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[–]Zombi 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (5 children)

~~Should be "Cows" instead of "cars". The methane produced from cows has a much more noticeable impact than the exhaust from cars.

Neither are good at all, but the meat industry makes up a much larger chunk of greenhouse gases than the automobile industry.~~

Apparently this is false. Here is a link to sources contradicting my point:

https://www.epa.gov/greenvehicles/fast-facts-transportation-greenhouse-gas-emissions

[–]ikidd 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (4 children)

This old chestnut. Wetlands makes up the vast majority of methane production and prior to agriculture, wetlands were massively more common. As well, native ruminants that were displaced by cattle production (bison, elk, moose, deer) produced as much methane as well. Vegetative matter decomposing in any environment, whether it be by cattle or by soil organisms creates methane, and looking at an entire system and not just one level in a system gives you a better idea of where methane is produced.

You'd be better off blaming shale oil production that actually release stored methane, or clathrates on the ocean floor and arctic being liberated by warmer global temperatures.

I'm not one to deny global warming, but blame the right things.

[–]Zombi 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

Hm, you're completely correct! That's what I get for not fact checking a claim! I've made a correction to my previous post. Though cars still make up a huge amount of greenhouse gases, it's around ~15% of total emissions according to the link I've edited in to my previous post.

Our main focus, as you've said, should be on cars, but also energy production. We're making strides towards both, though. Hopefully we can all eventually switch to pure electricity automobiles soon. It's already happening, it'll just take time. I think the biggest factors are cost and power storage/availability. Once we develope batteries that can last for a day or two while also lowering the vehicle cost, people will start to make the change. I know that the only reason I haven't gotten one yet is due to how costly they are to purchase. I can barely afford my shitty '08 civic as is lol.

[–]ikidd 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

You'll be a long time making up the energy emissions of building and buying a new efficient (or electric) vehicle over using a relatively low-emissions vehicle like a Civic. Granted, that Civic would probably be used by someone else that isn't going to then buy a new car, but keeping existing vehicles running is more efficient than making new ones constantly.

Again, looking at systems from top to bottom and not focusing on individual elements makes more sense, though it's not easy. This is why hydrogen powered vehicles make no sense if you need to use fossil-fuel energy to make hydrogen, or take away clean energy from other users to do the same.

By far, the best option is to use solar energy already falling on the earth to generate electricity, but then storage and the high environmental costs of mining rare-earth elements used in solar cells becomes a factor, as well as building distribution networks to get it from where it's made to where it's used.

[–]Zombi 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Yeah I always wonder why more research/awareness isn't put into solar. I've heard crazy numbers regarding just how much energy the sun emits worldwide in a single day. It's like we have a free, near unending (not forever, but you get my point) source of energy RIGHT THERE! I know we've made strides, but I feel like it's not in the public's mind.

[–]ikidd 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I think the estimate for an installation that would provide enough electricity for the US was 2000 acres of Mojave desert covered in cells, at a cost of about $1trillion, and the distribution and storage was another 1.3trillion, over 10 years.

Which frankly, is probably not a patch on what is spent by the military ensuring access to foreign oil by shooting brown people and propping up genocidal maniacs, and making themselves a target for terrorists.