> Cost per MW compared to renewables (~$150 vs ~$40 and falling).
Do you count in all the subsidies the renewables get from governments, including the production of the solar panels/wind mills, land ownership, utilities and all kinds of tax cuts and preferential treatment? In my country billionaires own massive solar farms and make tons of money at the expense of everyone else.
They can be washed by hands, like billions of people still do in the 3rd world. But that's a sacrifice most western environmentally-conscious folks aren't willing to make.
Don't forget to count in the carbon footprint of the physical printing presses all over the world, the cost of disposing the old bills, the fuel needed to transport all those bills every single day, and all the resources associated with building and maintaining that giant infrastructure we take for granted nowadays. I'd also add the cost of waging wars that are made possible by the inflationary policies of the central banks.
I deem the fiat standard responsible for countless wars and atrocities that have occurred in the past 100 years. The environmental issues that come from mining seem so minor and insignificant in the long run that all the aggression that is justified by them prevents me from taking such attacks seriously. Every year humanity develops better solar panels, leverages geothermal energy more efficiently, improves the fission NPPs and comes closer to designing fusion reactors. It's only a matter of time before we enter the age of cheap, green and almost limitless energy.
I think it's a question of mentality. Some people bet on human ingenuity, and some are willing to halt the progress completely because it hurts "mother earth" in their imagination.