Yes, I know you were thinking of the poem by Robert Frost. Sorry to disappoint you, but I am going in another direction, pointing out the road we are on clearly goes nowhere if you are a carbon accounting energy fundamentalist.
This graph clearly shows that the use of fossil fuel in this country is NOT heading down and in fact rising dramatically. How then could we ever believe we will stop adding to the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere? Articles like the one referenced point to the fact that data centers are directly in conflict with environmental goals: https://stateline.org/2024/04/30/states-rethink-data-centers-as-electricity-hogs-strain-the-grid/
It has become increasingly hard to understand how politicians can flipflop so quickly as well: https://indianacapitalchronicle.com/2024/04/30/gop-gubernatorial-candidates-promise-coal-boost-utility-regulator-shakeups/
My read on all this is that the seemingly widespread coalition of believers in fossil fuel elimination are rethinking their game books and in the process going to lose their minds.
Also, if you look at the renewables component in the graph above and think about how much energy it took to create those resources, you could easily argue that we would have been better off not making them in the first place. Think about it … producing solar panels and wind turbines requires an enormous amount of energy … which came from fossil fuels in most cases. This is especially true of EVs which have so much embedded carbon that the average driver would never run them long enough to make a positive difference.
Remember, we are buying solar panels and batteries from China, and they are still building coal plants to keep up with their electricity demand. And, just wait till we get to the end of life on all these renewables and must dispose of them because they are not recyclable.
How can the scientific community say they will curb our carbon dioxide release into the atmosphere? The facts are clear as prior blogs indicated that the rate of carbon dioxide release is increasing … e.g., things are getting worse if you believe carbon dioxide is the key measure for planet wellness.
Nobody seems to recognize that demand for goods and services must be curbed, and this means you don’t just let free markets push consumption up in response to the insatiable appetite for profits. You don’t just sit by with ideas like cryptocurrency that gobble energy insatiably in their digital value chain.
I don’t like central planning “socialist” models, but I do believe we must consider their ideas to some extent. The “planetary load” of society has reached a tipping point … we can’t keep going on the current road. We must take a deep breath, pull over, study the maps illustrating our potential paths, and chart a new course.
The road we are on leads nowhere good. We clearly must change course.