Oh look, someone invented Cold Fusion (again)

[CrazyForDex]

It's not that easy, solar energy doesn't work at night or on cloudy days and electrical power has to be generated at the same time it's consumed (same logic goes to eolic).
Not to mention you can't fill the your car's tank with sunlight.

Taking advantage does not necessarily mean using only solar power for every industry/every means of creating electricity. I am assuming he means to put it on buildings and areas where it can generate electricity when the sun is out and when it isn't, use either fossil fuels or oil to get electricity from a power company. You can use the solar panels to generate electricity for yourself/your business or whatever you need it for and then sell back the excess electricity to the power company.

[Eos]

Or none of you have heard of this concept called a "battery" that does this thing called "storing" with energy.

You harvest more solar energy in a day than you need, you store the excess, and at night when the big blinky blink burny thing goes away the battery provides the magic flowy juice until the blink blink burny thing comes back and starts making more energy to capture.

And FYI, http://howsolarworks.1bog.org/solar-myths/ (Cached: http://webcache.googleusercontent.co...&ct=clnk&gl=us )
http://www.sunnydaymn.com/learn.html

[CrazyForDex]

Or none of you have heard of this concept called a "battery" that does this thing called "storing" with energy.

You harvest more solar energy in a day than you need, you store the excess, and at night when the big blinky blink burny thing goes away the battery provides the magic flowy juice until the blink blink burny thing comes back and starts making more energy to capture.

And FYI, http://howsolarworks.1bog.org/solar-myths/
http://www.sunnydaymn.com/learn.html

Mmmhm I knew most of those, but some were interesting to read. Called #3 though.
I feel its more about trying to stop being so dependent on oil and coal even though we keep finding more and more reserves of them. I'm not exactly an environmentalist, but I am a realist. Continuing on our current path is unsustainable, especially with our energy needs skyrocketing.

[modular]

where are we finding more oil and coal? i'm under the impression almost all of the significant discoveries have been made.

[Kalovale]

Or none of you have heard of this concept called a "battery" that does this thing called "storing" with energy.

You harvest more solar energy in a day than you need, you store the excess, and at night when the big blinky blink burny thing goes away the battery provides the magic flowy juice until the blink blink burny thing comes back and starts making more energy to capture.

And FYI, http://howsolarworks.1bog.org/solar-myths/ (Cached: http://webcache.googleusercontent.co...&ct=clnk&gl=us )
http://www.sunnydaymn.com/learn.html

Some facts are okay, but the whole thing reeks of propagandistic advertisement.

[Eos]

So fact check and prove them wrong. Should be simple if they are.

[Alex123123]

where are we finding more oil and coal? i'm under the impression almost all of the significant discoveries have been made.

The poles. Also, there are huge amounts of petroleum on mud soils (the US included). Just happens that the extraction process is not as cost effective as obtaining oil from other sources (like... buying it?).

See Canada.

Spoiler

Beautiful money!

They have an oil source that rivals those of Saudi Arabia in terms of quantity. It just happens that this source is all mixed up with mud. Thus why there's now a renewed interest on studying muds/clays. And I suppose oil companies are now researching better/more cost efficient ways to extract the oil from those fields as well.

PS: Poor muds used to be ignored because oil companies were not interested in them and geologists are lazy pineapples. But now, everyone loves mud! Happy end.

[Eos]

And yet still finite, leaving the continuing question of where do we find more if this is the only thing focused on?

[modular]

The poles. Also, there are huge amounts of petroleum on mud soils (the US included). Just happens that the extraction process is not as cost effective as obtaining oil from other sources (like... buying it?).

See Canada.

Spoiler

Beautiful money!

They have an oil source that rivals those of Saudi Arabia in terms of quantity. It just happens that this source is all mixed up with mud. Thus why there's now a renewed interest on studying muds/clays. And I suppose oil companies are now researching better/more cost efficient ways to extract the oil from those fields as well.

PS: Poor muds used to be ignored because oil companies were not interested in them and geologists are lazy pineapples. But now, everyone loves mud! Happy end.

we have known about everything on the surface for at least 50 years...

i rather hope oil companies arent seriously researching oil muds/clays and oil shales. by the time they figure out how to make it cost effective / break even, those resources could have made solar profitable.

