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Saturday, July 16, 2016

Mark Jacobson thinks a desert ecosystem usurped by mirrors is a beautiful thing



Photo Ivanpah Solar Thermal via US Fish and Wildlife Service


I disagree.
  
Above is Jacobson's Twitter response to my comment: "...what is beautiful about displacing natural desert ecosystems with mirrors?" Below is my response:

Bird scorched by Ivanpah solar thermal power station
 Sources:




http://instituteforenergyresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/IER-Testimony-Solar-Projects-on-BLM-Lands-1.pdf

Update 7/17/2016 below:

Mark responded with a pointless remark and got one back:


The term "Twitter debate" is an oxymoron (i.e, you can't debate someone using Twitter). Attempts to use it for debate would make good material for a modern Monty Python skit not unlike the classic Department of Arguments skit:



But while I'm on the subject, Mark had an interesting Tweet history last week.  Nicholas Thompson summed it up nicely:
Recently, Jesse Jenkins, a PhD student at MIT studying decarbonization pathways, was blocked on twitter by Dr. Mark Z. Jacobson. Dr. Jacobson has made it a habit to block seemingly anyone who disagrees with him, but this time it was pretty absurd. Jenkins was trying to have a dialog with Dr. Jacobson about his claim that a 100% Wind/Water/Solar (WWS) strategy is the fastest, cheapest way to reduce carbon emissions.
I highly recommend reading the rest of Thompson's post. Jacobson also channeled several posts from the Clean Technica website, which has a moderator disguised as just another commenter who patrols the comment field, bating, and then banning commenters who say positive things about nuclear energy, effectively purging the comment fields of critique.

Thompson concludes with:

It is important to debate what the best solutions are. But when Dr. Jacobson purposefully blocks people and calls people names [pro-nuclear individuals are zealots] for trying to critique his work or engage him in a dialogue, he is actively fracturing people into two competing “teams”, one team supporting nuclear, the other against it; in reality both sides want the same thing, to solve climate change.

So to anyone reading this, please try to tone down the rhetoric, and really try to understand other people’s views. It’s the only way that we can find some common solutions and move forward, together.

Well put. The word zealot is similar to extremist. See the graphic below:


The entire debate hinges on the probability that we can decarbonize without nuclear:


Note: The above graphics may be used without permission to constructively debate low carbon energy issues.

Update 7/21/2016

Jacobson continues his purge of infidels zealots. Such is human nature. I would advise anyone blocked by him to block him as well for the simple reason that you don't want to be the only one in the ring wearing a blindfold.



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