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No Amount Of Incremental Wind And Solar Power Can Ever Provide Energy Independence
Manhattan Contrarian ^ | 15 Mar, 2022 | Francis Menton

Posted on 03/15/2022 5:32:09 AM PDT by MtnClimber

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To: MtnClimber

And PS: those windmills need power to produce power.


21 posted on 03/15/2022 6:46:20 AM PDT by SkyDancer ( I make airplanes fly, what's your super power?)
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To: MtnClimber

We need to at least credit Pootie-poot with again making this clear.


22 posted on 03/15/2022 6:51:57 AM PDT by LS ("Castles made of sand, fall in the sea . . . eventually" (Hendrix) )
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To: SkyDancer; MtnClimber

23 posted on 03/15/2022 6:54:51 AM PDT by 4Liberty (Remember when government paved the Roads and trained the Army – instead of lying and oppressing?)
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To: MtnClimber

Stick your solar power where the sun don’t shine!

Liberals push Alaskans to opt for solar power since the sun shines 24 hours a day in the summer. (when the need for energy is at rock bottom)

In the winter they can burn snow. /s


24 posted on 03/15/2022 6:56:51 AM PDT by faucetman (Just the facts, ma'am, Just the facts )
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To: blackberry1

freezing/overheating to death will be a big part of it. much of our life expectancy of 70+ years is because we have energy.

Energy to run life saving medical equipment, ambulances etc.....
we can easily go back 200 years in advancement very quickly without energy. And the next generation will look for new energy sources in, oddly enough, the original energy sources that got us here today in the first place—fossil fuels!


25 posted on 03/15/2022 7:02:58 AM PDT by Jaysin (Trump can’t be beat, unless the democrats cheat)
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To: MtnClimber

it is unilateral disarmament redux

remember those crazies?


26 posted on 03/15/2022 7:19:00 AM PDT by joshua c (Dump the LEFT. Cable tv, Big tech, national name brands)
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To: MtnClimber

I have a solution. Take an area in the world (Sinai) which has abundant sunlight, near a water source and build a Palestinian State. The entire country will b run off of alternative energy solutions. This means nothing containing petroleum will be used. Build several water desalination facilities and pipelines to carry water inland. Plant new gardens, trees and other greenage which will be used for farming, setting up a new economy. All infrastructure will run on solar power, vehicles of electric power only.

This will be the model for the world to see. Every country will bring its expertise and innovation to the table to build this new country. In a show of solidarity, the UN will move its offices to this new city. Palestinians will flock to this new country and be welcomed as the pioneers for the future.

Then nuke the place from orbit, just to be sure.


27 posted on 03/15/2022 7:37:30 AM PDT by EQAndyBuzz ("Todays conspiracy theory is tomorrows spoiler alert." )
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To: MtnClimber

Good but wordy article which almost reaches the concise point:

When the buffer batteries drain, “green” power stops.
Batteries are expensive.
The more batteries you buffer with, the more storage costs, the less likely you’ll need the additional storage, and you’ll still encounter blackout scenarios - usually under worst-case conditions.

Yes, other power sourcing can stop, causing blackouts. Those conditions don’t happen literally every day, like with solar.

1 square meter of solar panel will produce, on long-term average, 10 watts.
(Yes, 10 watts. There isn’t as much usable sunlight as people think.)
10W buffered requires 240Wh of storage for one day (50W in for 5 hours, 10W out for 24 hours).
1000Wh needed for 4 days, storing excess input literally for a rainy day - and 4 rainy/cloudy/blizzard days in a row is common.
Yes there’s light on cloudy days, but not enough to not plan on. I’ve tried.
1m^2 panel + 1kWh storage = $1000
A thousand dollars to have 10W run for 4 days and 4 hours.
One hour (minute?) longer, and you’re at 0 watts.
If the storm is continuing, that’s a bad time to hit 0W.
Another 1kWh battery costs another $1000. Odds of needing it drop, but not enough to not have it.
Ask Texas & Chicago about month-long freak weather. Buy a month’s worth of battery storage: near $10,000 to buffer 10W for a month. That’s barely enough for one LED light bulb.
Odds of need for long darkness drops, but cost to cover that period is constant per-day.

I really like solar. I’ve been accused of being a Lefty over it. It’s great for AUGMENTING home energy production, and a fantastic opportunity to go off-grid (even powering vehicles now) as methinks every conservative should (to the dismay of Progressives), but we MUST have a steady stream of high-power instant-on sourcing to balance it.

Nuclear is the only viable “green” choice. Given enough demand, by building enough safe (!) reactors, we’ll be able to support extracting uranium etc from seawater. Build homes with solar roofs, and connect them to a nuke-powered grid. Anyone got a better idea?


28 posted on 03/15/2022 7:43:51 AM PDT by ctdonath2 (Statistics don't matter when they happen to you.)
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To: BrexitBen

incredible breakthroughs in the relatively near future

___________________

Wing is about the oldest energy source on the Earth.

Solar is also not exactly new.
Edmond Becquerel, in 1839, built the world’s first photovoltaic cell in his father’s laboratory.
All my, rather long life, I have heard - we can solve all the world energy problems, just give us more funding, we are almost there!
Makes me pretty skeptical!


29 posted on 03/15/2022 8:11:40 AM PDT by AZJeep (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0AHQkryIIs)
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To: bert

American railroads for long distance hauls are electric also. Powered by electricity generated by diesel-fueled generators.


30 posted on 03/15/2022 8:18:38 AM PDT by hinckley buzzard ( Resist the narrative.)
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To: MtnClimber

Solar is OK for supplemental energy, depending upon where you live. It would work out fairly well most years where I live, Dallas, TX, since it would have peak output during the summer months, and we have pretty good sun here most summers.

The biggest problem is how long it takes to actually pay for itself. If I’d done some panels when I first moved into my current home, I’d have passed the break-even point by now, if I’d not taken hail damage, but I didn’t initially think I’d be living here that long.

Wind power, especially here is stupid because of its extreme variability. A lot of the time, when the heat is at its worst, there is =no= wind to speak of.
There may be places where either or both can generate significant supplemental power, but most parts of the U.S. simply don’t get enough sun or wind for it to make a lot of sense given the time it takes for them to actually pay for themselves.


31 posted on 03/15/2022 10:09:30 AM PDT by zeugma (Stop deluding yourself that America is still a free country.)
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To: MtnClimber

Maybe it could if 2/3rds of the population were wiped out.


32 posted on 03/15/2022 10:12:31 AM PDT by dforest
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To: MtnClimber

The best source of energy is nuclear, but the liberals hate that...


33 posted on 03/15/2022 10:36:55 AM PDT by Deplorable American1776 (I'm the ones trying to save American Democracy...Donald Trump 6/21 at the NCGOP convention! )
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To: MtnClimber

US agriculture depends on diesel power for all types of farm machinery. There are not even prototypes of electric tractors or combines nor would they be remotely practical without charging stations in virtually every field. How do the greenies expect to get their tofu without mechanized agriculture producing the soy beans?


34 posted on 03/15/2022 11:27:45 AM PDT by The Great RJ
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To: The Great RJ

AOC will tell you tofu doesn’t come from a farm; it comes from Whole Foods.


35 posted on 03/15/2022 11:47:34 AM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of Colorado scenery and wildlife, click on mycreen name for my FR home page.)
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