How green is Green Energy?

[Deleted]

Has anyone seen Michael Moore"s new film "Planet of the humans"? It doesn't feature Michael Moore, but it is produced by him. It presents quite damning evidence about how hyped the sustainability credentials of green energy are. Interestingly it has been crticised by the green lobby as being out of date as technologies have moved on to become more efficient. 


 

[Deleted]

A quote from a review which summarises the central message of the film:

"Planet of the Humans calls into question the solutions proposed by so-called renewable technologies. Such solutions, Gibbs argues, are to a degree or another an extension-in-disguise of the same problems created by our technological society. For one, solar panels and wind towers still burn fuels to be produced; for another, they rely on copious amounts of minerals and rare earth metals. More worryingly, what Gibbs calls “the narrow solution of green technology” keeps feeding the pockets of a smaller few at the expense of the greater rest, leaving underlying societal problems unattended.

Overall, the documentary thus aims to show how the creation of these panels and towers, as well as the burning of biofuels and biomass, are also problematic, albeit in different ways if compared with the fossil fuels they aim to displace. Old wine in new wineskins, in short."

This leads to the conclusion that "the only realistic way to make the transition in industrial countries like the US is to begin reducing overall energy usage substantially [solar-/wind-powered or otherwise], eventually running the economy on a quarter, a fifth, or maybe even a tenth of current energy.”

[Ava]

My husband wrote his Master's thesis on solar energy, photovoltaic panels, etc. He's consistently stated that they are not the green solution people make them out to be, for the reasons you stated above. We've thought of buying them just recently as a kind of insurance against whatever havoc the current social and political climate might escalate into.

My country property was located not far from a large wind farm. All the homeowners in the area suffered from it one way or another. The constant hum was a serious grievance, and property values depreciated all around the windmills. Many people were just stuck there. It's the human element of the story that doesn't get told much.

I disagree that feeding the smaller few comes at the expense of the greater rest, I like small businesses, free markets, competition. There's a lot to be said for electrical companies and their abuses historically; I haven't been keeping up with everything, but just as a general principle, it's been clear that the larger corporations tend to be more problematic, tending towards monopolies, price hikes, infiltration of the government either directly or through lobbying, and so on.

The example of Carlos Slim comes to mind, richest man in the world for several years...

"Slim's growing fortune has been a subject of controversy, because it has been amassed in a developing country where average per capita income does not surpass US$14,500 a year, and nearly 17% of the population lives in poverty.[96] Critics claim that Slim is a monopolist, pointing to Telmex's control of 90% of the Mexican landline telephone market. Slim's wealth is the equivalent of roughly 5% of Mexico's annual economic output.[97] Telmex, of which 49.1% is owned by Slim and his family, charges among the highest usage fees in the world, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development..."

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_Slim#Criticism

The powerful just keep amassing more and more power through compromised and corrupt governments. I think we've reached a tipping point where the elites are in control and cannot be eradicated except by a radical change in the public's habits. Unfortunately we are conditioned to work hard to earn money to be consumers, without enough proper respect for who those employers are, what their ethics are, and what our salary money is earmarked for. It's the same with the stock market and "blind" investments where the bottom line is almost always just cash, not social value or environmental care. Essentially we've been going through these motions as a culture without enough research, mindfulness, and intention, for decades. I get frustrated that any mention of corporate misconduct is all too often cast as conspiracy theory and dismissed. Over-cooperation with institutions that are successfully siphoning too much power and liberty from the people is probably America's most serious problem; we don't see how we cripple ourselves. But some do. The trends towards homesteading, van life, minimalism, and veganism show the young people ARE seeing it, they ARE trying.

Okay I didn't mean to write that much...

$0.02 or maybe $0.03

[Deleted]

Aug 7, 2020 21:37:25 GMT Ava said:

I disagree that feeding the smaller few comes at the expense of the greater rest, I like small businesses, free markets, competition. There's a lot to be said for electrical companies and their abuses historically; I haven't been keeping up with everything, but just as a general principle, it's been clear that the larger corporations tend to be more problematic, tending towards monopolies, price hikes, infiltration of the government either directly or through lobbying, and so on.

Ava , 'the few' mentioned was a reference to corporations. Basically, the richest 1% profiteering from the hype. Agree with everything you've said about Corporations wresting control of our lives and choices.

BP has been in the news lately as they have announced that they plan to slash oil and gas production over the next decade and invest in renewables. The announcement came as BP also reported billions in losses between April and July this year due to covid19. It seems that its move to 'renewables' was not driven by a good conscience, rather changing its business practices so as to profit from the new opportunities presented by green energy. Also an opportunity to whitewash its image - a big PR win. BP is being compared favourably with other oil companies such as Shell who haven't yet resolved to make the transition.