Posted on 02/07/2016 8:37:18 AM PST by Lorianne
The United States could lower carbon emissions from electricity generation by as much as 78 percent without having to develop any new technologies or use costly batteries, a new study suggests. There’s a catch, though. The country would have to build a new national transmission network so that states could share energy.
“Our idea was if we had a national ‘interstate highway for electrons’ we could move the power around as it was needed, and we could put the wind and solar plants in the very best places,†says study co-author Alexander MacDonald.
Several years ago, MacDonald was curious about claims that there was no technology available that could mitigate carbon dioxide emissions without doubling or tripling the cost of electricity. When he investigated the issue, he discovered that the studies behind the claims did not incorporate the country’s variable weather very well.
One of the big issues with wind and solar power is that their availability is dependent upon the weather. Solar is only available on sunny days, not during storms or at night. Wind turbines don’t work when the wind doesn’t blow enough—or when it blows too much. Because of this, some studies have argued that these technologies are only viable if large-capacity batteries are available to store energy from these sources to use when they aren’t working. That would raise the cost of electricity well beyond today’s prices.
(snip)
The key to this future would be the development of a system for transferring electricity across the country, so that a windy day in North Dakota could power a cloudy, calm day in New York. This would not only require new agreements between states—Texas, for instance, has its own separate power grid—but also an upgrade to the transmission lines that move electrons from one place to another.
(Excerpt) Read more at smithsonianmag.com ...
Nope, doesn't work that way. It's not the individual electrons that move from A to B but the energy stored in the alternating electric field. And from Dakota to NY you might be looking at a 90% transmission loss.
That’s what I was wondering.
The article doesn’t talk about energy loss across such distances.
Of course, those who worship technology and technological advance will say that this problem can be overcome. Maybe it can.
No. There are power losses over long distances. Wind farms are destructive of the local environment. Use solar, and develop means to store and release energy during the night. This does not have to be with batteries.
I don’t think the grid is nationalized. States make their interstate agreements don’t they?
Also some States like Texas have their own separate grid.
interesting.
Yup; another bid at total centralization for the purpose of tyrannical micromanagement of all the subjects’ lives. Of course, from the enemy’s perspective, it’s all the easier to hack into and cause even more widespread chaos than with the flawed present system.
Yes I think they store energy in molten sand in the giant Sahara desert solar installations.
Still, there must be considerable energy loss overall.
Socialized energy production.
100% renewables with no storage? The authors of the study are on crack. There is ZERO solar production at night and very little in the early morning or late afternoon hours. Even if you had a national grid, you probably have 8 or 9 hours every day when there is zero solar energy produced across all of CONUS. Plus, the wind dies down at night without solar heating of the terrain. That seems to me to be a totally implausible concept.
Now I’ll go scan the article to see how they plan to overcome this teensy problem.
Lastly, have you ever noticed that these articles never say how much of our nation’s magnificent scenery and vistas will be permanently despoiled, how many animals, birds and insects will be killed, and how the constant thrump-thrump-thrump of windmills will drive people insane for miles around the “wind farm”?
The biggest of a long string of BIG LIES.
All this crap is based on the lie that CO2 emissions mean something bad. The only reason CO2 is the big boogey-man is because auto emissions have been completely cleaned up to leave exhaust containing only water vapor and CO2.
The green-weenie communists can't go after water vapor, so guess what.
If CO2 were gasoline, there isn't enough in the atmosphere to power a pissant's motorcycle.
Did the author mail away for his EE degree? Sheesh! Vee equals Eye-squared time R. The longer the electic wire the greater the R (resistance). You can’t assume away electrical resistance, it’s intrinsic to the material that the wire is made from.
Texas has also had negative spot prices for wind power because they couldn’t turn it down. “Non-dispatchable” power is a very hard way to run a utility.
Wind mills and solar kill 30 million birds and raptors (and not a few people). I cant imagine what it will be when they up it 100 fold
This hypothesis that there is enough wind and solar to power a nation is just plain and simple malarchy... unless we become Zimbabwe on the economic scale. Maybe then. Of course, that’s what the Obamanites want.
It wasn’t long ago when utilities operated under the quaint and old-fashioned concept of “obligation to serve.”
Ignore not only math, but physics, thermodynamics, all power engineering principles, basic engineering economics, and common sense.
