So the UK gov have bought forward the date where all new cars must be electric or hybrid.
Now forgive my ignorance but I get the damage that oil/petroleum does to the environment but surely there’s a negative impact to this ‘green’ tech too? Am I overlooking how much lithium or cobalt will be needed for this mass change? Surely having a huge need for these resources will mean just as much mining or seabed trawling to the degree that it’s not really ‘green’ any more…
In: Earth Science
You’re right in that there’s a tradeoff to everything and nothing is ever zero impact, but some things have lower impact than others.
With ‘green’ energy, there are up front costs and maintenance costs. Materials have to be mined not just to make batteries, solar cells, wind turbines but to fix and replace them when they wear out.
However, the same is true for non-green energy, because those power stations also have to be built, maintained, and eventually replaced. But in addition to that, an enormous amount of fuel has to be extracted and transported and once burned is gone. [The Kingston coal plant in Tennessee burns 14,000 tons of coal a day to power 700k homes](https://www.tva.com/energy/our-power-system/coal/how-a-coal-plant-works).
While green energy is not zero impact, it’s much lower impact than non-green energy.
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