“What do you think cars of the future will be made of?”
“Uh. Steel?”
“Not if the anti-fossil fuel people get their way.”
“How so?”
“I’m going to go round about here. Earth is an iron planet though most of its iron lies deep in the outer and inner cores. Still, there’s plenty of iron at the surface to make steel. But to make something from iron requires the expenditure of a lot of energy. You can’t melt iron with a match. The temperatures required are maybe on the order of 1,800 degrees F or about 1,000 degrees C.
“Now, such high temperatures haven’t been a problem for steel manufacturers because they can use coal and coke. But if the green energy people get all their wishes, we won’t have access to fossil fuels. Thus, no more steel production because you can’t get that kind of energy from a windmill, a waterfall, or a solar panel in the quantities needed to melt iron and make steel. I’m guessing that future cars in a carbon-free world will be made from wood, even though wood is itself based on carbon. Or maybe there will be rock cars, slabs of sandstone on wheels motoring along beneath a roof covered in solar cells. Motoring? Did I just say, ‘motoring’? What will the engines be made from?”
“What’s with these anti-carbon people? Do they not realize the ramifications of their plans?”
“Well, I’m guessing that they are well meaning. They’ve been told that a warmer Earth is their immediate destiny, and they are scared. They are sure the planet warmed by at least three-fourths of a degree Celsius over the past century or so. They see melting glaciers. They see droughts. They see, or pretend to see, sea level rising by a few millimeters. They are sure we’re all doomed. And they see fossil fuels as the cause.”
“Sure, but what will they do without those fuels? There’s no way solar, wind, and water power can replace the amount of energy fossil fuels yield for an industrialized and technological society.”
“What do you think we should call those wooden cars of the future?”
“Donkey carts?”
“Seems appropriate. Nothing says civilized more than dumb asses being pulled by asses.”
“Uh. Steel?”
“Not if the anti-fossil fuel people get their way.”
“How so?”
“I’m going to go round about here. Earth is an iron planet though most of its iron lies deep in the outer and inner cores. Still, there’s plenty of iron at the surface to make steel. But to make something from iron requires the expenditure of a lot of energy. You can’t melt iron with a match. The temperatures required are maybe on the order of 1,800 degrees F or about 1,000 degrees C.
“Now, such high temperatures haven’t been a problem for steel manufacturers because they can use coal and coke. But if the green energy people get all their wishes, we won’t have access to fossil fuels. Thus, no more steel production because you can’t get that kind of energy from a windmill, a waterfall, or a solar panel in the quantities needed to melt iron and make steel. I’m guessing that future cars in a carbon-free world will be made from wood, even though wood is itself based on carbon. Or maybe there will be rock cars, slabs of sandstone on wheels motoring along beneath a roof covered in solar cells. Motoring? Did I just say, ‘motoring’? What will the engines be made from?”
“What’s with these anti-carbon people? Do they not realize the ramifications of their plans?”
“Well, I’m guessing that they are well meaning. They’ve been told that a warmer Earth is their immediate destiny, and they are scared. They are sure the planet warmed by at least three-fourths of a degree Celsius over the past century or so. They see melting glaciers. They see droughts. They see, or pretend to see, sea level rising by a few millimeters. They are sure we’re all doomed. And they see fossil fuels as the cause.”
“Sure, but what will they do without those fuels? There’s no way solar, wind, and water power can replace the amount of energy fossil fuels yield for an industrialized and technological society.”
“What do you think we should call those wooden cars of the future?”
“Donkey carts?”
“Seems appropriate. Nothing says civilized more than dumb asses being pulled by asses.”
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