Posted on 04/24/2018 9:41:55 AM PDT by rktman
A prominent environmental activist took the unusual road of not only blaming rising electricity costs squarely on renewable sources, but also for deriding the mainstream media for ignoring the connection.
Michael Shellenberger, the president and founder of Environmental Progress, explained in a Forbes blog post Monday how the unreliability of renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar, is the main reason why electricity bills around the world have been getting higher.
Despite renewable energy technology slowly becoming more affordable, Shellenberger notes, electricity costs are still rising because of the unpredictable nature of wind and solar. Both sources produce excess energy when consumers don’t need them, and they don’t produce enough when needed the most.
For example, solar panels produce large amounts of energy throughout the day, but are unable to generate power at night when residents are more dependent on electricity to keep the lights on. Wind energy is notably unpredictable given how wind fluctuates substantially from day-to-day. The end result becoming other, more reliable sources of energy are relied upon to churn out power at a moment’s notice when renewables flop. Better yet, regions that produce too much wind and solar power have to pay — not sell — others to take the power off their hands, further spiking costs.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailycaller.com ...
Today’s NSS (No Sh** Sherlock) ?AWARD goes to this “expert”. It will be presented later today by Captain Obvious ).
Live feed?
For once, I”m not reading the article, so I can ask:
Is this guy really saying no one uses batteries to store the excess wind/solar power??? Jeez, I just have tiny bits of each, and I store the energy in batteries.
This should not be a surprise to anybody. Obummer was very (VERY) clear when he declared that the rise of electricity prices was going to be the price for the energy agenda that he and his fellow commies had envisioned for the world. Never mind that this cost is regressive as hell; that’s what government subsidies are for - yet another chain to fetter the poor voting bloc who are already in government yokes.
I’m just getting my electric bill down to $132 from a high of $300 per month. Different plans from SCE dropped it to $180/$200 and last month I disconnected an old computer that ran 24/7 and my bill went down to $132 Pretty happy.
Oh yea. I’m in So Cal.
That’s because politicians have created ridiculous laws mandating utilities produce a certain percentage of their power from “renewable” sources.
Given that the physics of wind and solar power make those targets unachievable, the utilities are required to ALLOCATE fossil fuel power to the “renewable” column.
The financial losses are actually much greater than recorded here, because they fail to include the cost of taxpayer subsidies to homeowners installing “renewable” energy sources.
Serious question for everyone, and I’m not trying to start a flame war. I’m genuinely curious:
If a homeowner decides to have solar panels installed on their home (a popular option for some Floridians), they often realize a significant cost savings in their utility bills due to local power generation vs. pulling from utility. Obviously utility use would go up in the evenings, as solar isn’t generating.
Wouldn’t this example be one reason for an increase in the cost of utilities if the utility companies have to increase rates in order to maintain their revenues? If everyone had some means of local power generation, the utility companies would have to provide less power over time except to those who aren’t on their own local power, but I think we all know that, like a bad law *coughObamaCarecough* being difficult to rescind, the power companies are loathe to lower rates lest their execs get less in their checks.
So where I am now, my payback for the solar stuff is about 7 to 8 years, if I add the expense of the batteries to go off the grid it becomes somewhere around 15 to 20 years. Hardly worth the extra expense.
The Sun and Wind are unreliable?
Can't be.
The Climate Change models show they are much more reliable than fossil based fuels.
Its sunny and windy 24-7.
To deny it is to deny science.
I have enough square footage to put an array on the south side of the house but the ROI might be past when my Best By date. LOL! The folks one house up have them on the roof (even though they had enough sage covered are to have put them) and the pigeons love it under there. Only problem is that the pigeon poop will eventually gnaw it’s way through the tile roof. Yeah, a wall full of batteries would help store it.
bfl
Well if glow-bull warming keeps pace it will be sun shiny 24/7 before we can launch those big ole umbrellas to provide some shade.
“my payback for the solar stuff is about 7 to 8 years,”
Is this calculation based on the efficiency of your solar panels when they were brand new or over time?
My understanding(correct me if I am wrong) is that the companies selling the panels typically quote you a payoff based on the efficiency of the panels when they are brand new. Don’t the panels lose their ability to generate electricity over time? How long before they need to be replaced? Do they need to be cleaned? What happens IF the state changes the amount that the utility will buy your kilowatts from you? This happened in Nevada.
The reason I ask is that my daughter is considering having solar panels installed on their property in NH.
Then in January the solar panels went on the roof. I only needed a 5kW system and he guaranteed me that my total usage would be $0 for the year or he'd pay me the difference. Well he was pretty close. My years' use was barely what I would pay in a month.
The panels supposedly have a life expectancy of 25 years but I was told that that can be extended considerably if you periodically clean them so every year I clean them (soapy water, hose and squeegee). Whatever electricity I produce goes into my house for use first. What is excess goes into the power grid and if I produce more than I use for a month I have a credit on my bill that will be applied to next month's bill. To my understanding only if I over produce for a year will they actually send me any money but that hasn't happened yet, the most I've been at 0 has been 4 months in a row.
I have no idea what would happen if the state changes the reimbursement but I doubt it will affect me much since I don't count on the thought I will over produce all the time. I produce just below what I use for a year so I still have to pay the electric company.
I also made other changes (because I'm cheap, not because of some "belief" in global warming or saving the planet) so I added insulation to my ceiling crawl space, put in impact (hurricane) windows (high efficiency), changed out my pool pump to a multi stage pump and changed out my lighting to LEDs and I did those things before I went to the solar. I save between $3,000 and $4,000 a year depending on the cost of electricity.
I wonder why so few folks are considering geothermal power as a renewable energy source. Because underground temperatures are constant, geothermal energy should be more reliable than the sun or wind, so anyone who can do the math will be able to figure out how much geothermal is needed. And though we have no volcanoes in Kentucky, I hear that heating water by geothermal wells is feasible even here.
I have also made a lot of changes to my 1972 house because I want to save money. I also have a drilled well and septic. I changed all my toilets and washing machine based on the amount of water going into my leach field.
I added insulation to attic, insulated hot water pipes, replaced exterior doors and caulked forever.
I even took off my exterior wall electric outlets and foamed around them. I live in NH where we are more concerned about heating than cooling.
How long will your invertor last? What will it cost to replace?
Solar & Wind: The two most expensive forms of electricity on the planet.
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