Earth is already damaged beyond repair, so saving the environment is a bit late but we can minimise the damage. Sadly, we’re even failing at that with one of the largest nations in the world withdrawing from the Paris Accord and reopening coal power stations. Add to that the fact that most nations rely on huge profit-making organisations invested in fossil fuels to do the heavy lifting when it comes to changing our reliance on said fuels, things don’t look great.
We push electric cars as a saviour, but the environmental impact from the lifecycle of an electric car is not much better to conventional cars when you consider the materials used in batteries currently and how we produce the electricity to charge those batteries. This invention feels like it has pure intentions in comparison.
People talk about leaving this rock as the ultimate solution but what’s the point if we’re just going to destroy another? If you buy into that theory surely inventions like these are necessary so we don’t fuck up the next one…
Let’s not forget we’re a long way away from being able to move to another planet. Colonising Mars may be a first step, but it’s not a planet suitable for mass habitation nor is there one in our solar system, so without solutions like this we may not have the time to develop ways to move to another planet, and that’s before you add batshit crazy viruses (pun intended) to the equation.
I saw a program the other day about Iceland. They’re drilling down several miles to create steam wells, the steam is then piped into a turbine generator to create clean electricity with by products of water and another mineral I think. Left me wondering why we don’t just do that everywhere… I’m sure there’s a reason.