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JustPlainPavekJustPlainPavek Registered User regular
edited October 2008 in Debate and/or Discourse
PBS's outstanding documentary series FRONTLINE aired a two-hour documentary on the issue of global climate change and particularly, the American political response.

You can watch the entire thing online now on the PBS site.

The show covers a multitude of angles, looking at the many ways in which energy, and by extension CO2 emissions, is produced in America; the auto industry and regulations affecting how American transportation runs; the rise of other global centers for emissions like China and India; the possibility of developing alternative energy sources such as wind, solar, or biofuels; and above everything else, the immense challenge of making any sort of forward progress on these issues given the complexity, entrenched interests, sunk costs, and overall lack of political will for tackling this difficult issue, even as both major candidates for public office are nominally supportive of doing so.

After watching this program, I have to say I am not feeling very optimistic about our chances of undertaking the sustained effort needed to really reshape the way our society consumes and produces energy and relates to the environment and natural resources it contains. I think of myself as an environmentalist and try and conserve when I can — don't own a car, live in a walkable city, try and limit my consumption, etc — but I just don't know enough about all these factors and after watching the PBS piece feel like nobody is in any position to force all these companies and constituencies to change their habits and shift us away from an impending total environmental collapse. It's going to be very hard in another five or ten years when I have to decide whether I feel comfortable with the idea bringing a family into such a world.

Let's discuss global climate change, alternative energy options, and whether our generation has any hope of doing anything about any of this before it's too late. How green are you, D&D? How screwed are we?

JustPlainPavek on

Posts

  • edited October 2008
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  • AegisAegis Fear My Dance Overshot Toronto, Landed in OttawaRegistered User regular
    edited October 2008
    We're really that close to fusion? I thought there was still a lot to do to get it to be worthwhile for development.

    Aegis on
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  • QuidQuid Definitely not a banana Registered User regular
    edited October 2008
    Whatever happened to that latest break through in solar? Not that it was a perfect solution, but I'd like super cheap/effective panels +storage plz.

    Quid on
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  • ScalfinScalfin __BANNED USERS regular
    edited October 2008
    Their are two approaches which might yield sort of quantum technological leaps - one is Polywell which is now being funded by DARPA chiefly because the original developer (now deceased) believed he was essentially one generation of his machine away from achieving sustained generation of more energy output then input (i.e. energy needed to heat the plasma, in case anyone starts talking about free energy). The other one is called Focus Fusion which is similarly being researched.

    Of course, at the outskirts there's also the giant plasma lab of ITER, but that won't be done for a decade or more.

    They had an article written by the team leader in Analog. It was cool.

    Scalfin on
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    The rest of you, I fucking hate you for the fact that I now have a blue dot on this god awful thread.
  • ShogunShogun Hair long; money long; me and broke wizards we don't get along Registered User regular
    edited October 2008
    I'm placing all my hope in the development of fusion power - we're reasonably close, and once we cross the threshold I feel that it would pretty fundamentally revolutionize power generation in all applications.

    The thing which does worry me about that scenario though is that fusion is not necessarily cheap power - there's a decent chance the rollout of cleaner technologies would be delayed once people realized it was going to cost about the same as power from conventional nuclear reactors. It would become a "we can solve the problem any time we want...just not now"

    Are we talking about the same fusion that is some sort of tiny sun surrounded by giant magnets? I'm just curious.

    Shogun on
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  • ShogunShogun Hair long; money long; me and broke wizards we don't get along Registered User regular
    edited October 2008
    Shogun wrote: »
    I'm placing all my hope in the development of fusion power - we're reasonably close, and once we cross the threshold I feel that it would pretty fundamentally revolutionize power generation in all applications.

    The thing which does worry me about that scenario though is that fusion is not necessarily cheap power - there's a decent chance the rollout of cleaner technologies would be delayed once people realized it was going to cost about the same as power from conventional nuclear reactors. It would become a "we can solve the problem any time we want...just not now"

    Are we talking about the same fusion that is some sort of tiny sun surrounded by giant magnets? I'm just curious.
    Yes, yes we are in many respects. Although in reality they're not magnets, but electrostatic force generated by charged plasma.

    Well the way I phrased the question was certainly what I would call layman's terms. And thank you for answering I was not aware we were even remotely 'reasonably close.'

    Shogun on
  • ScalfinScalfin __BANNED USERS regular
    edited October 2008
    Shogun wrote: »
    I'm placing all my hope in the development of fusion power - we're reasonably close, and once we cross the threshold I feel that it would pretty fundamentally revolutionize power generation in all applications.

    The thing which does worry me about that scenario though is that fusion is not necessarily cheap power - there's a decent chance the rollout of cleaner technologies would be delayed once people realized it was going to cost about the same as power from conventional nuclear reactors. It would become a "we can solve the problem any time we want...just not now"

    Are we talking about the same fusion that is some sort of tiny sun surrounded by giant magnets? I'm just curious.
    Yes, yes we are in many respects. Although in reality they're not magnets, but electrostatic force generated by charged plasma.

    Unless he's talking about tokomacs, which appear to have gone out of style.

    Scalfin on
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
    The rest of you, I fucking hate you for the fact that I now have a blue dot on this god awful thread.
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  • AegisAegis Fear My Dance Overshot Toronto, Landed in OttawaRegistered User regular
    edited October 2008
    Scalfin wrote: »
    Shogun wrote: »
    I'm placing all my hope in the development of fusion power - we're reasonably close, and once we cross the threshold I feel that it would pretty fundamentally revolutionize power generation in all applications.

    The thing which does worry me about that scenario though is that fusion is not necessarily cheap power - there's a decent chance the rollout of cleaner technologies would be delayed once people realized it was going to cost about the same as power from conventional nuclear reactors. It would become a "we can solve the problem any time we want...just not now"

    Are we talking about the same fusion that is some sort of tiny sun surrounded by giant magnets? I'm just curious.
    Yes, yes we are in many respects. Although in reality they're not magnets, but electrostatic force generated by charged plasma.

    Unless he's talking about tokomacs, which appear to have gone out of style.
    ITER is a tokamak design. They've gone out of style because we're building ITER and so anything good is permanently however far away ITER is to completion.

    Isn't there planning for the next reactor after ITER already under way?

    Aegis on
    We'll see how long this blog lasts
    Currently DMing: None :(
    Characters
    [5e] Dural Melairkyn - AC 18 | HP 40 | Melee +5/1d8+3 | Spell +4/DC 12
  • edited October 2008
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