Renewable energy alternatives not really renewable after all

[pilchardthecat]

Fascinating stuff. Taking vast amounts of energy out of the atmosphere via wind and wave energy generation could have consequences as bad or worse than global warming.... and they won't work either.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21028063.300...

Laws of thermodynamics 1, political anti-science 0

[kambites]

So we'll run out of wind?

The key word in your comment is "could". Working out whether it would have such an effect is probably as impossible as predicting the effect of man-kind of atmospheric CO2 levels.


Anyway, the same isn't true of solar power (if we can ever do it cheaply enough to be worth it), because it's just converting heat to heat in the long run.

Edited by kambites on Wednesday 6th April 15:05

[ZesPak]

One scientist...

I'm not for wind mills but this one man sounds in my ears the same as "carbon dioxides will kill us all".

Imho we should keep nuclear fission for now while putting the focus for the future on nuclear fusion.

[jake15919]

I am a card carrying sceptic, but NS should be ashamed of the attention grabbing headline there. Basic science tells you that you get nothing for nothing so the dramatics are not really required.

I would be interested in seeing the full paper though, and I bet Axel Kleidon's email is quite busy at the moment.

[pilchardthecat]

jake15919 said:

I bet Axel Kleidon's email is quite busy at the moment.

He might be well advised to steer clear of long lonely walks in the woods too