The Conversation: “renewable energy still cannot compete with oil and gas”

Watts Up With That ^ | June 10, 2025 | Eric Worrall

[PTBAA]

And never will.

[srmanuel]

Here and there you have seen isolated blackouts related to the lunacy of Green or Renewable Energy, you haven’t seen nationwide or perhaps continent-wide blackouts YET.

People will hopefully start realizing the fallacy of this type of energy production when all of the UK goes multiple days without power or blackouts in Spain and Portugal spreads to France and other interconnected countries.

[Sacajaweau]

We've known that from the beginning.

We've also known that man does not know what the temperature of the earth should be at any point on earth and at any point in time.

We also know that man cannot control the temperature of the UNIVERSE since the earth cannot be isolated from the universe. So in fact, we believe we can control the temperature of the Universe.

Why am I laughing?? Cuz these brilliant scientists see no role for the sun in their equations.

[alloysteel]

“Renewable energy” from wind or solar sources is a niche commodity, applicable only for a relatively low-demand usage, and highly dependent on battery storage backup. As an economically feasible source of electric generation, these “renewables” consume an inordinate number of resources, and have yet to prove up as reliable.

[Dr. Franklin]

I like the idea of individuals using renewable energy, i.e., solar and wind, for their own use and selling back the surplus. They might even choose to use more energy on days they generate more. Commercial wind farms just look ugly and aren’t profitable.

[No.6]

These things mostly suck because of the globalist anti-human “net zero” plan which is designed to cause shortages, want, and dependence on centralized government.

Wind and solar are pretty good as local supplements to normal power, particularly at the individual (house, farm, business) level. At that granularity use can be designed for that need and to allow for energy continuity in an outage or other emergency.

This also allows the installation to be done without trashing up everything (even ascetically pleasing) and without slaughtering birds and animals.

It’s far more important, though to get rid of the would-be tyrants and theft of our money and land. Pretty sure Joe Farmer will still be able to get a few panels and a converter for a remote workstation or someone for an off-grid residence without Big Government subsidies. Maybe better.

[caseinpoint]

They ignored the old truism: You want it bad, you get it bad; and the worse you want it, the worse you get it. Right now renewables are up and coming but nowhere near ready for prime time.

[Nextrush]

All this technology sucks up electricity you can’t go to windmills or solar panels without shutting down civilization.

[linMcHlp]

As the demand / supply of gas and oil decreases, the price of petroleum-based lubricants and seals will climb.

[microgood]

I remember reading books as a child about the ships coming to the new world and the winds would stop and they would be stuck out in the ocean for extended periods just waiting.

And yet, knowing this, these modern fools are acting like that does not happen or that batteries will somehow make up for the the randomness of these events.

[george76]

Malice. The elites want to kill you.

[george76]

Renewables may last ~20 years.. then to a dump.. as they can not be easily recycled

[JimRed]

I remember reading books as a child about the ships coming to the new world and the winds would stop and they would be stuck out in the ocean for extended periods just waiting.

Then they'd lower a couple of longboats, tie them off at the bow and start rowing and towing. Kept the crew busy on something other than usual maintenance tasks and made a little progress until the winds returned.

[JimRed]

The elites want to kill you.

So if I kill an "elite", it's not murder, but preemptive self-defense?

[Brian Griffin]

I can tell that in my part of Florida the wind doesn’t often blow and when it does it’s often insubstantial.

At other times, maybe 100 to 200 hours a year the wind is very powerful. At these times the local demand for energy is often lower.

I’ve studied US government forecasts of wind off the eastern and Gulf Coasts of the USA. The wind there would be too variable in location and too variable in power to be economic.

As for solar here in Florida, the cost of solar panels is attractive, but my house doesn’t have the demand priority management for my house to go off-grid to be able to save me the fixed charges of FPL.

I would be reduced to selling power cheaply to FPL and buying back power at a much higher price. I don’t want to risk facing the solar economics of California.

[microgood]

Then they'd lower a couple of longboats, tie them off at the bow and start rowing and towing. Kept the crew busy on something other than usual maintenance tasks and made a little progress until the winds returned.

Did not remember that part. Thanks.

[Brian Griffin]

The solar industry in the USA has been dominated by fanatics and crooks.

The wind industry in the USA has been dominated by idiots and crooks.

The government in the USA has been dominated by idiots, fanatics and crooks.

[Lockbox]

Y’all realize that we’ve gone down the wrong Avenue with renewable energy. If we wanted a constant source of wind, we shouldn’t have chosen windmills. We should’ve chosen politicians because they never cease putting out hot air and they apparently are the most reliable source of wind!

[Owen]

I shall offer up another perspective here.

Scarcity. What happens to this concept of renewables if oil becomes scarce? Now, you can reject that and stop reading if you want, but it’s certainly a valid question. It’s not asking “what happens if gravity shuts off”. What happens if consumption levels exceed production levels?

Well, the first thing that happens is a very sudden awareness that trucks carrying food (most of them) have to get priority. There are no electric 18 wheelers hauling food from Iowa to the cities. The next awareness is that the US growing season is only a few weeks/months of the year and the same for harvest. Gotta get the seeds in the ground to grow before winter arrives, and then gotta get the crop harvested before it rots.

For thousands and thousands of acres per day. There are no electric tractors that can do this. They would be off recharging for 24 hours every day after 20 minutes use.

So the only real purpose of renewables is keeping the lights on and computers running. You can move people around a city with them, but those people have to eat and that’s not happening with electric trucks.

Green considerations and worry about climate change I can assure you 100% will reduce to absolute zero focus if the shelves at the grocery store are empty. Those same people will fill the streets demanding more drilling for oil.

The ugly stuff starts when the drilling happens . . . and finds nothing.