RE:RE:LookAll the dreamers and schemers always over look one vital fact, and that is the need for huge amounts of storage to overcome the varying energy needs of an energy hungry planet. Not only storage but also the crucial need to transport energy from one locale to another. To do this at present the planet has a vast network of crude tanks, nat gas salt domes coal piles etcetera. And that is just at the surface.
coal stored in mines ready to be shipped the next day, proved developed producing reserves of crude and natural gas vast quantities of oil sands flowing through upgraders. Well I have coverd only the basics as far as storage goes. There is also considerable storage used as line fill in pipelines and as energy either in transit or floating storage such as crude and cargo ships , coal barges , coal trains , crude by rail .
There is not a snowflakes chance in hell that all these storage and transportation needs will be replaced by either batteries or hydrogen. Ask Archimedes , a ship full of batteries will sink. Ask Musk , a ship full of hydrogen could blow up , making the Hindenburg look like a minor incident .Ask an electrical engineer about the cost of laying giant electric cables across the oceans to alll the various locations from where power may be generated according to the dictates of the sun and the wind to where it is needed when the sun disappears (monsoon season) or when the wind dies down (hottest or coldest days )
I have yet to see one serious proposal from any one as to how our present highly developed fossil fuel energy systems are to be replaced. And yet all these charlatans would have us all believe that the answer lies just around the corner. Meanwhile there is growing evidence of increased hunger and misery that is spreading everywhere around the globe. The misery is spreading much faster than all the wind farms, Teslas, CCS and battery makers could possibly make up for. Don't believe me , just ask someone from Sri Lanka !!