▲ 55 ▼ Collapse Will Look Nothing Like in the Movies (thehonestsorcerer.substack.com) submitted 2 years ago by eleitl@lemmy.ml [M] to c/collapse@lemmy.ml 25 comments fedilink hide all child comments
[–] Magiccupcake@startrek.website 1 point 2 years ago (1 child) Eventually yes, but I personally think that recycling solar panels and so on could slow collapse much more than the author suggests. permalink fedilink source parent hideshow 2 child comments replies: [–] eleitl@lemmy.ml [S] 2 points 2 years ago The chief problem with solar photovoltaic or wind turbine power is that its EROEI is uncomfortably close or even is below unity, if you include its supporting fossil input and mineral extraction. Right now the technology is only an extender of fossil fuels and chemical inputs. We also see in the global energy consumption chart that the renewable power is not substituting fossil inputs but only adding to it. Due to the nature of asymmetry of decline https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seneca_effect we can expect the decline of fossil inputs to be much faster, putting the deployment rate or even sustained existance of the marginal renewable base into jeopardy. permalink fedilink source parent
[–] eleitl@lemmy.ml [S] 2 points 2 years ago The chief problem with solar photovoltaic or wind turbine power is that its EROEI is uncomfortably close or even is below unity, if you include its supporting fossil input and mineral extraction. Right now the technology is only an extender of fossil fuels and chemical inputs. We also see in the global energy consumption chart that the renewable power is not substituting fossil inputs but only adding to it. Due to the nature of asymmetry of decline https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seneca_effect we can expect the decline of fossil inputs to be much faster, putting the deployment rate or even sustained existance of the marginal renewable base into jeopardy. permalink fedilink source parent