2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: Fracking. Are you for it or against it? [View all]cloudythescribbler
(2,586 posts)I know that the mainstream of 'smart money' opinion says exactly what you say -- but then again they were wrong about nuclear energy, wrong about fracking, wrong about the Persian Gulf War syndrome and so much else. I think that, as in the case in WWII, what was possible to accomplish given not merely a "major government effort" but an all-out commitment is something that will emerge, as then, when the commitment is pursued wholly, recognizing the emergency as we did in the case in WWII
Obviously, after Pearl Harbor (before then the country was deeply divided), the country was united at all levels behind an all-out effort, but that is a POLITICAL parameter, not a technology one. How fast can a truly smart-grid be built, along with adequate wind and solar, if the elite acted as if THEIR lives, and not others they might not consider so important, depended on it? That is not an easy question to answer ahead of time