Abundant Energy

Energy = Prosperity
Abundant, affordable energy is the very foundation of civilization.   The current Green New Deal renewables (wind and solar) can make a contribution to our ever expanding demand for energy but will never be able to supply more than a fraction of our needs. The Green New Deal is a con-game and a bank-heist.
 
Over the past 20 years alone, global energy consumption has increase by more than 50%.  Contrary to the climate hysteria BS, per capita energy consumption in the US has been stable or declining during this period.   ALL of that enormous growth has come from industrialization and increasing prosperity in the rest of the world (mainly from China and India)
 
Global population is expected to reach over 9 BILLION people over the next 30 years.  That is the equivalent of adding 3X the United States population and we will all need an ever increasing amount of energy (and food).

100 years ago (in 1920) all of humanity consumed about 18.067 Terawatt-hours of energy... mostly from coal.  By 2019 it had increased to 171,240 Terawatt-hours. An almost 1000% increase.

In 2019, solar and wind contributed about 2,200 Terawatt-hours globally, which is less than 2% of consumption.  The idea that 'renewables' will grow from 2% to 100% in the next 25 years is a total fantasy (particularly since demand is rapidly increasing).
 
However, the future is NOT bleak or desperate. The United States has enough natural gas and petroleum to last for the rest of this century and there are amazing technologies being developed.

Solar
Solar energy is not an adequate replacement for fossil fuels.  While solar energy is fantastically abundant it is also dilute and requires an enormous footprint to collect it.  

• Sidebar - Solar energy at the surface of the Earth is roughly 1,000 Watts per square meter (1 square meter is about 10.8 square feet). A good quality solar panel is about 20% efficient and can produce about 200 Watts per square meter at peak sunlight (i.e. around solar noon).  Of course, the solar panels produce no energy at night.

The amount of energy the Earth receives from the sun in 90 minutes is more that the entire energy used by humanity in a year.

Another FACT that the Green New Deal folks never mention is that the abundant solar energy is actually not being wasted/discarded.  Sunlight supports all life on Terra and is the power source for growing crops, forests and precipitation.

I'm all in favor of installing solar panels on 'wasted' space like rooftops and parking lots. We have a 6kW solar array here at neoTerra.  But cutting down forests or covering cropland to install solar 'farms' is nothing more than destroying the environment to make a political statement.

                YAY  SOLAR!!  (Click the pic)

Nuclear Fusion - The Holy Grail
Nuclear Fusion is one of those mind-boggling technologies that never seems to make it beyond Science-Fiction.
 
As a bit of background, there are basically two categories of atomic energy:

• Fission releases energy when very large, heavy elements (like Uranium or Plutonium) are broken down to create lighter elements. This is the type of process utilized in all current nuclear power plants.
• Fusion is the opposite. It is a process where energy is released by ‘fusing’ two atoms of a light element (like Hydrogen) to form a heavier element (like Helium).

 
Fusion is the process that powers our Sun and all other stars.  It is about ten times more energetic than fission. In addition, Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the Universe, while extremely heavy elements (like Uranium) are rare.
 
Greater energy and abundant fuel make fusion the holy-grail of energy (at least until we get anti-matter warp drive).
 
The problem is that fusion is incredibly difficult to achieve in a controlled manner (we humans have successfully built Fusion/Hydrogen bombs but they tend to spectacularly blow shit up).  Honestly, folks, you really don’t want any fusion experiments in your neighborhood..

Limitless Fuel
Fuel… endless fuel… this is why fusion is the holy grail.  The basic fuel for Fusion is Hydrogen (the lightest element).  Each molecule of water (H2O) is composed of two Hydrogen atoms (i.e. the H2 part) and one Oxygen atom (i.e. ‘O’).   Planet Terra is over 70% ocean and there is a LOT of water.
 
To be efficient, (at temperatures we humans might be able to achieve) we need to use an isotope of Hydrogen called Deuterium.  In nature, the Deuterium variant makes up less than 1/6000th of all Hydrogen.   While this seems hopelessly small, there is enough Deuterium in a single gallon of water to provide enough energy for a modern, first-world person’s entire lifetime!
 
HONEST… If we can make it work it would be even better than Back to The Future.   With a real Mr. Fusion you don’t have to waste a can of Miller… you just need water.

Numerous countries and companies are working to develop nuclear fusion.  I doubt they will succeed in the next 20 years, but eventually we will have abundant, clean energy.

Deep Geothermal
Deep Geothermal is another promising technology that is much closer to reality than fusion.
 
There are some places where pockets of geothermal heat are very close to the surface. These are places that have geysers, hot springs and troublesome volcanoes.  Iceland, for example, gets much of its energy by tapping these heat sources to produce steam and electricity. The problem with these locations is that most people don’t want a volcano in the neighborhood.
 
However, there are many locations where vast pockets of geothermal heat lie at a safe distance of four or five miles beneath the surface.   These are depths that we are now able to reach with modern drilling technology.
 
Ironically, hydro-fracking, largely developed by US energy companies, is the key technology that makes it possible to harness the energy in these deep pockets.   The general idea is shown below.

Two (or more) deep wells are drilled and extended by horizontal drilling and hydro-fracking.   Cold water is pumped down through one well while steam and hot water are extracted through the other.  The steam is used to generate electricity and the residual hot water can be used for heating or industrial processes.   Although the infrastructure is very expensive the energy itself is essentially free and limitless.

Summary
Energy is the very cornerstone of civilization and prosperity. Energy poverty (being promoted by globalists) will be universal poverty.  The current 'energy shortages' are self-inflicted by government policies.

Fossil fuel (particularly natural gas) continues to be abundant and cost effective. That said, we should try to conserve hydro-carbons for production of fertilizer, plastics and other useful materials.

Solar and wind can augment our energy supplies but are not sufficient (or reliable) to meet our needs.

Nuclear (fission) is already proven and practical.

Other, promising, energy sources are on the horizon.  We need an expansion of Research and Development,  NOT a reduction in supply.