Japan crisis - the worlds economic outlook?

julieq

Ninky, there are ALREADY 6 billion people plus in the world and they would all like a car and an air conditioning unit or central heating. How do we get to a sensible population density? Guns or gas? Get real please.

And how do you think solar panels are made exactly? Do you think they're knitted by vegan monks gathered round the banyan tree and singing Kumbaya? Or just possibly might they be manufactured in very large glass plants using humungous quantities of electrical power 24/7 because if you turn them off the glass solidifies? Similarly, what do you think the environmental impact is of making a 100M windmill out of concrete and metal? None of this comes for free.

Functional safety is not about making something 100% safe forever. It is about calculating probabilities and ensuring that the probability of failure is low on forseeable combinations of failure modes. There is a human cost attached to any energy generation activity, but the level of safety in new nuclear plants is exceptional and improving as the science of risk assessment improves.

vivatifosi

julieq wrote: »

And how do you think solar panels are made exactly? Do you think they're knitted by vegan monks gathered round the banyan tree and singing Kumbaya?

Just spat my lunch across my screen in a fit of laughter. Cheers for that julieq. Haven't giggled as much in ages.

Generali

Element47 wrote: »

Back on topic, isnt Japan one of the biggest buyers of US bonds?

Japan is a big holder of US treasuries (second biggest behind China). I'm not sure that they're big buyers these days though. The big buyers I think at present are oil state sovereign wealth funds AIUI.

ninky_2

julieq wrote: »

And how do you think solar panels are made exactly? Do you think they're knitted by vegan monks gathered round the banyan tree and singing Kumbaya? Or just possibly might they be manufactured in very large glass plants using humungous quantities of electrical power 24/7 because if you turn them off the glass solidifies? Similarly, what do you think the environmental impact is of making a 100M windmill out of concrete and metal? None of this comes for free.

.

yes i actually thought this was how they were made...

get real. can you link to how many deaths solar panel manufacture has caused? or the risk to the public posed by an accident at said solar panel factory?

i'm not into windmills so much myself either as large numbers do seem to require a lot of deforestation or similar environmental disruption. of course anything we do as a species will have an impact. but some things have a much bigger impact than others.

yes nuclear may mean we can sustain continued population growth. as might the various unpalatable food technologies being put forward. but none of these technologies present a future i'd like to live in or would like to think of future generations living in.

you seem all to ready to make sarcastic comments but i fail to see what is wrong with suggesting that a reduced human population would make the world a much pleasanter place to live and provide a way that we could continue to live high resource requiring lifestyles.

just about every crisis on the planet at the moment seems to come down to overpopulation (immigration fear / controls, oil running out, building in flood prone or disaster prone land , unaffordable house prices, environmenal destruction).

inspector_monkfish

I don't think it's appropriate to make jokes after this tragedy. I
know it's hard to feel sorry or sympathy because they're foreigners,
but we have to remember they lost everything in almost an instant.
They've been left with nothing.... Still there's always next season
for Arsenal.

julieq

Again, which humans would you remove from the planet to get to your idyll?

Glass manufacture has killed far more people than nuclear accidents. It's a dangerous, hot process and uses some very unpleasant substances. Now you may say that modern solar cell manufacture is much safer than an old fashioned mercury float bath, but by the same token a 2011 nuclear plant is much safer than a 1971 reactor.

The fact that you don't understand risks or safety doesn't give you the right to tell the rest of the planet how to breed or use energy so you can get a nice warm feeling about how wonderful things are where you live. China has a reduced child policy already, it's the most populous country on the planet, but even so her use of energy is expanding exponentially as pent up demand kicks in.

inspector_monkfish

13:32 15Mar11 -EARTHQUAKE SHAKES BUILDINGS IN TOKYO--WITNESSES
13:34 15Mar11 -MAGNITUDE 6.2 EARTHQUAKE HITS EASTERN JAPAN--TV
13:37 15Mar11 -PRELIMINARY MAGNITUDE FOR EARTHQUAKE THAT HIT EASTERN JAPAN REVISED TO 6.0 --TV
13:39 15Mar11 -TOKYO ELECTRIC <9501.T>: ITS POWER PLANTS CONTINUE TO OPERATE AFTER QUAKE THAT HIT EASTERN JAPAN
13:41 15Mar11 -CHUBU ELECTRIC HAMAOKA NUCLEAR POWER PLANT OPERATING NORMALLY AFTER QUAKE THAT HIT EASTERN JAPAN-NHK
13:42 15Mar11 -Magnitude 6.0 earthquake hits eastern Japan
13:43 15Mar11 -JAPAN WEATHER AGENCY:OCEAN LEVELS MAY CHANGE BUT NO DAMAGE EXPECTED AFTER LATEST QUAKE IN EAST JAPAN

March 15 - A magnitude 6.0 earthquake shook eastern Japan on Tuesday, one of the most powerful aftershocks to hit the country since Friday's devastating earthquake and tsunami which killed at least 10,000 people, public broadcaster NHK said.

The quake could be felt in Tokyo where buildings swayed.

ninky_2

julieq wrote: »

Again, which humans would you remove from the planet to get to your idyll?

Glass manufacture has killed far more people than nuclear accidents. It's a dangerous, hot process and uses some very unpleasant substances. Now you may say that modern solar cell manufacture is much safer than an old fashioned mercury float bath, but by the same token a 2011 nuclear plant is much safer than a 1971 reactor.

The fact that you don't understand risks or safety doesn't give you the right to tell the rest of the planet how to breed or use energy so you can get a nice warm feeling about how wonderful things are where you live. China has a reduced child policy already, it's the most populous country on the planet, but even so her use of energy is expanding exponentially as pent up demand kicks in.

you don't really understand the risks or safety do you julieq? so what gives you the right to say i should live a few miles away from a nuclear power plant?

i'm not forcing the rest of the world into a programme of reduced breeding just pointing out the benefits.

if it wasn't for china's one child policy the world would be in an even bigger pickle than it currently is.

by the way can you link me to the statistics of total deaths caused by glass manufacture?

julieq

I make my living understanding risk Ninky, and I would quite happily live with my children next to a nuclear plant. It's a hell of a lot safer than living next to a main road both in terms of direct accidental death and in terms of danger via pollution.

Thrugelmir

ninky wrote: »

i'm not forcing the rest of the world into a programme of reduced breeding just pointing out the benefits.

if it wasn't for china's one child policy the world would be in an even bigger pickle than it currently is.

by the way can you link me to the statistics of total deaths caused by glass manufacture?

Ultimately we will all need to consume less power. As the cost of same rises. We'll adapt accordingly.