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posted by janrinok on Monday January 16 2017, @10:16PM   Printer-friendly
from the it's-all-about-the-money dept.

An article in CleanTechnica describes how we are in a carbon bubble. Renewable energy sources are expanding quickly at reduced cost, leading to a likely mass stranding of fossil-fuel related assets as fossil fuels become more expensive than renewable sources of energy.

The current push for natural gas (and with it the related push for hydrogen fuels) is the last gasp of the fossil fuel industry. Hydrogen as a fuel source can only economically be produced from fossil fuels and hence provides no net reduction in carbon emissions, but the fossil fuel lobby are trying to convince people that it is a viable alternative to electric cars.

When the carbon bubble does burst, the impact on asset valuations is likely to be huge, with consequent impact on the larger economy.

Where do you plan to be when the carbon bubble pops?


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  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 17 2017, @04:22AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 17 2017, @04:22AM (#454726)

    Cityfolk are so cute. They think stuff magically appears in the store, electric power comes out of the wall, and all the oil is used by people sitting in traffic on their way to the office. More than half of the oil consumed is used by ships and airplanes, which have zero prospects for alternative fuel sources other than oil. Well, ships could run on nuclear power, but I don't see the hippies lining up behind that. Much of the rest is consumed by trucks and off-road equipment, which could run on electricity in theory, but in practice, no. Electric cars are still pretty small potatoes, and that electricity they run on isn't made from unicorn poop. Even if most new electricity production is from renewables, if people change to electric cars, there'll be so much more demand that the old plants will still be here for a while.

    We're still decades away from any serious movement away from fossil fuels, and oil isn't going anywhere until somebody figures out how to run ships and airplanes with the power of positive thinking.

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  • (Score: 2) by linuxrocks123 on Tuesday January 17 2017, @06:58AM

    by linuxrocks123 (2557) on Tuesday January 17 2017, @06:58AM (#454775) Journal

    Cityfolk are so cute. They think stuff magically appears in the store... <cut similar crap>

    Right, we all know that the only people with any knowledge of global energy policy are ranchers and farmers. Back in reality, all analyses of global energy policy do understand that most oil isn't used by automobiles, and people are thinking of ways to replace fossil fuel usage in these areas as well. To go with your container ship example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GREEN_Cell_Shipping [wikipedia.org]

    Will that particular idea work? I don't know. But a general rule is technology gets better over time, not worse.

    And, even if, for instance, this particular technology stagnates: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_Impulse [wikipedia.org]

    and we're stuck using oil-based jet fuel for the next hundred years or so, a few stragglers won't be enough to prop up the current oil industry. Change is coming.