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What are the safest and cleanest sources of energy?

https://ourworldindata.org/safest-sources-of-energy

#renewables #coal #oil #gas #biomass #hydro #wind #nuclear #solar

What are the safest and cleanest sources of energy?

Fossil fuels are the dirtiest and most dangerous energy sources, while nuclear and modern renewable energy sources are vastly safer and cleaner. The differences are huge.
Our World in Data
#nuclear #coal #solar #oil #gas #renewables #wind #hydro #biomass
LillyLyle/Count Melancholia
LillyLyle/Count Melancholia  
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Funny how that doesn't take the mining, processing, transport and storage of uranium and its waste into the calculation.
Jack of all trades
Jack of all trades  
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@LillyHerself It does in fact take those into the calculation. From the linked article:

"""
This includes accidents that happen in the mining and extraction of the fuels – coal, uranium, rare metals, oil, and gas. And it also includes accidents that occur in the transport of raw materials and infrastructure, the construction of the power plant, or their maintenance.
"""

@LillyLyle/Count Melancholia
LillyLyle/Count Melancholia
LillyLyle/Count Melancholia  
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Did I say accidents? I mean just the general filth of, for example, the process involved in making yellowcake. And also, if you look at nuclear from cradle to grave, an enormous amount of CO2 gets released from all the transport, processing and the creation of storage facilities for the waste. And then, of course, the hugely expensive and dangerous decommissioning of a nuke plant at end-of-life.
Jack of all trades
Jack of all trades  
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@LillyHerself Indeed. The general filth accompanies all industrial processes, no matter if we mine and process uranium, coal or rare metals. From this vantage point it's always a discussion of not what's good, but what's less bad and bad for whom.

One saving grace for nuclear is that uranium is very energy-dense, so there's much less mining and processing involved when compared to e.g. coal. Similarly, while nuclear power plants are big and expensive they provide a lot of power for decades.

@LillyLyle/Count Melancholia
skua
skua  
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The article ignores much of the damage done to the environment and nearby cultures by mining;
deforestation, habitat loss, contamination of air, water and land, destruction/corruption of local cultures, & corruption of local and national law, governments and authorities through power of mining corporations.

Instead allows:
"Energy production can have negative impacts on human health and the environment in three ways."
air pollution:
accidents:
greenhouse gas emissions:

Brendan Jones
Brendan Jones  
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@skua It’s very human-centric, isn’t it? Hydro is listed as clean and safe, but what about habitat destruction in dammed valleys?

Also I couldn’t see if the associated infrastructure includes storage tech for renewables. Curious if that was taken into account. Or how accurately reported deaths are for rare metals mining.

The article’s stats are useful overall of course, but a lot of info missing.

@skua
Jack of all trades
Jack of all trades  
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@Brendanjones @skua Right, the article's scope is quite limited.

Human deaths or GHG emissions are easy to quantify, while loss of culture or biodiversity is a more qualitative data.

For those interested, here are some threads that discuss these hidden costs of the energy infrastructure:

- https://mas.to/@jackofalltrades/110860333776502160
- https://mas.to/@jackofalltrades/110756750071633397
- https://mas.to/@jackofalltrades/110678561112285376
- https://mas.to/@jackofalltrades/110686208132325393
- https://mas.to/@jackofalltrades/110833504842613249
- https://mas.to/@jackofalltrades/110835717469028842

Jack of all trades

2023-08-09 15:20:48


"""
When demolition [of four hydroelectric dams] is completed by the end of next year, more than 400 miles of river will have opened for threatened species of fish and other wildlife.

The hard part will come over the next decade as workers, partnering with Native American tribes, plant and monitor nearly 17 billion seeds as they try to restore the Klamath River and the surrounding land to what it looked like before the dams started to go up more than a century ago.
"""

https://spectrumnews1.com/ca/la-west/environment/2023/07/31/as-work-begins-on-the-largest-u-s--dam-removal-project--tribes-look-to-a-future-of-growth



As work begins on the largest U.S. dam removal project, tribes look to a future of growth

Crews have mostly dismantled the first of four dams
Associated Press (Spectrum News 1)

@Brendan Jones @skua
skua
skua  
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@Brendanjones
The article states that it is only going to list easily and objectively quantifiable harms?
I didn't see that..
The article functions to promote the importance of some measures of harm while reducing the importance of other important harms.

The metrics promoted are those favoured by free marketeers, economic neo-liberals - those who see economic development and hard facts as the proper basis for politics.

Even so it is well worth reading. Thanks for posting it.

@Brendan Jones
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