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Comment by thereisnospork | Hacker News Reader

>Although many environmentalists say they like DLWC, there is some concern that its reliance on electricity for pumping and running the giant heat exchangers could contribute to carbon emissions if the power is from coal- or gas-fired plants or pose other risks if the source is nuclear energy.

Is there anything environmentalists won't try to complain about?

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Environmentalism suffers from the same "purity test" mindset as other things these days. Better than incumbent alternatives is nowhere near good enough. It has to be blameless now and forever.

It's really too bad because perfect often is the enemy of good. And when nothing is good enough to be perfect people burn fossil fuels instead and get on with their lives.

It's an ugly truth but it's true.

> Environmentalism suffers from the same "purity test" mindset as other things these days.

Keep in mind that environmentalists speak with many voices because they are concerned about different aspects of the environment. Keep in mind that there are many charlatans who will gladly sell something as environmentally friendly when it is not or when it is simply a delaying tactic, so some environmentalists view most claims with extreme skepticism. Keep in mind that there are many environmentalists who believe that we should be setting higher targets.

We shouldn't be painting any group with a singular brush.

It's a genuine desire to declare human life and experience as having less value than that of the environment. It's the only mindset under which "perfection" is an available option.

There will always be a cost to human life that cannot be recovered from the environment. You can either seek open compromise or veiled genocide.

It's especially dumb in Ontario where electricity is almost entirely from nuclear and hydro.

> […] almost entirely from nuclear and hydro.

Click "Supply" for near real-time data:

* https://www.ieso.ca/power-data

Depending on how much wind is generating, (natural/methane) gas generators are dialed up and down.

Ontario is planning to expand nuclear:

* https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/ontario-new-nuclear-bu...

Both large and small:

* https://news.ontario.ca/en/release/1003248/ontario-building-...

Yeah today the gas usage is higher then usual and it's still pretty low.

Canada has high levels of immigration and needs to plan for the demands of a significantly larger population in the future. You can keep ratcheting up the demand on existing infrastructure or offload some demand with better solutions.

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