“If we learn to curb our electrically needs to when the winds blows we’d be fine. Ain’t gonna happen.”
yep...here in the South, peak demand occurs during the hottest part of the day...and that’s often when the wind quits blowing.
I live in Washington state on the Columbia River and they are putting wind turbines everywhere the wind blows. Fine and dandy, but it is nothing but a show of a little and not enough. McCain needs to visit the Alaska feilds, Anwar, and the drilling oil rigs and let Americans KNOW he will do everything and’s all to stop foreign dependence on oil. The President’s announcement the other day let the Middle East know their cash cow was about the play out....the numbers on oil a barrell are still dropping....$123.33 as we speak. The MSM calls this drop due to the economy, stupid! Nothing political about them is there?????
Now, any utility executive who proposes generating facilities with a capacity factor in the 5% range would be stood up against a wall and shot for incompetence. But since it's the "green", politically-correct wind power, they'll get a pass.
We are just East of the Great Plains. My husband is a sailor. I can vouch for the fact that in summer, we vary from virtually zero wind to thunderstorms with heavy gusts. A clear day with 10-15 mph winds is not that common.
We also have a lot of overcast days, for the solar enthusiasts.
Telling us to Wait Until Eight to use conventional power ignores business and the facts of living everyday life. You cannot put everything off until evening. It isn’t possible.
The entire point of being able to produce and use power at will is to increase productivity and make life a little easier. The alt energy folks could care about such mundane things.