05-12-2017, 11:00 AM
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#21
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Farm Team Player
Join Date: Jan 2016
Exp:
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Quote:
Originally Posted by photon
The thing with coal (or oil or natural gas) is that a large part of the effort/resources to achieve the energy is hidden or unaccounted for. Millions of years of absorbing solar energy is a lot more effort than building a solar collector, it's just with one a large part of that effort isn't taken into account because it's invisible where the other one has to.
The comparison doesn't seem meaningful IMO.
In the same way that arguing against automation based only on the number of jobs isn't meaningful.
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While I agree that looking at hydrocarbons as a concentrated storage medium for fossil solar energy is a good line of thinking, I'm not really following you point here.
Honestly, although thermal coal is facing that inevitable death very soon, I feel a little bit optimistic that we may not see quite the disaster in the electricity market that Ontario is facing. The Montney has enough gas for generations as long as Ab embraces it as the next logical step for base load power. Feels like a win win for Alberta to me considering the US has end run us now completely on LNG export.
However, seems to me that if we follow Ontario down the path they've tread, it's all over. I mean, Wynne's new wonderful plan to make electricity more affordable is to create a new entity that will subsidize utility bills by accruing massive debt over the next 10 years, and then foot everyone with the bill + interest after that. Everyone likes to complain about us mortgaging our kids future, but that is easily the most blatant example of kicking the can down the road.
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05-12-2017, 11:07 AM
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#22
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Basement Chicken Choker
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: In a land without pants, or war, or want. But mostly we care about the pants.
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It's a different, but interesting discussion though - we run a consumer driver economy, so what happens when large numbers of consumers are idled by technology-driven efficiency? The talk of new industries opening up for them is dubious, for one thing, many people are only competent to do rote and simple tasks, which are the ones that are now being entirely automated.
The Industrial Revolution replaced physical labour with machine labour overseen and mediated by humans, and thus farmhands could become factory hands. Factory hands, though, are not likely to become software engineers and materials scientists. The service industry, where they would otherwise go (at much reduced wages and expectations) is being automated as well, and that's going to be more and more socially destabilizing as the pace of that accelerates, and chronic unemployment becomes the norm.
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Better educated sadness than oblivious joy.
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05-12-2017, 11:12 AM
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#23
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The new goggles also do nothing.
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Calgary
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RockLicker
I'm not really following you point here.
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Only that comparing renewables solely on the # of people involved per unit of energy doesn't seem like a meaningful comparison. I haven't looked at the overall plan mentioned in the thread so I haven't got any opinion on that.
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Uncertainty is an uncomfortable position.
But certainty is an absurd one.
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05-12-2017, 11:24 AM
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#24
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Franchise Player
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jammies
It's a different, but interesting discussion though - we run a consumer driver economy, so what happens when large numbers of consumers are idled by technology-driven efficiency? The talk of new industries opening up for them is dubious, for one thing, many people are only competent to do rote and simple tasks, which are the ones that are now being entirely automated.
The Industrial Revolution replaced physical labour with machine labour overseen and mediated by humans, and thus farmhands could become factory hands. Factory hands, though, are not likely to become software engineers and materials scientists. The service industry, where they would otherwise go (at much reduced wages and expectations) is being automated as well, and that's going to be more and more socially destabilizing as the pace of that accelerates, and chronic unemployment becomes the norm.
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They should be ground up and used for food/fertilizer before this becomes an issue.
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05-12-2017, 11:26 AM
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#25
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Lifetime Suspension
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: The Void between Darkness and Light
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jammies
It's a different, but interesting discussion though - we run a consumer driver economy, so what happens when large numbers of consumers are idled by technology-driven efficiency? The talk of new industries opening up for them is dubious, for one thing, many people are only competent to do rote and simple tasks, which are the ones that are now being entirely automated.
The Industrial Revolution replaced physical labour with machine labour overseen and mediated by humans, and thus farmhands could become factory hands. Factory hands, though, are not likely to become software engineers and materials scientists. The service industry, where they would otherwise go (at much reduced wages and expectations) is being automated as well, and that's going to be more and more socially destabilizing as the pace of that accelerates, and chronic unemployment becomes the norm.
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Fortunately we have an opiate crisis to keep these people occupied.
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05-12-2017, 11:28 AM
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#26
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Franchise Player
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: 127.0.0.1
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Can't Canadian coal workers move to the US to fill some of the millions of coal jobs there?
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Pass the bacon.
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05-12-2017, 01:10 PM
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#27
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First Line Centre
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: I will never cheer for losses
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Quote:
Originally Posted by octothorp
I'm curious: with a setup like Sheerness where there's a coal mine and generating station, how many jobs are in the mine and how many in the generating station, by comparison? I found a stat that the mine there employs about 110 people, but I couldn't find a number for the generating station.
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The plant is about the same. Maybe a few less
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Originally Posted by Flash Walken
I am demolishing this bag of mini Mr. Big bars.
Halloween candy is horrifying.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Anduril
"Putting nets on puck."
- Ferland 2016
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05-12-2017, 05:08 PM
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#28
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Had an idea!
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Flames in 07
Lol.
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You do realize that the solar/wind industry is hiring like crazy in the US, right?
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