Quote:
Originally Posted by belsarius
It isn't cheap. We are not pricing in the externalities of it's use.
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What if we are pricing it in? What if humanity considers the negative and positive externalities and decides that for the current time, the positives outweigh the negative. What are the negative externalities to humanity without rapid, long distance motorized ground and air transport? What are the negative externalities of no heat in winter (just look at Europe restarting coal plants and begging Russia for gas)?
The story of energy over the last 30 years is basically the story of China. Without 2.5 billion tonnes of increased coal consumption/year, it doesn't have the energy to develop, industrialize and get rich.
