There’s a Race to Power the Future. China Is Pulling Away. | Beijing is selling clean energy to the world, Washington is pushing oil and gas. Both are driven by national security.
China's Clean Energy Boom Could Win the Race to Power the Future
The Trump administration—and conservatives in general—are treating oil that can only be extracted from fracking like it's old fashioned oil wells. They're not the same. The output from a traditional oil well is easy to predict: They have a specific amount of estimated oil and over (a long) time you need to add more well heads to keep the same level of output but in general it's well-established science. You can extract from them for decades and decades.
Fracking can extract a lot of oil from a tiny area all at once over the course of just a few years. In theory you could extract oil from the same fracking well for 40 years but in reality it's just ten years. No fracking (for oil) has lasted longer than that as far as I'm aware. You can still extract natural gas from the same site though (I don't know the specifics on that).
NOTE: What makes fracking wells only last ten years isn't that you can't get any more oil out of them. It's because it takes too much energy to get more oil out of them. Forget how much it costs: There's an amount no one will pay to extract a barrel of oil from the ground and that is "more than one barrel's worth of energy".
Whereas wind and solar power will last forever, fracking is a boom that will only last another 20 years or so. By screwing over solar and wind power Republicans/Trump/conservatives are screwing our future. It takes a long ass time to replace fleets of vehicles and the time to do that is like ten years ago. We need to ramp it up too if we don't want to get caught in another energy crisis around 2035 (that's approximately when the output from traditional oil wells drops to the point where fracking can't make up with demand anymore).
Yes, I get that Trump and most of his owners are old, but even if you ignore climate change, ignore the health impact of petroleum, ignore the instability that petrowealth has created, etc, we’re left with a short term solution. We’re ignoring development of new industry, new jobs, new technologies that could benefit us indefinitely, for short term profit, someone finite and non-renewable. Even if they wanted to milk the petro-profit as long as possible, why destroy the possibility of competing in the future technology?
How are they so short-sighted?
How are they so short-sighted?
They are old. They have zero empathy. They are addicted to money.
They are not short sighted. They just don't care who's at the bottom after they pull the ladder up.
The only thing they worry about is being in prison with no money. Which is why it very rarely ever happens.
By screwing over solar and wind power Republicans/Trump/conservatives are screwing our future.
Well, yeah. But have you thought of the profits they can make until then?
That's what happens when you elect stupid and greedy people to power. This nation treats greed like a virtue, it's fucking crazy.
This has absolutely nothing to do with national security and everything to do with billionaires who stand to make even more money off the oil industry.
There is a big difference between selling oil and gas and selling solar panels. One you sell continuously and the other you sell once.
Do you remember like 22 years ago when the USA tried to steal Iraq? This is why.
A whole lot of people should take the time to read this article. Covers many key points all in one article.
TLDR : China made clean energy possible. USA made it expensive and illegal. This is the most important thing going on for the next 100 odd years. Don't get distracted.
To be clear, the bill making clean energy expensive and illegal hasn't passed yet. You can still tell your Senators and congresscritter to vote against it.
I'm not talking about this one bill. Read the article again.
The article doesn't get everything right but it is clear.