Posted on 02/11/2021 8:46:20 AM PST by Hojczyk
At American Experiment.org, my colleague Isaac Orr demolishes the Green New Deal fantasy. One basic problem is that wind turbines don’t work when the weather gets cold, which can be fatal in the North, especially when we are experiencing a brutal cold snap:
Temperatures are below zero in many parts of the state, but wind energy is missing in action.
According to data from the regional grid operator, the wind is providing just 1 percent of the current electricity on the grid, and solar is providing just 0.31 percent. Coal currently accounts for 55 percent of generation, natural gas accounts for 28 percent, and nuclear accounts for 14 percent.
Not only is wind not producing much electricity, but it is also producing only a small fraction of its potential output. There are 22,000 megawatts (MW) of wind capacity installed on the regional grid, but these wind turbines are only producing 1,055 MW of electricity. In other words, wind turbines are only producing 4.8 percent of their potential output. Temperatures are below zero in many parts of the state, but wind energy is missing in action.
As Isaac has explained elsewhere, the truth is even worse than that. When it gets cold, not only are wind turbines shut down so they produce no electricity, they also need to be kept warm. So in cold weather, wind turbines are consumers of electricity, not producers of electricity.
This looks bleak for the Greenies. But their deus ex machina is batteries. The battle may appear lost, but vast (infinite) supplies of lithium batteries will somehow appear to save the day. Where to we go to buy those batteries? Well, they don’t actually exist. But someday they will! Isaac writes:
(Excerpt) Read more at powerlineblog.com ...
I am comfortable in my home because of natural gas heating.
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I do too but when the electricity is off, my gas furnace doesn’t work. My gas furnace has an electric pilot light and an electric fan for forced air heating.
Get a generator that runs on natural gas.
No matter how hard they try or how much they want it, the numbers for wind and solar just don't add up.
Well, maybe I'm stretching it there.
“Don’t work” is misleading. They work, just not as well or cost effectively as fossil fuels or nuclear.
What is this "fun" of which you speak?
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