The attack on Saudi oil fields and the reduction in oil has shown how important fracking is especially to the US. Will it gain more acceptance. Also, the decrease in the availability of oil and the raising of oil and natural gas prices will have an affect on the thinking about how to move forward regarding climate change. It might remind people of the importance of fossil fuels. Others may find that it will encourage getting off fossil fuels that much sooner, climate change or not. Others may only be concerned about the possibility of a wide war. What affect to you think?
There are usually both positive and negative effects to consider when motivating action or progress in a particular direction.
Nuclear power plants potentially have the tremendously positive effects of cheap and reliable power, but potential negative effects if there's an earthquake, a terrorist attack, or general mismanagement of the system, and/or inadequate maintenance due to cost-cutting measures or a lack of adequate training of the staff.
There is also the problem that a wide-spread supply of Uranium makes it easier for countries to develop their own atomic weapons.
In view of the negatives, I can appreciate why the atomic power option is not popular. Australia has a huge quantity of Uranium. We also have large remote areas in arid regions where atomic waste can safely be buried, yet we have rejected the use of atomic power. We have chosen to have among the most expensive electricity in the world instead of the cheapest. Dear me!
Fossil fuels also have their negatives, such as the occasional oil spills which contaminate the oceans, the contamination of the underground water systems during fracking, the destruction of the environment during open-cut mining of coal, and of course the 'real' harmful emissions when fossil fuels are burned to supply energy without adequate emission controls of chemicals such as SO2, CO, particulate carbon, and so on.
The main problem, as I see it, is that whilst it's true that all these negatives can be overcome through an application of competence, using the latest technology, the history of mankind implies that we are not up to the job. Corruption, incompetence, self-interest, and so on, tends to prevail too often.
This is one of the main arguments in favour of renewable energy. Another is that fossil fuel supplies are limited, and will eventually become scarce. The sun, however, will probably last for a very long time. Developing solar energy and electric vehicles is very sensible, and it's better to do it
before fossil fuels become scarce.
Unfortunately, the transition to renewables will be far more expensive than it needs to be, because of the necessity of lying about the harmful effects of CO2 in order to get action.
