The debate over hydrocarbons versus renewables is, far too often, conducted as if it were playground shouting match. We need more reasoned discussion that doesn’t start from the premise of hoping to eliminate one or the other.

Everyone is aware of the impacts and costs of oil, gas and coal. Some are aware of the myriad of products and services they provide beyond power generation and perhaps plastic. A few are aware of the true financial costs per Kw/hr of nuclear energy.

Then there are the alternatives. People understand these even less than the other. For some they are a liberal waste of money while others view them as the panacea for our energy and pollution problems.

Like them or not, and getting beyond the pro/anti rhetoric, alternative sources have some great upsides and some notable downsides. Not the least of which is the power storage problems and the “hidden” environmental impacts. These include the mining of rare earth elements (REE), which can severely impact a wide expanse of the environment to produce a final usable product. I know because I am often tasked with exploring for them. But, even the impacts to extract these critical REE are significantly less than those caused by the tar sands. A fact we also ought to acknowledge.

http://naturalgasnow.org/alternatives-are-needed-too-but-hydrocarbo...