Trump: 'Nobody Really Knows' If Climate Change Is Real

[SvennoJ]

mrstickball said:

SvennoJ said:

Nuclear is good for a backup, yet gas and oil compete with nuclear.

Is gas really cleaner? Nobody really knows :p
http://environmentalresearchweb.org/cws/article/news/60392

Certainly not 50% compared to clean coal burning plants.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/energy/2015/10/151013-boundary-dam-test-for-clean-coal-one-year-later/

There's geothermal too, which doesn't depend on backups. Perhaps a good alternative instead of drilling deeper and deeper for oil. There certainly is enough drilling tech around I would think.

Ofcourse gas and oil are multipurpose, and easily exported for profit.

The EIA disagrees with you:

https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=73&t=11

 

Geothermal has its own issues, namely insane cost and Earthquakes:

 

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/geothermal-drilling-earthquakes/

That experimental clean coal power plant I linked already captures 90% of the co2 produced. But it's all very expensive and a bit shady
http://grist.org/climate-energy/turns-out-the-worlds-first-clean-coal-plant-is-a-backdoor-subsidy-to-oil-producers/
It’s effectively a very high carbon tax, charged only to SaskPower’s captive customers, with the revenue used to produce more fossil fuels. Maybe not the best mitigation strategy.

Gas is just lengthening the status quo, plus it's still the most efficient for heating and cooking. Why waste it on producing electricity. But perhaps switching to electric heating and induction stoves would be better too. I don't know what's more efficient, burn gas at the power plant to produce electricty, subtract the loss that comes from transporting elecitricity and have an electric heater, or keep using gas. I have a gas stove, dryer and central heating, much more cost efficient than electricity. Too bad the air conditioning doesn't run on gas, summers are getting more expensive with global warming ;)