Santa Claus brags about the fact that his sleigh is powered by “green energy” because it is pulled by reindeer.
Well, Santa may be getting a new mode of transportation after what happened during this year’s Christmas Eve.
Click here to see what happened.
Anyway, green energy has both its advocates and its opponents.
Advocates correctly point out that the use of green energy is better for the climate than the use of fossil fuels.
Opponents claim that green energy is unreliable. They cite for example an electrical black-out that took place in Australia’s Northern Territory. The black-out affected “12,000 customers for between 30 minutes and 10 hours.”
That particular black-out affected an electrical system that relies on solar power. Yes, cloud cover triggered the black-out, but it shouldn’t have. Engineers designed the system to keep supplying electricity even when no sunlight reaches the system’s solar panels. The black-out was the result of human incompetence, not cloud cover.
Opponents of green energy point out that batteries are needed in order to make green energy reliable 24/7 and that current batteries rely on heavy metals that are scarce and that damage the environment.
That won’t necessarily be the case in the future.
From Gizmodo: IBM Research Created a New Battery That Outperforms Lithium-Ion—No Problematic Heavy Metals Required
CNN Business reports on another breakthrough in the use of solar energy:
Granted, Santa might not be able to use solar energy to power his sleigh, but he might be able to use solar energy to raise a better breed of reindeer.
Right, Rudolph?
Featured Image in Public Domain
The “Wanted” posters say the following about David: “Wanted: A refugee from planet Melmac masquerading as a human. Loves cats. If seen, contact the Alien Task Force.”