Why Fossil Fuels Are Not Critical For Creating Renewable Energy
Response to an article claiming the opposite
This article is in direct response to an article by Dr. Stephen Leeb, PhD, claiming fossil fuels are critical for creating renewable energy.
This is the article in question:
Terminology Corrections
First of all, energy is not renewable, it all comes from the sun. Using that terminology immediately repels the common sensed mind, in my opinion, it is a term probably invented by a snake-oil salesman not understanding that limitless sustainable clean energy really can be had from the sun, with the intention of making some money from our ignorance.
By continuing to use it, we are either still continuing to be ignorant, or still trying to sell snake oil.
Secondly, energy cannot be created. It all comes from the sun, even the energy of uranium. There is a scientific argument that Earth was not created from the sun, but it depends on theory of the origins of the universe which are still under heavy debate. The simplest explanation for the origins of Earth, and all of the other planets of the solar system, is that they were sent into orbit from one or more energetic volcanic explosions of the sun.
So I will take “creating renewable energy” to mean “obtaining sustainable clean energy”, with the implicit assertion that it all comes from the sun.
Analysis
A fundamental fact that we have to accept is that we are practicing a profit-driven Grand Energy Ponzi.
The party in charge of conventional global money, and who removed funding from Nikolai Tesla, from a project promising free energy (And internet-like connectivity) for all, from the sun, about 120 years ago, are the banks.
Specifically JP Morgan, now long dead, but of course his legacy lives on.
So we might say they are now responsible for our current predicament.
Further, all economists base their estimations of the value of all things with no consideration of energy, yet it is actually energy that we value, the capital things that money can buy. All financial transactions to date represent exchanges of capital.
Because all of that capital is from the resources of Earth, we are locked into extracting them by the way we use money to directly represent capital, and yet it can also represent energy directly from the sun, as we have seen with proof-of-work tokens like Bitcoin, which are leaving the value of gold behind, and yet are substantially composed by solar energy, and there is no reason why they can’t and won’t become completely composed of solar energy, since the business model of Bitcoin production continues to push that upwards, devoid of any grid-connection, thus under taxation radars of most governments.
So we see there the method of directly converting solar energy to valuable money.
With that known, we quickly realise that there is a critical point in solar infrastructure implementation when the process of implementation can become self sustaining.
More panels created, means more money created. At some point, the amount of money being created begins to exceed the financial cost of installation.
From that point onwards, the solar infrastructure implementation costs are no longer being driven from the resources of Earth.
There is no reason that the banks of the world, accepting this information, and the responsibility for their part played, could not simply issue the funds needed tomorrow, for all of humanity to re-purpose from our current roles, deriving profit from the resources of Earth, towards working wherever useful on the implementation of worldwide solar power.
This information surely fundamentally invalidates most of the points covered in the subject article of Dr Leeb.
There remain a number of further manufacturing points, which I answer from longstanding personal experience as a Charted Industrial Engineer at the cutting edge of manufacturing, and former patentee in the application of Electrical Energy;
Quote: “Right now, solar panel prices have started to rise and that’s because there’s a tremendous shortage of polysilicon which is made from ultra pure silicon derived from high quality quartz. We don’t have the facilities in the United States to manufacture anywhere near the kind of ultra pure silicon China is capable of producing.”
Not true. There is at least one solar powered source capable of the required temperature processing. There is no reason they can’t be expanded, or multiplied if there are not more already. Check out Heliogen in the US;
As for price; who cares about price, if we are making money from sunlight?
Quote: “Very dubious, at this point. Especially when it comes to hydrogen. We’re going to need to develop electrolyzers that work and we’re nowhere near that point right now.
Again, see the Heliogen company above, they do that too.
Quote: “One commodity in particular that is critical for building renewable energy infrastructure is copper. Indeed, copper is an essential commodity used in virtually everything, including electric vehicles. Now, electric cars are going to use twice as much copper to manufacture than internal combustion engines. In order to use solar and hydrogen power efficiently, we’re going to need tremendous amounts of copper wire. The demand for copper is going to increase dramatically in the foreseeable future and this means you will begin to see shortages. You’re not going to be able to electrify transportation without copious amounts of copper. You’re not going to be able to do a lot of things without tremendous amounts of copper.”
The amount of electrical energy being processed by humanity will not change, whether it is solar, or fossil fuels, it requires pretty much the same amount of copper. It is standard practice to recycle the copper of old facilities for new facilities. What would change the balance of the amount of copper used, is electric cars. However, the requirement for those could change if solar manufactured green hydrogen becomes ubiquitous, as it will when price is no longer an issue. They can be just as desirable;
Quote: “The guts of this right now is that China has been accumulating tremendous amounts of energy, massive amounts of oil and other critical commodities. They’re not going to reveal their inventory of commodities but whatever quantity they have is a lot more than anyone thinks. China has succeeded and they’ve succeeded by being ruthless. I’m just here to express to people in the U.S. that they’ve got to wake up really quickly. Even more important than buying my latest book ‘China’s Rise and The New Age of Gold….” (cut)
Yes, they have massive amounts of solar energy, as well as all the other kinds, but they know which they prefer, and will work towards.
The remainder of the article descends into typical investment sales pitch for gold, and books on gold, to which I can only say; the value of gold, and all other capital is dropping, relative to proof-of-work tokens like Bitcoin, for the reasons outlined earlier; the market sees solar powered proof-of-work tokens as more valuable than any kind of capital.
