John D Barrow
17th August 2024, 09:49
I am concerned about the future of the human species and Mother Earth.
Man cannot go on burning fossil fuels forever. Even fuel for nuclear reactors is a finite resource.
The energy resources I feel are renewable and possibly sustainable on planet Earth are as follows:
1. the generation of electricity by wind
2. the generation of electricity by natural water power as river current and sea tides
3. solar generation of electricity
4. green hydrogen made by electricity acquired from the above methods of electric current production
5. biofuels: materials from any living things, not fossil fuels, that can be consumed as energy
6. biological energy: labor by humans and animals
There are a lot of areas of land in this world that could be a gold mine for electricity by solar panels: the gigantic Sahara Desert in Africa for one. It's not fertile ground for crops or livestock but the hot sun beats it most of the time. Might as well use this inhospitable vast land to 'pump the sun' for power. How could the power generated there be practically distributed world-wide, however? Most humans choose not to live in or near deserts or hot tropical regions. The power from the Sahara would have to be sent over transmission lines or bottled in some form of battery or electrolyte solution and shipped elsewhere for consumption. Or, the power generated there could be converted into something like green hydrogen and then bottled and shipped elsewhere.
Nobody talks much about electricity produced from ocean tides. The world is covered by 70% seas. About 140 million square miles of sea water under tidal movement all over the globe's surface. The vast majority of people live in relatively close proximity to a sea coast. The motion of the ocean, rise and fall of tides, is more or less constant. The moon's gravity powers this. It would not take much in the way of scarce materials to build tidal power plants on platforms off shore: the basic common materials of power production facilities are concrete, iron, steel and copper. How much global power could be produced if just 1,000 square miles of collective ocean surface were devoted to global power production?
Please chime in if you wish.
Man cannot go on burning fossil fuels forever. Even fuel for nuclear reactors is a finite resource.
The energy resources I feel are renewable and possibly sustainable on planet Earth are as follows:
1. the generation of electricity by wind
2. the generation of electricity by natural water power as river current and sea tides
3. solar generation of electricity
4. green hydrogen made by electricity acquired from the above methods of electric current production
5. biofuels: materials from any living things, not fossil fuels, that can be consumed as energy
6. biological energy: labor by humans and animals
There are a lot of areas of land in this world that could be a gold mine for electricity by solar panels: the gigantic Sahara Desert in Africa for one. It's not fertile ground for crops or livestock but the hot sun beats it most of the time. Might as well use this inhospitable vast land to 'pump the sun' for power. How could the power generated there be practically distributed world-wide, however? Most humans choose not to live in or near deserts or hot tropical regions. The power from the Sahara would have to be sent over transmission lines or bottled in some form of battery or electrolyte solution and shipped elsewhere for consumption. Or, the power generated there could be converted into something like green hydrogen and then bottled and shipped elsewhere.
Nobody talks much about electricity produced from ocean tides. The world is covered by 70% seas. About 140 million square miles of sea water under tidal movement all over the globe's surface. The vast majority of people live in relatively close proximity to a sea coast. The motion of the ocean, rise and fall of tides, is more or less constant. The moon's gravity powers this. It would not take much in the way of scarce materials to build tidal power plants on platforms off shore: the basic common materials of power production facilities are concrete, iron, steel and copper. How much global power could be produced if just 1,000 square miles of collective ocean surface were devoted to global power production?
Please chime in if you wish.