What I found irritating were the ads they were running last year promoting the idea of getting off imported oil and showing windmills as the solution.
Which of course is silly, wind power has nothing to do with imported oil. If anything, wind replaces other forms of domestic-produced energy, and nothing more. And very inefficiently at that. It does nothing to replace oil.
You replace foreign oil by:
1. drilling
2. developing oil shale
3. building coal to diesel plants in coal producing states
4. and drilling. Offshore Alaska, offshore California, ANWR, everywhere. Oilfields are for all intents and purposes wildlife refuges. The idea that they are an environmental hazard is silliness promoted by the OPEC shills and the magic-thinkers who follow them. Amazing that they are an environmental hazard if we do it, but not if done in an OPEC country.
And, finally:
5. Build nukes and promote electric cars.
Wind and solar have their limited place but they have nothing to do with getting us off of foreign oil.
If Navy can power submarine with nuclear (oops, nukelar) reactor, why can’t we have one running in the basement of the town hall and power the local community???
The off peak loads can be taken care of by recharging electric cars and toys plus charging up home backup battery banks. Also some are using lake accumulators, by pumping the water up during the low load and then using it at peaks to run turbines.
The peaks to be taken care of conventional power plants by firing them up as needed.
Time to get rid of stooopids in the government, replace layers lawyers with engineers and common sense folks.
Go Glen!!!! 9/12
Electricity from wind has grown to 4 times what it was just a few years ago! To 0.4% of the electricity generated in the US. Wow! That’s HUGE!/s
building coal to diesel plants in coal producing states
Amen