There are lots of dirty little secrets (though they’re increasingly widely known!) about wind and solar power, the two darlings of “Green energy” lovers: high cost for low output, intermittency, production far below nameplate capacity, heavy dependence on subsidies, tendency for installations to lose efficient productive capacity long before they pay for themselves, chopped or […]
Solar: The Little Engine that Couldn’t Learn More »
On Fox News Sunday with Mike Wallace June 4, former Vice President Al Gore said solar energy has created jobs 17 times faster than the U.S. economy as a whole. He also pointed out that solar now employs more people than coal. He saw those both as reasons to celebrate. The truth is the opposite. Why?
The Gory Facts about Solar vs. Coal Energy Employment Learn More »
Solar energy has some legitimate uses in isolated cases, such as providing electricity where there is no other source available, and when you need it so badly you are willing to pay a premium, say, for use on your sailboat. But the inherent physics limitation to solar energy is that it is so diffuse (so
Solar Impulse: Poster Child for the Impracticality of Solar Power Learn More »
Let’s see now. The controversial Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System, financed with $1.5 billion in federal loans, using sunlight reflected from 170,000 mirrors to heat boilers atop 450-foot-high towers, received on average $200 per megawatt-hour during summer months and $135 for the rest of the year but is likely to go bust. Meanwhile, PG&E pays $57
Did You Want Electricity with Your Fried Eagle? Learn More »
In an interview published in The Atlantic, billionaire Microsoft founder Bill Gates had two very astute observations about wind and solar energy: On the limits of wind power and solar photovoltaic cells: Wind has grown super-fast, on a very subsidized basis. Solar, off a smaller base, has been growing even faster—again on a highly subsidized basis.
Bill Gates Gets It on Wind and Solar Learn More »
India last week announced its “climate action plan” in preparation for December’s climate summit in Paris, and the featured points grabbed the world’s attention: 40% increase of “clean [i.e., CO2-free] energy” by 2030; reduced CO2 “emission intensity” by 33% from 2005 levels by 2030; calling for wealth countries of the West to help it meet
India Dances toward Paris Learn More »
Florida Power and Light, the regulated electric utility for almost all Floridians, has offered its customers an opportunity to help reduce carbon dioxide emissions. By signing up for the Sunshine Energy program, they can ensure that 1,000 kWh of electricity from cleaner sources than fossil fuels will be produced in Florida and other states, allegedly
Let the Sun Shine on Sunshine Energy Learn More »
