But what have you gained? The grid is still dependent on conventional
power stations operating in inefficient standby mode to compensate for
the wind and solar systems that can not and never will produce power on
demand.
Offshore wind has a capital cost about 50% greater than nuclear and
operational and maintenance cost that is about double.
<http://www.eia.gov/forecasts/aeo/electricity_generation.cfm> And that
doesn't count the cost of the backup power stations which have to have
equal power capacity and still have to operate about 2/3 of the time.
Wind and solar would make more sense if there were such things as giant
batteries but there are no such (affordable) things today nor on
anyone's technology horizon.
<http://spectrum.ieee.org/at-work/innovation/the-search-for-a-better-battery>
The lithium-ion battery was the last major breakthrough in battery
technology and, apart from minor engineering improvements, there has
been nothing new in 25 years.
Chuck Norcutt
On 4/27/2016 1:02 AM, ChrisB wrote:
For some people they ruin the scenery, Chuck, for others they reduce
the other sort of blight: smoking and steaming power stations or the
threat of contamination from nuclear waste. Now some say that the
large wind farms out to sea cost as much as a nuclear installation,
but I know which I would prefer.
I pass a 9-unit wind farm every day on my way to work and I love the
sight.
Chris
On 27 Apr 16, at 03:52, Chuck Norcutt
<chucknorcutt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
So that's what that bike looks like. I was wondering. It looks
like you've got a cool tow bar there too. I've never seen anything
like that. Lots of other great shots too. But the windmills...
talk about ruining scenery.
--
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