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Um...I'm in favor of scientists researching what they WANT to research. Even if you ignore the whole issue of "doing what I actually like doing makes me feel happy" that applies to every single human being on the planet, ANY research (provided it, yannow, actually follows the scientific method) is meaningful in some way. Studying bees? Maybe you can stop them from dying off en masse. Digging for dead things? Mayhap you can help us figure out whether we should even be worried about the global climate AT ALL. Blowing shit up? You might find a new source of energy, or, if nothing else, a better bomb. Researching the cell division of bacteria? Could be the next miracle drug for all you know.
As for the energy "crisis", the sad fact is that there are no perfect answers. Wind power can't be placed everywhere simply because the wind doesn't blow strong and consistent everywhere, and besides, a little thing called "conservation of energy" means that with a big enough wind farm, you get some pretty major climate changes downhill. Solar power only works well when it's cloudless, and not at all when it's night. Hydro only works if you have rivers nearby. Geothermal works best only in areas with active volcanoes/geysers/hot springs, and from what I know of the delivery mechanisms I have to wonder how it's even maintained. Fossil fuels are what we're trying to STOP using, and nuclear's PR still hasn't gotten over Chernobyl. As for "green energy," people keep ignoring the fact that the conversion rates, even at their most optimistic, mean we'd have to convert most or all of our fields to fuel farms just to have the bare minimum power we require. Which would mean we'd have to destroy homes/bulldoze forests just to feed ourselves. Which hurts the environment more than it helps.
...Wow, did I really rant that much? Well, tl;dr free research FTW, energy answers aren't.
Shizashi
As for the energy "crisis", the sad fact is that there are no perfect answers. Wind power can't be placed everywhere simply because the wind doesn't blow strong and consistent everywhere, and besides, a little thing called "conservation of energy" means that with a big enough wind farm, you get some pretty major climate changes downhill. Solar power only works well when it's cloudless, and not at all when it's night. Hydro only works if you have rivers nearby. Geothermal works best only in areas with active volcanoes/geysers/hot springs, and from what I know of the delivery mechanisms I have to wonder how it's even maintained. Fossil fuels are what we're trying to STOP using, and nuclear's PR still hasn't gotten over Chernobyl. As for "green energy," people keep ignoring the fact that the conversion rates, even at their most optimistic, mean we'd have to convert most or all of our fields to fuel farms just to have the bare minimum power we require. Which would mean we'd have to destroy homes/bulldoze forests just to feed ourselves. Which hurts the environment more than it helps.
...Wow, did I really rant that much? Well, tl;dr free research FTW, energy answers aren't.
Also, hi Greenhorn.