New Video – US Wind Energy at the Crossroads
April 30, 2012
Wind energy is not a future resource, it is here now.
There is no question that it will be a primary part of our energy mix in the future. The only question is, will we build those millions of turbines here in the US, or will we concede the growth industry of the 21st century to our competitors.
Climate Denial Crock of the Week 
May 1, 2012 at 6:49 am
Good riddance to wind energy. It can’t even compete with nuclear, and nuclear can’t compete with cheap, plentiful, natural gas.
May 1, 2012 at 10:02 am
Are you proposing we go 100% natural gas? You are either mad or a complete fool. Wind is competitive today, but that does not mean there is room for all suppliers. Cell phones are competitve today, yet many suppliers have gone broke or will soon. Same for computers. Same for cars. Same for social networks. Same for telecoms. Same for internet service providers. Etc., ad nauseum. The issue here is how to respond to unfair subsidies when comparing countries and energy technologies. Nuclear power is the all-time direct subsidy junky and crude oil is the alltime indirect subsidy junky from all the oil wars we have to protect middle east supply. Coal is the alltime indirect subsidy junky due to all the pollution and environmental damage it causes but does NOT pay for. Now if you want China to crush all competition by its hostile subsidy-and-export policy without some measured response then my only conclusion about you is that are paid troll working for the PRC.
May 1, 2012 at 9:19 am
[…] Wind Energy At The Crossroads. Here’s a video clip from climatecrocks.com: “Wind energy is not a future resource, it is here now. There is no question that it will be […]
May 1, 2012 at 5:18 pm
You know what I hate about wind turbines?
The smokestacks.
The smoke.
The smog.
The mercury pollution.
The cooling towers.
The explosions.
The spills.
The limited fuel supply.
The other countries that control the wind.
The military cost to defend the wind.
The radiation.
The death of miners.
The fly ash.
The tailing ponds.
The methane gas releases.
The huge carbon footprint.
The increasing cost over time.
The inefficiency.
The pipelines.
The contaminated water.
The damage to our lungs and overall health done by wind turbines is horrendous.
The acid rain is nasty.
The mountaintop removal.
The waste.
I also hate the fact that they look like graceful wind sculptures, that let us see the wind. I hate the fact that they are much quieter than a highway.
+++
Not really…
PUT THEM IN MY BACK YARD — PLEASE!
Neil
May 1, 2012 at 8:52 pm
PIMBY – put them in my backyard, is the overwhelming response.
May 2, 2012 at 3:10 am
Natural gas is cheap right now. How about in the future? All those dreams of powering everything from cars and trucks and the grid being power by gas will drive up the price with increasing demand.
Right now, wind is equal to natural gas if gas is $6 per MMBTU
“Collective hypnosis or hysteria’ on natural gas” – by David Roberts at Grist
“here’s a few problems with that. Number one, you can’t get the full 100 year’s worth out of the ground. Number two, you certainly can’t get it out at $8 per MMBTU or less, which is sort of the rule of thumb I’m using for cheap gas…………
Right now the cost in the US is very low, at $2 per MMBTU, but what you have to realize is that the people that are doing it for $2 today are not doing it because they are making money, they are doing it because otherwise they would lose their leases or they doing it because they are getting gas liquids which are essentially oil substitutes, which are very valuable.”
http://grist.org/natural-gas/collective-hypnosis-or-hysteria-on-natural-gas/
May 2, 2012 at 3:20 am
Here’s something that could really give an impetus to wind and solar development.
A grid scale energy storage battery that is a game changer for renewables.
The Weekend Wonk: Liquid Metal Batteries
TED talk video 15 minutes
{watch it at Climate Crocks -3/31/2012}
May 2, 2012 at 10:07 am
At grid-scale, there’s a promising lower-cost, lower-tech alternative – pumped heat energy storage from Isentropic
http://www.isentropic.co.uk/our-phes-technology
No water required so should be doable just about anywhere and we’re not likely to reach peak gravel anytime soon.
May 2, 2012 at 3:04 pm
Chevron is shutting down gas wells because it is not profitable. ExxonMobil will be contemplating the same thing. Cheap natural gas is not going to stay. Profit will be seeked and prices will go up. Wind installation costs might be high, but resource is free.
May 2, 2012 at 3:12 pm
wind actually very competitive, and coming down.
May 3, 2012 at 12:36 am
Don’t know if my facts are right, but according to the Potential Gas Committee, http//potentialgas.org, we only have between 21 and 28 years supply of natural gas here in the U.S. anyway. There may be qualifiers that I’m not aware of, but that’s the number I keep hearing around from the folks in the industry. If that’s true, it doesn’t seem to me like there’d be any kind of meaningful ROI with revamping our infrastructure with natural gas as a main player. And if solar continues to get cheaper, and we see continued development in liquid metal batteries…..well, then we have the trimmings for a great paradigm shift, IMO.
May 4, 2012 at 5:12 am
Hi Nick, Statements like “there are x number of years consumption of y at the present rate of consumption are misleading. In our free market, consumption_based society, percentage yearly growth is accepted. Yet its consequences are easy to predict. Compound growth rates means that there is a lot less time left before a resource is depleted than “at current rates of consumption”. Current rate of consumption is then a useless description of the situation. Remaining years left at compound consumption growth rates is more reasonable. A formula for the doubling time is 70/%yearly growth. So 7% annual growth is doubling every 10 years. If consumption continued at that rate, in 100 years, consumption would be 2 to the power of 10 = 1000x. Ponder that. Here’s a nice video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-QA2rkpBSY
May 20, 2012 at 11:00 am
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May 20, 2012 at 3:13 pm
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