The video was produced in 2012.
He leaves out a great problem for renewables. The supplies are intermittent. Sometimes there is low or no wind for weeks. Batteries are touted as a solution. How big is a battery that can deliver a few hours of output for a grid? Big, expensive, and probably manageable. How big is a battery that can support the grid for a week? Ginormous (a scientific term), hugely expensive, and probably not manageable.
So are batteries a good deal? They will raise the cost of electricity a lot. The amount depending on how many hours of back-up you want (can afford). I’m not supplying numbers because they are in flux. Can batteries twice as good as the best commercially available today be built in the future? Likely. Ten times better? Almost no chance. So you will need what amounts to 5 to 10 times as much plant for the same amount of electrical power as we use these days. That is going to hurt.
I like Polywell Fusion.
Comments
2 responses to “The Problem With Renewables”
Groper joe biden is the perfect example with the problem of renewables. also bye bye ollie north.
The electrochemical series, and therefore all possible batteries, has been known for 100 years. There is no possible battery breakthrough.
Pumped storage (NIMBY), flywheels, hydrogen generation, all have their own problems. Burning wood is an obscene, anti-environmental idiocy.
The real problem, the capacity factor, means that every form of renewable energy requires a backup, and the back actually provides a minimumof 60% to 95% of the annual power. For technical reasons having to do with grid stability, the backup is almost always a natural gas fueled turbine, and the turbine idles when the renewables occasionally come on.