The Big Misconception About Clean Energy

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I am 70 and for over five decades I've heard people say the earth has only 10 years left and it keeps changing every decade.

No matter what the subject is, I’ll watch you discuss it because you’re so passionate about it that it’s quite interesting! You go girl!

Our house is an example of this in a small way. We used to do everything we could to save energy for the climate, but this year to avoid being ripped off (which I hate) by UK energy prices, I've fitted lots of solar panels. Now on a bright day we run around looking for things to turn on, washing to do, it's all dried in the tumble dryer- and we export the maximum that the grid will allow us to. Will probably have to get a bit more careful in the autumn though.

The last line kinda cleared it up for me, "the goal isn't less energy, it's more, and we can only have more by going clean"

We’ve had the answer for a long time, nuclear energy. We need to re access how sustainable it actually is

Your passion and ability to explain things throughly in an entertaining manner is amazing. What a welcome relief from the 24/hr news cycle.

While i totally agree with clean energy, Javon's paradox always seems to pop up. We no doubt lead excellent lives because of energy. But there is a point where it becomes cheaper, easier and less polluting but all we do is end up using more of it. Conservation is important. Living with an energy budget isn't a bad thing considering human nature.

For me, the genre of Solarpunk has given me a huge chunk of this mind shift and positivity (the carrot) to see a much better future, if we fight for it. Besides, doomerism doesn't lead us anywhere and only supports the forces interested in maintaining the status quo, which are mainly fossil fuel companies of course. So yes, we all should be looking forward to a future that we want to see, one that is bright, just and sustainable.

So, as a south African I have a slightly different perspective. It's a bit of both. We do need more energy to bring up more people to a comfortable middle class lifestyle with ovens, fridges, microwaves etc. But, in America you have these huge refrigerators that you honestly don't need that are a waste of energy and waste of food as just one example. It's making things more efficient where possible and changing people's mindsets around wasteful usage as well as redirecting that same energy to awesome projects like urban farming or salt water desalination. There are still so many areas where we can improve and reduce before we even get to using even more energy. For example if you have better laid out cities and towns then you can walk to work/shops instead of drive. Those are efficiencies that have to be taken into consideration as well.

You are so right. Take my own country, the UK. Far from fixed, but in 2003 5% of annual electricity production came from renewables. Today ? (2023) - 46%.

This is what I’ve been saying for years! The future is so bright, but requires major collective action now!

I agree with the idea of promoting a positive vision of what could be, but i strongly disagree with the fact that we have to aim to consume more energy. The "renewable" energy is also based in non-renewable materials, which required a much more complex energy network to be stable, has a strong impact in the environment and increases other problems such as land use conflicts. We need good positive stories, but we also need to acknowledge the necessity of finde an socio-political alternative to the neoliberal centralized government that rule the majority of the nations in the world. That is for me the best way of finding positive stories which do not foster tecnooptimistic thinking about solutions that might lead us to a state of extreme fragility in the face of climate change an material depletion. Search for those stories, because there is a lot of people working on them. :)

“The goal isn’t to use less energy, or even to just replace fossil fuels. The goal is vastly more energy…” STANDING OVATION TIME.

I couldn't agree more that energy needs to be both clean and abundant. Brainstorming now: Coincidentally, standard solar panels fit between railroad tracks. If all miles of track had solar panels, they'd produce conservatively half of the energy we currently use.

Here in Oregon diesel is a bad thing. I’ve owned and used diesel my 64 years of life with no Lung problems ( so far). All the local farmers I know I haven’t heard of anyone dying of lung cancer that didn’t smoke. Electric tractors , combines etc have yet to be seen at the local level. They are starting to be seen on YouTube. Farmers don’t drive tractors to transport themselves for shopping, vacations or other activities . Most farmers are 60 plus years old and extremely expensive new equipment is hard to justify. I think our mail delivery could be twice a week, maybe Amazon, ups , usps, and all the other instant gratification thing could be cut back also. Let’s think about house sizes and insulation

Our access to energy that isn't the food we eat gives us a greater standard of living than at any point in human history. This is very true, we need to use more energy. Because of the nature of science, what we're emitting in order to have that energy needs to be invested in getting us off that old energy source.

This video literally changed my perspective about thinking of clean energy in a more positive sense. I do hope more people can see what clean energy means.

This is something I learned very quickly after my solar PV was installed. I can use all the electricity I want during the day because it is covered (the battery covers times when there is no sun). I can use my hob, oven, washing machine, washing up machine, etc at any time during the day without impacting the local grid. All I lose is the smaller sum I would earn from exporting that power.

I saw a documentary on greening of a small part of the Sinai peninsula . They interviewed an old man . He told them that that hill a mile or so away . When he was young you could not see it because of the trees . Now there no trees not one . The need for energy and ignorance of how to care for the land caused that . After 12 + years of restoration ,water runs in the creek all year long . Tall grass to feed the the stock ,and dozens of trees and more coming . Because of CO2 the planet is greener now than it was 100 years ago I have seen it on my own land . In1988 we bought 4 acres of heavily wooded land . It had very little under growth . Now all of the trails are grown over with under growth I have to clear the trails to use them .The first 5 years the trails needed no clearing now I have to do it every year .