The World Going Green Would Pay For Itself in 7 Years?

[luckyshot]

It would cost $73 trillion to revamp power grids, transportation, manufacturing and other systems to run on wind, solar and hydro power, including enough storage capacity to keep the lights on overnight, Stamford Professor Mark Jacobson said in a study published Friday in the journal One Earth. But that would be offset by annual savings of almost $11 trillion, the report found.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...SytOG1XyoPU049uKm8pqFpRBq0m46F4Lsfc0Vs3UY_utE

I'm not knowledgeable about green tech, so this amazed me.

Is anyone more who is knowledgeable about green tech able to comment on these numbers?

Is our current technology really sufficient to get the world completely on renewables already? This runs counter to what I have heard from other posters on this forum.

Is it just a matter of political will?

 

[Sketch]

I’m sure China and India would pave the way and be happy to join.

 

[Letssnuggle]

So the theory is what - There are a bunch of capitalists (who are greedy mf’rs right) that decided to ignore making buckets of money?

Hrmmmmm, no.

 

[HockeyBjj]

Yeah, that study sounds like a crock of shiite

11 trillion saved a year? There wouldn't have to be a push for getting off coal/gas if that was the case.

 

[luckyshot]

I’m sure China and India would pave the way and be happy to join.

Thanks ignoring the question of the OP; is it really just a matter of political will?

Yeah, that study sounds like a crock of shiite

11 trillion saved a year? There wouldn't have to be a push for getting off coal/gas if that was the case.

Well, yeah there would, because that would be trillions of dollars that coal and gas companies wouldn't be making anymore...

So the theory is what - There are a bunch of capitalists (who are greedy mf’rs right) that decided to ignore making buckets of money?

Hrmmmmm, no.

Right. I understand that there are huge political hurdles:
1. Profit motive (capitalism)
2. Fear of international cooperation (nationalism)

My question is, political issues aside, if it really possible given our current state of technology?

 

[HockeyBjj]

Well, yeah there would, because that would be trillions of dollars that coal and gas companies wouldn't be making anymore...

If coal and gas companies could save trillions a year, they'd all be switching over to solar/wind power to generate the electricity they sell

 

[Happy Man]

If coal and gas companies could save trillions a year, they'd all be switching over to solar/wind power to generate the electricity they sell

right.

the correct idea would be to let the coal and gas companies be the first to become huge green companies then. So it’d be in their interest.

why not?

 

[Sara]

If China and India just got on board with what the rest of the world is doing now, would it take even less time for these measures to pay for themselves?

 

[Mendacious]

Thanks ignoring the question of the OP; is it really just a matter of political will?


Well, yeah there would, because that would be trillions of dollars that coal and gas companies wouldn't be making anymore...


Right. I understand that there are huge political hurdles:
1. Profit motive (capitalism)
2. Fear of international cooperation (nationalism)

My question is, political issues aside, if it really possible given our current state of technology?

According to the unnamed people in the article, other environmentalists are skeptical of it.

and political will is not something you can just brush aside. Good luck selling renewable energy to OPEC.

 

[luckyshot]

If coal and gas companies could save trillions a year, they'd all be switching over to solar/wind power to generate the electricity they sell

Hmm... not so sure about that. If they have a current model that is massively profitable would they abandon it for a model that could become as profitable (or moreso) a generation down the road?

Do they have guarantees that utility prices would stay (artificially) high once their savings kick in?

 

[SBJJ]

I always get a kick out of people who preach all this save the world shit. Meanwhile they can not even do their small part to help the planet like change their diet.

 

[44nutman]

If they do it, can I still body shame a 17 year old girl, asking for my conservative friends.

 

[Mendacious]

I always get a kick out of people who preach all this save the world shit. Meanwhile they can not even do their small part to help the planet like change their diet.

I want vegetarians to leave my war room. Now!

 

[HereticBD]

Hmm... not so sure about that. If they have a current model that is massively profitable would they abandon it for a model that could become as profitable (or moreso) a generation down the road?

 

[Gregolian]

I thought the Green Energy people were off the hydro wagon for how it kills shit behind the damn?

 

[Trotsky]

If coal and gas companies could save trillions a year, they'd all be switching over to solar/wind power to generate the electricity they sell

I imagine it's a problem of internalization of costs and externalization of benefits. The costs are already sunk on fossil fuel energy infrastructure: it's just a clean stream of profits. To undertake switching to green energy, especially as one of the first to do so, a company would have to expend billions/trillions of dollars investing in research and infrastructure that would then likely be used by would-be competitors to enter the market more efficiently and with less overhead. So those first companies, at least absent subsidies or intellectual property ownership, would be externalizing a lot of benefit and internalizing all the cost.

 

[irish_thug]

In all seriousness I support government subsidization of green energy development.

 

[Seano]

If they do it, can I still body shame a 17 year old girl, asking for my conservative friends.

If you want, I guess. Free speech and all.

 

[Zazen]

Can we stop bashing China about this? They're at least making the effort and are already set to outpace us on green tech. Our complacency is absolutely going to be our downfall.

 

[nostradumbass]

That doesn't sound close to correct, but even if it was, that doesn't mean it would "pay for itself in 7 years". That extremely lowball figure for the cost would make just the interest on the outrageous debt more than the entire national budget of other large countries.