Another blow to the pebble mine Bristol Bay

[GEEZER]

Bovine excrement my butt! Wake up Bob. What are hydrocarbon fuels anyway if they aren't millions of years of stored sunlight? Plants have always used the energy of sunlight to propel photosynthesis in effect converting sunlight energy into carbon by breaking carbon dioxide into carbon and oxygen with the oxygen being respirated back into the atmosphere and the carbon forming the plant fiber etc. Photosynthesis is an endothermic process. Uncounted millions of years of this "stored sunlight" are being used in exothermic reactions every day to fuel our powerplants, automobiles etc. - ad infinitum. Petroleum and natural gas are no different albeit cleaner burning than coal. Some thinker much smarter than I advanced the theory of conservation of energy which states "energy cannot be created nor destroyed only changed in form - chemical, kinetic, thermal, etc. That is still largely true but now we do have nuclear and thermonuclear power which does create energy from matter. Nuclear energy is a mere drop in the bucket compared to fossil fuels but every nuclear plant has to heat up thousands of tons water each year to be kept from overheating. That heat has to go somewhere. Enough on that, back to hydrocarbon fuels. Hydrocarbon fuels are all used to create heat by burning. In every case, more heat energy is generated than is used to provide mechanical or electrical power and this wasted energy is channeled into the environment as what? Heat. Even the power that is converted to mechanical, electrical, chemical or whatever still ultimately winds up as excess energy in our environment. Add to these facts the insulating effect of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere and we're all but screwed if we don't wake up.
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