The Sentinel-Intelligence

The Sentinel-Intelligence

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The Sentinel-Intelligence
The Sentinel-Intelligence
Soon Everyone Will Be Net Zero, Whether They Like it or Not
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Soon Everyone Will Be Net Zero, Whether They Like it or Not

The green revolution will take another 20 years. We're out of time now.

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Jessica
Nov 07, 2023
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The Sentinel-Intelligence
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Soon Everyone Will Be Net Zero, Whether They Like it or Not
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Recently, I got curious about heavy machinery.

I wanted to know how close we were to powering bulldozers, forklifts, excavators, and dump trucks with electricity instead of diesel. I wanted to know how much green energy goes into manufacturing.

Turns out, not very.

Not much.

Compact EV construction equipment went to market within the last couple of years. It will eventually grow into a big industry, but it's going to take at least a decade for those to become commonplace, and probably closer to two. As for the giant machines we need to mine and transport raw materials, EV versions of those have barely left the research and development stage.

There's a lot of hurdles.

Big machines in mining and construction need a lot of power. You have to be able to charge them. You have to be able to replace the batteries. You have to be able to build a renewable grid onsite. It's expensive. At least in the U.S., there's not a lot of incentive or sense of urgency to do it.

As for manufacturing, les…

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