applied
20th Sep 2010, 09:56 PM
Pollution Casts Shadow Over Chinese Solar : TreeHugger (http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/03/solar_pollution_china.php)
Smurf
20th Sep 2010, 10:26 PM
A point that I've made a few times in various places is simply this.
ALL POWER POLLUTES.
Coal pollutes the air and land. Oil - air and water. Gas - air. Nuclear - hazardous waste. Hydro - flooded valleys. Wind - kills the birds and spoils the scenery. Wood - loss of habitat etc.
It all pollutes somehow. All we get to choose is what we pollute, where, and in what way.
Personally, I prefer to pollute in a manner which is at least reversible in the long term. Wind - once dismantled, the effects are largely reversed. Hydro - also largely reversible over a period of a few decades. Fossil fuels and nuclear - irreversible in practical terms (eventually maybe, but not within a few thousand years).