No need for magic, I can do that easily for you. What if we built really big fans, connected them to some sort of generator, and then put them in really windy areas, and then when the wind turns the fan it generates electricity. Oh that already exists and it’s called a wind turbine? Okay well…
What if we blocked big, flowing bodies of water, and put some sort of generator in the flow. Oh that already exists too? It’s hydroelectric energy? Okay well…
What if we put some sort of steam turbine in areas that are highly geologically active, and the steam generated from the heat of the earth can power the turbine? Oh, it’s geothermal energy should have guessed
I can go on… None of these require materials that aren’t already used for coal plants, and remarkably don’t require “magically making a new energy source”. If I loosen the restrictions to allow new materials, then I can also add solarthermal, solar/photovoltaic, and nuclear energy to the list of “energy sources that already exist and are greener than coal/oil/natural gas”.
Shipping and flights are likely still more efficient to be run off of fossil fuels, to be honest, at least for the time being. If you buy some sweet potatoes that were grown in Vietnam, the majority of the fossil fuels generated for that to be delivered to your store are released locally, not in the shipment overseas. (This works because of how much stuff can be put on a container ship)
Transmission… Well we already have a several full power grids in NA (that desperately need expansion but for the sake of this argument we’ll call them “good enough”)
Trains and EVs- this is a good one, because we’ve moved backwards in this regard. Almost every major city in the US and Canada used to have an electrified tram network, and then lobbying from car manufacturers encouraged ripping them out. Same with our public, cross country train and bus networks. “Why have public transit when everyone can just drive”. Well EV’s aren’t really the solution to our problem, theyre the solution to the problem that keeps the car manufacturers in business.
Replacing all out ICE cars with EVs is frankly an untenable task. However phasing out some personal transit, making cities more walkable/bike able and introducing greener electrified public transit is a lot easier and cheaper in the long run with fewer materials like lithium needed due to the density of the transit (fewer larger batteries moving more people, or even directly wired trams, trains, etc). To that end, lots of countries have successfully worked towards electrifying their rail infrastructure. The EU collectively has 220099 km of rail network across all it’s member countries, which as of 2020, 55.6% of that is electrified. The US has a surprisingly similar 257722km of rail network which is less than 1% electrified. It’s possible, legislators and consumers have fallen for the marketing of oil, gas, and car companies however.
Batteries, yeah I won’t pretend to have a solution there. Just that saying “changing this will be difficult so we shouldn’t do it” isn’t the answer.
No need for magic, I can do that easily for you. What if we built really big fans, connected them to some sort of generator, and then put them in really windy areas, and then when the wind turns the fan it generates electricity. Oh that already exists and it’s called a wind turbine? Okay well…
What if we blocked big, flowing bodies of water, and put some sort of generator in the flow. Oh that already exists too? It’s hydroelectric energy? Okay well…
What if we put some sort of steam turbine in areas that are highly geologically active, and the steam generated from the heat of the earth can power the turbine? Oh, it’s geothermal energy should have guessed
I can go on… None of these require materials that aren’t already used for coal plants, and remarkably don’t require “magically making a new energy source”. If I loosen the restrictions to allow new materials, then I can also add solarthermal, solar/photovoltaic, and nuclear energy to the list of “energy sources that already exist and are greener than coal/oil/natural gas”.
Oh and I guess you’ll just magically build the batteries for storage, capacity, transmission, EVs, trains, shipping, flights out of thin air!
Shipping and flights are likely still more efficient to be run off of fossil fuels, to be honest, at least for the time being. If you buy some sweet potatoes that were grown in Vietnam, the majority of the fossil fuels generated for that to be delivered to your store are released locally, not in the shipment overseas. (This works because of how much stuff can be put on a container ship)
Transmission… Well we already have a several full power grids in NA (that desperately need expansion but for the sake of this argument we’ll call them “good enough”)
Trains and EVs- this is a good one, because we’ve moved backwards in this regard. Almost every major city in the US and Canada used to have an electrified tram network, and then lobbying from car manufacturers encouraged ripping them out. Same with our public, cross country train and bus networks. “Why have public transit when everyone can just drive”. Well EV’s aren’t really the solution to our problem, theyre the solution to the problem that keeps the car manufacturers in business. Replacing all out ICE cars with EVs is frankly an untenable task. However phasing out some personal transit, making cities more walkable/bike able and introducing greener electrified public transit is a lot easier and cheaper in the long run with fewer materials like lithium needed due to the density of the transit (fewer larger batteries moving more people, or even directly wired trams, trains, etc). To that end, lots of countries have successfully worked towards electrifying their rail infrastructure. The EU collectively has 220099 km of rail network across all it’s member countries, which as of 2020, 55.6% of that is electrified. The US has a surprisingly similar 257722km of rail network which is less than 1% electrified. It’s possible, legislators and consumers have fallen for the marketing of oil, gas, and car companies however.
Batteries, yeah I won’t pretend to have a solution there. Just that saying “changing this will be difficult so we shouldn’t do it” isn’t the answer.