keithfeather

10 Green Energy Gambles for 2009: 3 Month Update

Thank heaven there a few engineers left who will speak out. Wind and solar have a place where one cannot connect to the grid economically, but overall they are but a convenient mental diversion until new nuclear plants can be completed.


On Apr 14 09:27 AM billp37 wrote:

> "Why did my generation fail to develop wind and solar? Because our
> energy choices are ruthlessly ruled, not by political judgments,
> but by the immutable laws of thermodynamics. In engineer-speak, turning
> diffused sources of energy such as photons in sunlight or the kinetic
> energy in wind requires massive investment to concentrate that energy
> into a form that's usable on any meaningful scale. ...
>
> Now, I was told back in the 1970s the same that you're being told
> today: that wind and solar power are 'alternatives' to fossil fuels.
> A more honest description would be 'supplements'. Taken together,
> wind and solar power today account for just one-sixth of 1% of America's
> annual energy consumption today. Let me repeat that statistic - one-sixth
> of one percent -- .0016. "
>
> home.comcast.net/~bpayne37/pnmelectric...
>