> "Moreover, if it's burned unproductively now, then presumably there is other productive CO2 being released now as well (unless we start accepting black-outs). There could be as much as two units of CO2 being released now, versus a single unit of CO2 otherwise. So that's more CO2 over a short time-scale."
I assume that either way, we are going to eventually burn it until depletion. We can't keep it up forever, we will need to switch to renewable energy at some point and that renewable energy will be carbon neutral.
It's a shame that it is being wasted instead of used for something productive, but I am just not convinced that it is some sort of environmental disaster.
I don't think we will run out of gas before we switch to renewables. The supply of gas (as in, the amount of gas that can be produced per month) is limited and the demand for energy is always increasing, so prices are always going to go up. As new technology develops, and with economies of scale, renewables are getting cheaper. I think we'll get past the tipping point where renewable generation + storage is cheaper than fossil fuels well before we actually run out of gas. Being inefficient with our resources (like burning gas like this) means we'll be much worse off when that happens.
I assume that either way, we are going to eventually burn it until depletion. We can't keep it up forever, we will need to switch to renewable energy at some point and that renewable energy will be carbon neutral.
It's a shame that it is being wasted instead of used for something productive, but I am just not convinced that it is some sort of environmental disaster.