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Re:Children of the Yuan Percent: Everyone Hates China's Rich... by slg on Friday October 02, 2015 @02:44PM (#10320442)
Renewables are great, but I'm not sure they would be able to support an entire economy. One of the few great things about fossil fuels and specifically oil is that it is a power source that can be stored in a dense and stable form. Renewables can't really be stored in this manner and therefore can't easily be exported beyond reasonably short distances. Saudi Arabia therefore can't rely on selling renewable energy to the USA, China, and the EU to support their economy like they do with oil.
Re:Children of the Yuan Percent: Everyone Hates China's Rich... by codyb on Friday October 02, 2015 @03:51PM (#10320863)
I was thinking more become a key developer of solar panels and export the panels themselves (or wind turbine blades, geothermal pipes, etc (off the cuff examples, I don't know if they have use or desire for blades or pipes)).
Re:Children of the Yuan Percent: Everyone Hates China's Rich... by dragonwriter on Friday October 02, 2015 @02:58PM (#10320524)
Oil can be synthesized; to the extent it has desirable traits as an energy transport medium, that doesn't mean it has to be the root energy source.