Energy Views

I read a fair number of articles on energy and the environment that allow reader comments. Sometimes the comments are as interesting as the articles on the app or site themselves. Providing opinions that balance that of the author, say, or adding interesting facts or links to other good articles or papers. Sometimes they even point out mistakes in the article, and at least with the Financial Times you'll often see that the author replies, thanking for pointing it out and making changes to the article. All very good. On the flip side, however, such comments all too often unearth a key obstacle to progress in our current energy transition:- My Technology is Better Than Yours, or MTBTY for short. MTBYT warriors expend huge amounts of their own energy battling - even insulting - each other, in the quest to suggest why their favourite flavour of energy production or use is superior - and why yours is uneconomic, ineffective or a dead end. What compounds the futility of this armchair spo...