On Fri, Jan 18, 2013 at 5:05 PM, Eugen Leitl <[email protected]> wrote: > I wonder solar is still called 'alternative' energy. > It should be called alternativeless energy. There is really > no other way to keep this civilisation running.
India is betting on the entire spectrum - imported coal, wind energy, fast-breed thorium reactors and even solar panels in space. It doesn't yet have to worry about evening out utilization factors against demand since any power generated is soaked up by the power hungry nation, but renewables are worryingly backed already by conventional power in most of Europe for ensuring stability of supply. When global spending on consumables has grown 250 fold in less than 60 years, it does appear too much to hope for sustainable economics to become rightfully popular. All the same, I view a global culture that lusts after consumables as an aberration since it destroys in its wake many social practices and ecosystems nurtured over centuries and millennia.
