the energy crisis - everything ranging from tangible to pie-in-the-sky. {|class="wikitable" |#Consuming less |Viable but requires both personal and systemic changes |- |#Renewables + energy storage |Requires innovations |- |Nuclear fission breeder reactors |Requires innovations |- |Nuclear fusion |Requires massive & unlikely{{p|unlikely in the near future}} innovations |- |Fossil fuels with direct air carbon..."

New page

These are some possible solutions to the [[energy]] crisis - everything ranging from tangible to pie-in-the-sky.
{|class="wikitable"
|[[#Consuming less]]
|Viable but requires both personal and systemic changes
|-
|[[#Renewables + energy storage]]
|Requires innovations
|-
|Nuclear fission [[breeder reactors]]
|Requires innovations
|-
|[[Nuclear fusion]]
|Requires massive & unlikely{{p|unlikely in the near future}} innovations
|-
|[[Fossil fuels]] with [[direct air carbon capture]]
|Unlikely to be viable
|-
|[[methane cracking|Fossil fuels using only the hydrogen component]]
|Unlikely to be viable{{en}}
|}

==Consuming less==
Probably at least 2/3 of global energy usage could be avoided, ''without'' losing much quality of life. Note that the biggest changes would need to happen in "first world" countries, especially for people middle-class and richer. No one should make the global poor consume less.

Energy in ''manufacturing'' could be reduced by
* (systemic change) ending [[planned obsolescence]],
* (systemic change) having [[right to repair]], and
* (personal change) promoting [[frugalism]].
* We can still have nice things, we just wouldn't ''replace'' them as often.

Energy in ''transportation'' could be reduced by
* (systemic change) [[public transit]]
* (systemic change) [[walkability]]
* (systemic change) more people working from home
* (personal change) [[carpooling]]
* (personal change) choosing to walk, bike, or not travel as much

Energy in ''construction'' could be reduced by
* (systemic change) shopping malls not redoing their interiors as often
* (personal change) only doing ''essential'' home renovations, not cosmetic ones{{en}} {{x|Here's one an example of bad: Landlords redoing floors/countertops/walls every time a tenant moves out (in hopes to find a higher-class tenant who will pay more), even though most tenants [couldn't care less / just want a place that's liveable]. It's especially bad when already-poor tenants get billed for "damages" that no one would really mind except the landlord.}}

Energy in ''agriculture'' could be reduced by
* (systemic change) grocery stores avoiding food waste
* (personal change) people avoiding food waste, and being willing to eat day-old food from bakeries etc
* (personal change) choosing [[plant-based]] food often

The more difficult domains are home [[heating]] and [[cooling]]. Other home-energy-usage (misc electricity) is not ''that'' significant as far as global energy usage is concerned.

It's tempting to get ideological about what matters more: personal vs systemic changes{{x|The folks who say "personal changes don't matter" are typically only looking at low-impact personal changes. The ones listed above are ''high-impact''.}}. But in all likelihood, the potential impact is about 50/50 from each.

Most energy currently comes from fossil fuels, because other energy sources have a hard time scaling up. The less energy we need, the easier it is to mitigate [[climate change]].

==Renewables + energy storage==
Most energy would come from [[rooftop solar]]. In very dense cities, rooftops wouldn't be enough, so there would also need to be some [[solar farms]] and/or [[wind]] power in the surrounding area. [[Hydro]] and [[geothermal]] electricity would also be used wherever geographically viable{{x|which is not the majority of the world, sadly}}. [[Nuclear]] consumption wouldn't increase much{{x|, because uranium-235 is too scarce. See ''other'' solutions that involve [[breeder reactors]] to make use of the more abundant uranium-238 and thorium-232}}.

This requires some key innovations:
* [[solar/challenge 1]]
* [[energy storage]] that doesn't involve too many rare metals or rare geography

Archive:000/Energy/solutions - Revision history

Elie: Elie moved page Energy/solutions to Archive:000/Energy/solutions without leaving a redirect: Huge_refactor