From: Mike Lorrey (mlorrey@yahoo.com)
Date: Sat Aug 24 2002 - 21:22:12 MDT
--- Regina Pancake <regina@appliedfx.com> wrote:
>
> >
> >
> >There are many self described greens who are also technophilic, but
> who
> >distinguish between 'appropriate' and 'inappropriate' technology. I
> >would say that many, if not most, of the technologies that are
> >essential to extropic goals are considered highly inappropriate by
> >Greens, despite the fact that many of the technologies they consider
> >'appropriate' are in fact more damaging to the ecology.
>
> > Solar power,
> >for instance.
> >
> > O.K. I'll bite.
>
> > What's your beef with Solar?
For many years, solar cell manufacturing technology consumed more power
in producing the solar cells than could ever be generated in the
lifetime of the cell's use, PLUS the manufacturing process produces
lots of hazardous waste that is really tough to deal with. Not
impossible, but again requires energy to process.
Some claim that the process energy demand is now less than that
produced by the resulting cell output, but I've not seen any detailed
breakdown, nor any indication of what actual percent difference there
currently is between the two.
Compare, in contrast, with, say, nuclear power: Greens have (falsely)
claimed for years that nuclear power produces only 3% more power than
is consumed in the mining, processing, and distribution of fuels, the
manufacture of power plants, etc. Even if this were so, these numbers
were based on nuclear power as of 1982 at the latest (that was when I
started hearing this statistic, from my Green science teacher in high
school) and demonstrate that, at least in 1982, nuclear power was in
fact more Green than solar power, at least at that point, but they
still continued on hyping solar power as 'better' than nuclear power.
See what I mean?
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