[Eos]

Let us look at this from a logical perspective - If you have a monopoly on one of the only effective power sources in the known world but you know it's finite and will run out, do you

A) Spend your time and resources trying to eke every last drop out of it knowing full well it's still going to run out.
or
B) Eke every last drop out of it while also trying to be the forerunner of new energy sources so you can maintain your energy monopoly when your first one exhausts itself and don't become replaced by the next upstart company that thinks ahead

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Tough choice

[KhainiWest]

Let us look at this from a logical perspective - If you have a monopoly on one of the only effective power sources in the known world but you know it's finite and will run out, do you

A) Spend your time and resources trying to eke every last drop out of it knowing full well it's still going to run out.
or
B) Eke every last drop out of it while also trying to be the forerunner of new energy sources so you can maintain your energy monopoly when your first one exhausts itself and don't become replaced by the next upstart company that thinks ahead

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Tough choice

Splurge it on video games derppp

[Flonne]

Let us look at this from a logical perspective - If you have a monopoly on one of the only effective power sources in the known world but you know it's finite and will run out, do you

A) Spend your time and resources trying to eke every last drop out of it knowing full well it's still going to run out.
or
B) Eke every last drop out of it while also trying to be the forerunner of new energy sources so you can maintain your energy monopoly when your first one exhausts itself and don't become replaced by the next upstart company that thinks ahead

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Tough choice

I'd say they already have and are just waiting to release the technology when they've milked our current resources for all they are worth. Announcing a new energy source prematurely could only hurt sales on their older stuff. Of course, they would have to balance that with the risk of someone else discovering what they are currently delaying on releasing, but when you get that rich you can easily just make someone disappear if something like that were to happen, I suppose.

[Eos]

As a general rule I don't accept any conspiracy theory involving more than 3 people being complicit as a legitimate possibility.

[Kabanaw]

As a general rule I don't accept any conspiracy theory involving more than 3 people being complicit as a legitimate possibility.

But but but the government and big business

[KhainiWest]

But but but the government and big business

NO

[Raul]

But but but the government and big business

Yeah remember how they've kept area 51 and all the alien visitors and their secret plans to create a world government of fascists?

[Flonne]

As a general rule I don't accept any conspiracy theory involving more than 3 people being complicit as a legitimate possibility.

Wasn't really stating it as a conspiracy theory. Fact is, the more money you have, the more you can make it so things go your way, regardless of variables.

The beginnings of a conspiracy theory would be to say Bernie Madoff only got in trouble after he got caught because he stole from people richer than he was. Which, actually, I happen to agree with that one to an extent, but I wouldn't go so far as to say he would have gotten off clean.

[Alex123123]

we have known about everything on the surface for at least 50 years...

i rather hope oil companies arent seriously researching oil muds/clays and oil shales. by the time they figure out how to make it cost effective / break even, those resources could have made solar profitable.

Exxon.

Also, lazypedia:

Proven oil reserves in the United States are 21 billion barrels (3.3×109 m3), excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The U.S. Department of the Interior estimates the total volume of undiscovered, technically recoverable prospective resources in all areas of the United States, including the Federal Outer Continental Shelf, the 1002 area of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the National Petroleum Reserve–Alaska, and the Bakken Formation, total 134 billion barrels (21.3×109 m3) of crude oil.[1][2] This excludes oil shale reserves, as there is no significant commercial production of oil from oil shale in the United States.

The United States has the largest known deposits of oil shale in the world, according to the Bureau of Land Management and holds an estimated 2.175 trillion barrels (345.8 km3) of potentially recoverable oil.[15]

Anyway. I wouldn't wait for any "major" oil companies to jump into the "alternative energy" wagon any time soon. Hell, they don't even need to have a plan. They can just wiggle their juicy money/resources at whoever and ask for a merge when the time is right. Done.

Next thing you know. Exxon Mobile - Helping the planet breathe, one wind turbine at a time.

[Luxeraph]

Next thing you know. Exxon Mobile - Helping the planet breathe, one wind turbine at a time.

Isn't Chevron already saying they do that?

[Alloy]

All I'm saying is that anything that requires to consume stuff is going to be exploited until there's no more left. And I wasn't talking about hydrogen exactly, mainly everything else.

People laughed about petrol back in the day too.