In HR, we have a saying...

[Isard]

"If you can't do better, sit down and shut the **** up."

While this sounds harsh, its a simple concept to grasp. If you cannot do better, you shouldn't harass others over the job they do.

Lets bring this to a topic then.

Oil, people have a problem with it. A well founded problem.

So we start regulating, making sure we have backups, and backups for the backups. Accidents happen, lessons learned, and our foresight increases. (of course, companies that clean it up are just looking for PR)

Still you rail against them. Alright, they say, what if we used something else?

Nuclear power! Great, its wast products can be captured and sealed away without doing permanent harm to the environment, win win! Right?

Nope. Nuclear bad, apparently, just because it can be sealed away, doesn't mean its a good idea to some people. Perfection or GTFO.


Wind turbines?

Birds.


Uh... Okay... Underwater turbines, or a dam, something like that?


Fish.


We'll get this, hold on now...


Uhhh... Solar? Wait, not powerful enough... OR regular enough... And damned expensive, and not too environmentally friendly to start either...


Ethanol raises food prices...


See where this goes now?

So, next time you decide to shoot an idea down, please, have a proper alternative instead of just making a fuss. And on the topic, let's hear these magical ideas you have for solving the energy crisis without using oil, nuclear, wind, solar, ethanol, or dams/ocean currents. Because energy experts are all morons obviously if that's all they can come up with.

[James of terra]

I like all electrity, well I do like nuclear best. Don't ask, but I would have no job if was not for those fast moving electrons. Whatever theroy you use(whole, conventional, or electron.) , we need power. As a race we need, want and depend on it, as Isard says above, which it true, we must keep using what we have until, a better solution comes.

[Sonoran Na'vi]

I guess we'll just have to wait for cold fusion...

Originally Posted by Isard

While this sounds harsh, its a simple concept to grasp. If you cannot do better, you shouldn't harass others over the job they do.

I don't think I can support this statement. I prefer: If you don't know what you're talking about, you shouldn't harass others that do.

Which doesn't mean one shouldn't ask questions, just that one shouldn't talk with authority on a subject if they do not know about the subject they are speaking about (which seems to be a common occurrence).

[Woodsprite]

Me <3's thread.

Too long have I seen many topics here directed at the sole purpose of saying "aytawtute skxawng" for some accident that happened. This topic is a breath of fresh air.

[Banefull]

There is one very good solution that you rarely hear about with a lot of potential.

Its called the helium 3 reaction. Currently nuclear reactors utilize nuclear fission to heat up steam to turn a turbine. As much as I would like to see new nuclear power-plants, many people seem to have huge problems with the waste products.

For quite some time we have been attempting to harness the power of fusion which uses hydrogen to create heavier elements. The process does not involve any radioactive elements at all; however, excess neutrons produced in the process often severely damage the reactor.

One promising alternative is to use a different material for fusion called helium-3. Its a promising material that can sustain a fusion reaction with no harmful byproducts. The only problem with helium 3 is that its not found on Earth. Our only source of helium-3 comes from decommissioned nuclear weapons.

The only place that we can get helium 3 in large quantities is from the moon. An estimated 1,100,000 metric tons of helium-3 exist on the moon and its only buried a few meters deep. We hardly have to drill at all.

As things stand with our current technology, harvesting Helium-3 is actually economically viable. The stuff has so much potential for power generation that about 25 tonnes of helium-3 -- or a fully-loaded Space Shuttle cargo bay's worth -- could power the United States for a year. Yes, a few space shuttle shipments could power the world. Not to mention that helium-3 has a potential economic value of around $3 billion a tonne. (an interesting fact: helium-3 would price at $3 million a kilo, similar to Avatar's $20 million per kilogram with unobtanium; the price of unobtanium would be very realistic).

The stuff sounds almost too good to be true but many countries around the world have already announced plans to begin mining helium-3 within the next few decades.

To sum things up, if you want eco-friendly power, no waste products, sustainability for tens of thousands of years, then write to your governments to pump money into space programs.

[Isard]

There we go.

[James of terra]

Yes I remember, seeing on the science discovery channel, and how they are going to collect it, great point Baneful!

[Empty Glass]

Hmm, that sounds like a movie I was just watching the other day.

In all seriousness, that really is interesting, I feel like I haven't heard a lot about it.

[Banefull]

Interesting fact:

Someone has already made a videogame about it.... as cheesy as it is.

[Elyannia]

Originally Posted by Banefull

The only place that we can get helium 3 in large quantities is from the moon. An estimated 1,100,000 metric tons of helium-3 exist on the moon and its only buried a few meters deep. We hardly have to drill at all.
.

Pandora?

[Woodsprite]

The great thing about our moon is: there's no life on it. Therefore, we can do whatever the hell we want to it without worrying about ethics... as long as we don't make it explode. That'd be a problem.

[Isard]

Originally Posted by Woodsprite

The great thing about our moon is: there's no life on it. Therefore, we can do whatever the hell we want to it without worrying about ethics... as long as we don't make it explode. That'd be a problem.

I can guarantee somebody will complain.

[Banefull]

Originally Posted by Elyannia

Pandora?

I can't help but notice the parallels also. The only thing missing from this picture are 9-foot tall aliens.

[Woodsprite]

And no life at all anyway. It's like mining a desert for oil; there's absolutely no way you could hurt the environment because there is no productive environment in a desert, except maybe a lizard or two. Then there are deserts like the cold upper-Greenland ones, where the trees grow up to 3 inches.

[Elyannia]

Even if there is no life, I don't think effin the moon up is a good thing...The moon does affect earth however ^.^