Post #4357005
2026-08-03 11:50 UTC
…Modern renewables (not old ones: https://mastodon.social/@urlyman/116786589051840846) require more metals per joule generated than fossil fuels.
The metals circle above is orange because processing them requires massive amounts of heat and power. A huge increase in crushing and grinding ores and in sintering, smelting and annealing the resultant materials for renewables will require on-going fossil fuel use. Less than at present because we will do some of that work with renewables power but probably not as much as hoped…
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@urlyman@mastodon.social 2026-08-03 11:55
…not least because at the same time as we are taking decades to build new infrastructure while trying to square these circles, our collective habitability is contracting, so supply chains fracture. I should add that for some people I’ve drawn the smaller future ‘imagined use of fossil fuels’ circle too big. They imagine it won’t be there at all or will be infinitesimal. That is pure Emperor’s New Clothes fantasy