tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4664957094233317169.post9127220918496021990..comments2023-12-26T05:33:56.740-05:00Comments on John Hanger's Facts of The Day: True or False: Renewable Energy Can Replace Nuclear and Fossil Fuels!John Hangerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06565915866938789295noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4664957094233317169.post-23518957515682917602011-03-25T16:56:08.489-04:002011-03-25T16:56:08.489-04:00Why is this a fact: "our power production or...Why is this a fact: "our power production or demand will probably increase about 10% by 2021."?<br /><br />That proposition leaves untouched the possibility that the environmental movement will gain steam in the coming decade and that our demand could decrease...which surely it must do if the planet is to survive climate change and other environmental catastrophes.David Meieranhttp://marcellusprotest.orgnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4664957094233317169.post-57706186963526603012011-03-23T18:30:26.323-04:002011-03-23T18:30:26.323-04:00Brady:
Storage technology is innovating and impro...Brady:<br /><br />Storage technology is innovating and improving. Batteries are getting better but still have a long way to go to power economically buildings. For cars, batteries have also made real jumps but have more innovation necessary to compete on cost head to head with the internal combustion engine.<br /><br />Some solar thermal plants already have an ability to dispatch power for considerable portions of the time when the sun does not shine. <br /><br />Going from 4% non-hydro renewables to 12% or 14% in 10 years will require a much faster deployment of renewables than has taken place up to now. Wind provides about 2% of US power and it takes 40,000 megawatts of wind capacity to do that. If wind were the renewable technology that provided the increase from 10% now to 20% a decade from now, the country would have to build 200,000 megawatts of wind in the next 10 years or 20,000 per year. Our record year to date was about 10,000 megawatts. <br /><br />It won't be all wind. But the above gives an idea of just how aggressive going from 10% to 20% is.<br /><br />You are right tht policies will affect the future of renewables. They are also critical to new nuclear plants. And tax policies and other ones impact fossil fuels.<br /><br />But more important is cutting the costs of renewables and what has been done already to cut their costs is impressive. <br /><br />Going from 10% to 20% would not even be a political/economic possibility but for the large fall in costs of renewables. <br /><br />Wind and solar industries especially have driven down their costs, with solar certain to decline much further of the next 5 and 10 years.John Hangerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06565915866938789295noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4664957094233317169.post-40098047300164436602011-03-23T17:06:12.090-04:002011-03-23T17:06:12.090-04:00I can't imagine a future for some time where t...I can't imagine a future for some time where there is no coal or oil or gas power, but I could imagine a world where -- if we shifted the massive subsidies to all those other industries, we could start building renewables really fast. <br /><br />The Coal Industry is right that sometimes the wind doesn't blow and the sky is cloudy, but that's not much of a problem. We don't completely mothball our existing capacity, we keep it running real, real low and if electricity storage capacity runs out we temporarily ramp up fossil fuel energy supply. <br /><br />But the real low hanging fruit is energy efficiency. I'm surprised you haven't covered the California miracle on here. To me, that's the true amazing story of energy technology, and it started in the 60s.Brady Russellhttp://cleanwater.org/panoreply@blogger.com