Why Solar Is Not The Answer To Our Energy Needs

A vast number of "environmentalists" are clamoring for greater use of solar energy to meet our energy needs. The trouble with environmentalists and many other liberals is that they never bother to think things through to the unintended consequences, and then it is much more difficult cleaning up their messes.

The same is true with solar energy - unless we can collect it from space.

Our climate is what it is because of the amount of solar energy that warms the Earth. If the Earth were to get less solar gain, even a small amount of loss could cause cooling that spirals into an ice age. We have seen this in action - in the 1800's we had a year without a summer - snow in July and August - because just one volcano - Krakatoa - threw enough ash into the atmosphere to block enough sun to cause a cooling of the entire planet.

Now fast foward to a future where "environmentalists" have succeeded in depriving the planet of solar energy by diverting it into electricity. Sure, now we have electricity, but the Earth, itself, no longer receives and absorbs all the warmth it requires to keep the climate stable. This would cause the Earth to cool - we already know it doesn't take much. And, unlike the volcano, this subtraction of solar gain is not a one-time event - it is permanent, soaking up solar energy every day of every year.

If we were to siphon off enough solar gain to provide even 1/4 of the world's energy needs, it would cool our planet by as much as 4 degrees over the course of a decade. And that is all it takes to cause an irreversible ice age that would virtually destroy civilization.

The same is true with their idea to take the energy created by the ebb and flow of the tide - do they really believe they can take that energy without having a huge environmental impact? We have no idea of the unintended consequences of taking the energy from the tidal flow. How would it affect the ocean currents? What about the ocean life that lives and dies by tidal events?

But don't try to tell that to an environmentalist - they are not concerned with facts, but only with their ill-thought out theories. Just once I wish liberal thinkers would think PAST the present and consider the likely unintended consequences before jumping into something.

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