While we have literally been wasting trillions of dollars chasing windmills and rainbows... The German’s and Chinese have been perfecting large scale fusion projects. The Chinese are now able to contain and control and sustain 50,000,000 degree ball of plasma for ten seconds. They are now aiming for ten minutes and 100,000,000 degrees.
Whoever cracks this nut first (and it sure does not look like it is going to be us) will have the world clamoring at their doorstep.
The Dangers of Ethanol and the damage it does
Environmental issues and what is happening
On this week’s Jacki Daily Show, Jacki speaks with Pam Villarreal of the National Center for Policy Analysis about other options besides college. She also talks with the Car Coach, Lauren Fix(www.laurenfix.com)about how bad E15 ethanol is for your cars. She is also joined by the CEO of Nouveau Inc, Brigham McCown, to discuss federal transportation safety and energy infrastructure policy.
https://soundcloud.com/jacki-daily/fracking-lifts-hs-drop-out-rate-real-oil-safety-record-pipelines-rail-ethanol15-kills-warranties
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On this week’s show Jacki speaks with Kathleen Hartnett White of the Texas Public Policy Foundation about her new book, Fueling Freedom, laying out the economic and ethical case for fossil fuels. She also weighs in on the President’s job-killing “Clean Power Plan.” Jacki also talks with Jim Amos, Chairman of Proctor & Gamble’s Franchising Division, about why the International Franchise Association opposes the Renewable Fuel Standard.
https://soundcloud.com/jacki-daily/why-wendys-opposes-ethanol-law-amospg-franchising-fossil-fuels-lift-billions-from-poverty-white
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Jacki is joined by Vance Ginn, an Economist in the Center for Fiscal Policy at the Texas Public Policy Foundation in Austin, TX. Jacki speaks with Leigh Thompson, Attorney & Policy Analyst at the Center for the American Future &
Armstrong Center for Energy and the Environment Texas Public Policy Foundation.
Jacki also talks with TX State Geologist, Dr. Scott Tinker,about his new project to track and study earthquakes in Texas.
https://soundcloud.com/jacki-daily/green-jobs-fail-cas-critters-before-humans-water-policy-txs-new-earthquake-fracking-study
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https://soundcloud.com/jacki-daily/moral-case-for-fossil-fuels-restricting-them-means-loss-of-human-life-ethanol-mandate-kills-jobs
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On this week’s show, Jacki is joined by Kathleen Hartnett White, who will talk about Obama’s new ozone rules: No Cost Too High, No Risk Too Low. Then Mike Ciandella of the Media Research Center talks about his new publication: “Climate Hypocrites and the Media Who Love Them; The Not-So-Green Habits of Hollywood Gasbags.” Then, Gifford Briggs of the Louisiana Oil and Gas Association talks about how lawsuits against Louisiana energy companies are enriching lawyers, killing tens of thousands of jobs, hurting the economy for the people of LA, and doing nothing to clean LA’s environment.
https://soundcloud.com/jacki-daily/hollywood-climate-hypocrites
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Jacki is joined by Rob Henneke of the Texas Public Policy Foundation to discuss the upcoming At the Crossroads: Energy & Climate Policy Summit on November 19th 2015 Jacki is also joined by Robert Zubrin, author of” Merchants of Despair: Radical Environmentalists, Criminal Pseudo-Scientists, and the Fatal Cult of Antihumanism”
https://soundcloud.com/jacki-daily/radical-environmentalist-are-anti-humanist-11815
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https://soundcloud.com/jacki-daily/media-bias-with-climate-news
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Do Meat Eaters or Vegans create more carbon emissions? Jacki answers that question on this week’s Jacki Daily show.
Jacki is joined by Chet Thompson the President of The American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers to discuss the renewable fuel standard.
Jacki also talks with Leigh Thompson of the Texas Public Foundation to discuss the Paris Climate Conference and the upcoming Policy Orientation on January 6th, 2016.
https://soundcloud.com/jacki-daily/the-radical-green-movement-and-vegans-are-hurting-the-earth
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A Frightening History of the Militant Greens
http://jackidaily.com/2016/01/08/a-frightening-history-of-the-militant-greens/
Robert Zubrin’s book, Merchants of Despair, shows how some of the most tragic events of the 19th and 20th centuries were inspired by radical environmentalists who used the “green†agenda to mask scary ambitions.
When I see Ms. Zielinski and her friends leading by example, I might give some brief mental consideration to the notion.
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