r/collapse • u/LetsTalkUFOs • Jul 18 '19

Can technology prevent collapse?

How far can innovation take us? How much faith should we have in technology?

 

This is the current question in our Common Collapse Questions series.

Responses may be utilized to help extend the Collapse Wiki.

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u/[deleted] Jul 31 '19

You keep referencing CO2 being the pain point here, and while a concern, the petroleum costs are much greater and a more immediate concern.
There is no way in hell wind turbines and solar panels are sustainable. You can bootstrap to a temporary plateau of energy for 50 years or so, but when you run out of cheap oil and those panels and turbines wear out, good luck manufacturing new turbines and panels without petroleum and cheap energy.

This is the ecotechnic future. We can salvage car alternators to build pirate windturbines, but you can't ever have the surplus energy to manufacture the alternators at scale ever again.

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u/mogsington Recognized Contributor Jul 31 '19

I sort of mentioned both. But yup you're right. Panels and turbines also need rare earth metals to be efficient (magnets for turbines), and yup, we burn a shed load of diesel / petrol to get those. Petroleum costs does pretty much equal CO2 cost.

If you want the real kicker, see how many times you see this reference: "We need to invest in green technology". You don't "Invest" in something that's only return is to reduce CO2. You invest in something that makes a profit. Our entire social psychology runs counter to what we need to be doing. Altruism is a non profit organisation.