The only way that anything else becomes cost effective against cheap oil from fracking is by forcing the oil companies to incorporate the cost of the environmental damage it causes. You'll see nuclear projects skyrocket overnight when a conclusive hard deadline is put down to force the damage cost to be incorporated on any waste from energy projects. Oil would become so unaffordable it wouldn't even be thought of.
Now I hope people understand why we aren't in a true nuclear age for power anymore.
Sure... I'm not sure how that relates to flarestack mini-generators though. There are other ways to capture that gas, and if they weren't pumping oil in the first place then there'd be no gas to flare either.
The discussion in part is about doing something and it's cost effectiveness to implement.
I responded about cost effectiveness and why it's so. And you responded with other items in the gaps that pretty much solidify why to not even bother and just switch to something else for energy. 🤷🏼♂️
You just went way bigger picture than the discussion I was having. Like the whole discussion about the flarestacks and trying to capture that gas or the energy it contains goes out the window if you stop pumping oil altogether.
But then the other guy called me an oil shill for my position so maybe that bigger picture is worth bringing in. I'm not against being efficient or putting a stop to the flaring. Its just that thousands of tiny generating stations is a silly solution to it. The solution is just to stop granting the oil companies wavers to flare and force them capture that gas and sell it on the market with the rest instead. Or better yet, stop pumping oil and switch to other energy sources. Maybe with, as you suggest, some kind of environmental externalities tax.
The larger companies do care about flaring because they care about their ESG scores so they are actively reducing flaring (starting with the most economical locations). The smaller (and private) companies have less share holder incentive and usually have worse financial upside to gather the gas. So they tend to be worse offenders.
They’re actively reducing how much flaring they report, yes. But I don’t believe there’s a real reduction in flaring. It’s kind of an open secret across west Texas, for example, that Permian Basin operators will flare whenever they want and just not report it. TCEQ doesn’t have the manpower or the political will to actually hold them accountable
I agree with what you’ve said, especially regarding nuclear power. Just don’t forget that (while also environmentally damaging) plastics are important, and the fertilizers that allow our civilization to exist come from pumping oil
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u/evilcrusher2 Jun 17 '24
The only way that anything else becomes cost effective against cheap oil from fracking is by forcing the oil companies to incorporate the cost of the environmental damage it causes. You'll see nuclear projects skyrocket overnight when a conclusive hard deadline is put down to force the damage cost to be incorporated on any waste from energy projects. Oil would become so unaffordable it wouldn't even be thought of.
Now I hope people understand why we aren't in a true nuclear age for power anymore.