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Comment by parsnips | Hacker News Reader

Also US CO2 emissions are down since 2000, thanks to fracking. When you go to bed fearing climate change, thank a Republican for lowering US CO2 emissions.

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Fracking might be helping with CO2, but it's also releasing a ton of methane which might not be as bad in the long term but is really really bad in the short term. If we've got a few decades before the point of no return... great! If not.. oh well, it's been a good run I guess?

Not to mention the absolute havoc it's wrecking on local environments.

It's also only good if it's a stop-gap for renewables.. so I'll thank a republican once they stop blocking measures to improve and subsidize solar, wind, and other clean energy solutions.

Fracking is not a viable path to net-zero emissions, so it doesn't count as a solution.

Solar is not a viable path for powering the energy needs for the world, it doesn't count as a solution.

Fracking isn't renewable and causes massive local environmental problems.

Solar needs better batteries.

One of these things is not like the other.

Solar, wind, and storage technology is a viable path for powering the world according to the people who study such things.

You're banking on unlikely materials engineering breakthroughs to get solar and wind energy density to be 1000 times more than what it is today.

Not 2x improvement, not 10x, not 100x. 1000x improvement before renewables are as efficient as natural gas. Good luck.

Do you have any source for the 1000x? What do you even mean with "efficient"? Because I'm just proposing to cover 2-5% of the land with wind turbines and solar panels while improving overall energy efficiency through building insulation and a switch to heat pumps and electric cars.

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