The article briefly mentions this, but having lived in states with plastic bag bans, and states without - well drive through the countryside and count all the plastic bags in ditches, trees, streams. Paper might be more intensive to produce, but the lingering effects of plastic bags are being underestimated I think.
I always feel it’s so dishonest comparing the energy requirement between plastic and paper. Yes, paper takes a lot to produce, planting them, machinery for harvest, processing and so on. But energy is practically infinite with solar power. And while alive the trees are working as carbon capture, and when the bag gets thrown on the ground it puts the carbon back into the soil. I wonder how many paperbags have killed fish and turtles compared to plastic ones.
“energy is practically infinite with solar power” No it isn’t.
On Earth’s surface, sunlight is intermittent. Tall objects such as trees interrupt it, you’ll get to produce a small fraction of the power you expect for a few hours in the morning and evening and full power for about 4 hours in the mid-day. You need to figure out how to use it while you’ve got it, or store it for later. That gets bulky and expensive real quick.
Considering our current energy consumption, we need to capture about an hour of the Sun’s energy being intercepted by Earth.
There’s 8760 hours in a year, so if we can intercept one 8760th part (~0.0114%) of the energy thrown our way. We can power our current demand levels, sure it would require some massive batteries
But it’s not impossible to think the tech being able to develop into energy mining from the surface of the ocean. Which covers 70% of the entire surface and only experiences shade through clouds. Assuming solar could capture 10% of the energy concentrated at their location, we’d basically have energy covered for decades if we plastered 1% of our surface with it. Or 1.43% of the surface of our oceans.
That would allow us to consume 8.7 times more energy than today.
For reference, the silicon cells we use today capture in the ballpark of 15-22% of the sunlight they receive. So getting to an average of 10% is possible.
You know you can just place the solar panels out of the shade of trees right? If done right you’ll be producing decent power from a little after sunrise to a little before sunset, and of course much more midday.
I live in a forest, so no I can’t. My property is shaded by trees I don’t own.
Even if I could, solar panels work best when aligned perpendicular to sunlight, and fixed solar panels spend most of the day oblique to the light. Any panel that doesn’t move will give you a bell curve of power throughout the day. Mine do. I can go out there, align them with the sun with a little sundial thing, half an hour later they’re making 10% less.
Don’t mistake me as anti solar. I have solar panels in the sun making power right now. They’re useful, but they have limitations.
It’s a complex question to answer. But, basically reusable plastic > reusable cotton > plastic > paper
https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/sustainable-shoppingwhich-bag-best/
The article briefly mentions this, but having lived in states with plastic bag bans, and states without - well drive through the countryside and count all the plastic bags in ditches, trees, streams. Paper might be more intensive to produce, but the lingering effects of plastic bags are being underestimated I think.
I always feel it’s so dishonest comparing the energy requirement between plastic and paper. Yes, paper takes a lot to produce, planting them, machinery for harvest, processing and so on. But energy is practically infinite with solar power. And while alive the trees are working as carbon capture, and when the bag gets thrown on the ground it puts the carbon back into the soil. I wonder how many paperbags have killed fish and turtles compared to plastic ones.
“energy is practically infinite with solar power” No it isn’t.
On Earth’s surface, sunlight is intermittent. Tall objects such as trees interrupt it, you’ll get to produce a small fraction of the power you expect for a few hours in the morning and evening and full power for about 4 hours in the mid-day. You need to figure out how to use it while you’ve got it, or store it for later. That gets bulky and expensive real quick.
Considering our current energy consumption, we need to capture about an hour of the Sun’s energy being intercepted by Earth.
There’s 8760 hours in a year, so if we can intercept one 8760th part (~0.0114%) of the energy thrown our way. We can power our current demand levels, sure it would require some massive batteries
But it’s not impossible to think the tech being able to develop into energy mining from the surface of the ocean. Which covers 70% of the entire surface and only experiences shade through clouds. Assuming solar could capture 10% of the energy concentrated at their location, we’d basically have energy covered for decades if we plastered 1% of our surface with it. Or 1.43% of the surface of our oceans.
That would allow us to consume 8.7 times more energy than today.
For reference, the silicon cells we use today capture in the ballpark of 15-22% of the sunlight they receive. So getting to an average of 10% is possible.
You know you can just place the solar panels out of the shade of trees right? If done right you’ll be producing decent power from a little after sunrise to a little before sunset, and of course much more midday.
I live in a forest, so no I can’t. My property is shaded by trees I don’t own.
Even if I could, solar panels work best when aligned perpendicular to sunlight, and fixed solar panels spend most of the day oblique to the light. Any panel that doesn’t move will give you a bell curve of power throughout the day. Mine do. I can go out there, align them with the sun with a little sundial thing, half an hour later they’re making 10% less.
Don’t mistake me as anti solar. I have solar panels in the sun making power right now. They’re useful, but they have limitations.
I know it’s obvious, but shouldn’t it be: plastic > reusable cotton > single-use plastic > paper