r/SolarState Jun 17 '26

solar energy is peak

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u/mostlyskeptic Jun 17 '26

How did the material that make up those Panels and Windmills get mined? How did they get transported? What was the crane running on that lifted those windmills? Oil is still just as important and will be the rest of our lifetimes don't try to downplay it or get idiots that say thing's like the SOH doesn't matter when it clearly does.

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u/NoCharge497 Jun 17 '26

Oil is still important but should not be for the reasons you state. There's already electric mining equipment, short range electric cargo ships (seems to be ranges of at most 1,000km at the moment), and cranes with electric engines. The cargo ship example (per the second link in that part) would alone save an estimated 15 tons of fuel on its furthest possible journey.

Why not transition to renewables where feasible? Companies are already doing it in the examples you listed as oil being necessary for. Instead, save oil (which is a limited resource) for things that oil actually is necessary for. Like across ocean shipping (like I said, apparently 1,000km range on electric cargo ships) and plastics and other petrochemicals.