Can we actually stop using fossil fuels?

[rangerrebew]

Can we actually stop using fossil fuels?
Is it smart—or crazy stupid—to rely solely on wind, solar, and hydro?
By Leslie Kaufman 25 minutes ago

This past July, as Dawn Lippert surfed the swells at her home beach in Honolulu, a rogue board sprang up and slammed her between the eyes. It could have been a knockout blow. But Lippert, a former high school soccer champ who had taken up surfing when she arrived here a decade ago—fresh from Yale and working as an energy consultant to the state as it began to wean itself from fossil fuels—possesses a resilient athleticism.

She managed to steady herself as the remorseful owner of the wayward board paddled her ashore. Once at the hospital, she received 12 stitches that snaked between her eyes and a parade of concerned nurses. Her fiancé, Brody, had explained that their wedding was a few weeks away. “Oh, honey,” one nurse clucked, “this is not going to be pretty.” As is her habit in the face of rough odds and bruising encounters, Lippert shrugged it off. “I was just grateful that it wasn’t my eye,” she recalls.

https://www.popsci.com/can-we-stop-using-fossil-fuels

[IsailedawayfromFR]

Why would we want to? It is a gift from God buried in the earth for us to enjoy to improve our lives.

The alternatives are not very good.

[thackney]

Hawaii is a place this is more likely to happen than other states.

Their cost of electricity is already the highest in the nation.

https://www.chooseenergy.com/electricity-rates-by-state/

They use less energy per capita than nearly any other state 

https://www.eia.gov/state/rankings/

They have little fossil fuel resources, importing nearly all of what they use.

https://www.eia.gov/state/analysis.php?sid=HI

[Fishrrman]

No. Don't be silly.

As soon as the cavemen discovered "fire", they were burning fossil fuels.

Are we willing to go back to a period in history that came BEFORE the caveman?

[Joe Wooten]

Hawaii cannot grow enough plants to both supply all their fuel AND a substantial portion of their food. It will be or, not and, which means fossil fuels will still be required. If by some miracle, they can plant and process enough of those oil beans to make all the fuel they use, then there will be little land left to grow food and they will have to import all their food, carried on freighters burning #2 bunker oil or diesel.

All those folks seem to believe that if they wish hard enough, there will be a free lunch eventually....

[thackney]

Hawaii cannot grow enough plants to both supply all their fuel AND a substantial portion of their food. It will be or, not and, which means fossil fuels will still be required. If by some miracle, they can plant and process enough of those oil beans to make all the fuel they use, then there will be little land left to grow food and they will have to import all their food, carried on freighters burning #2 bunker oil or diesel.

All those folks seem to believe that if they wish hard enough, there will be a free lunch eventually....

I have thought that Hawaii had a shot at making OTEC work economically for them.



But I'm biased.  I did a High School Science fair with this and took it to State Level.

[mirraflake]

We installed a geothermal furnace when the house was built. It keeps the house warm but we noticed it is  a"cold heat"

68 degrees with natural gas feels way hotter than 68 degrees with geo.

If you ever lived in a house heated by coal you know what I mean.

Nothing like fossil fuel BTU's for good old heat.

Geo Thermal does keep the heating and AC bills super low.   Our new house is 3 times the size of the old house and our electric bill is half.

[Suppressed]

I have thought that Hawaii had a shot at making OTEC work economically for them.



But I'm biased.  I did a High School Science fair with this and took it to State Level.

Bob Bates is smiling from above.

[thackney]

Bob Bates is smiling from above.

The computer game maker?  I don't understand.

[Joe Wooten]

I have thought that Hawaii had a shot at making OTEC work economically for them.



But I'm biased.  I did a High School Science fair with this and took it to State Level.

If I remember right, the pilot project they did back in the 70's failed to generate economically. Maintenance costs made it a money loser. A lot of good ideas on alternate energy sources flounder on hard engineering realities that cannot be overcome.

[thackney]

If I remember right, the pilot project they did back in the 70's failed to generate economically. Maintenance costs made it a money loser. A lot of good ideas on alternate energy sources flounder on hard engineering realities that cannot be overcome.

It works in a little pilot plant, but not yet economic.

Largest OTEC Facility Inaugurated in Hawaii
http://www.powermag.com/largest-otec-facility-inaugurated-in-hawaii/
10/01/2015

One of the world’s largest facilities that harvests energy from ocean temperature gradients began operation this August in Hawaii.

The 100-kW ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) facility’s inauguration at the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority (NELHA) marks a significant milestone for the technology (Figure 1). One key aspect being tested at the facility is a heat exchanger. “Heat exchangers make up about [a third] of the cost of a 100-MW OTEC plant,” says developer Makai Ocean Engineering. “Any slight reduction in cost, improvement in efficiency, reduction in size, or extension of life will go a long way towards improving the economics of OTEC.”...

[Bigun]

If I remember right, the pilot project they did back in the 70's failed to generate economically. Maintenance costs made it a money loser. A lot of good ideas on alternate energy sources flounder on hard engineering realities that cannot be overcome.

I can tell you from personal experience that maintenance costs are THE factor which renders most of these solar energy boondoggles unviable. 

[Joe Wooten]

I can tell you from personal experience that maintenance costs are THE factor which renders most of these solar energy boondoggles unviable.

Yep. And it applies to ALL of the greenies favorite energy systems, ALL of them, no exceptions.

[Suppressed]

The computer game maker?  I don't understand.

Robert L. Bates, who used to write "The Geologic Column" in Geotimes.  When the Ocean Thermal Gradient Hydraulic Power Plant paper came out in 1975, he wrote a poem about it.  I thought perhaps you'd encountered it in your research.  I'll have to dig it up.

[dfwgator]

No.....Next question.