http://www.globalwarming.org/2011/11/28/public-policy-and-regulatory-decisions-driving-up-electricity-rates/ Climate Change News & Analysis Wed, 12 Dec 2012 14:44:39 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= http://www.globalwarming.org/2011/11/28/public-policy-and-regulatory-decisions-driving-up-electricity-rates/comment-page-1/#comment-66258 Energy Secretary Lisa Jackson? | JunkScience.com Tue, 06 Dec 2011 05:36:09 +0000 http://www.globalwarming.org/?p=11544#comment-66258 [...] of the year, presumably for implementing a regulatory train wreck that will certainly make energy more expensive, and perhaps even turn out the [...] [...] of the year, presumably for implementing a regulatory train wreck that will certainly make energy more expensive, and perhaps even turn out the [...]

]]> http://www.globalwarming.org/2011/11/28/public-policy-and-regulatory-decisions-driving-up-electricity-rates/comment-page-1/#comment-66166 Colette McLean Tue, 29 Nov 2011 16:28:34 +0000 http://www.globalwarming.org/?p=11544#comment-66166 Thank you Marita for your efforts to get the other side of renewable energy story out. I believe it is also very important for the general public and policy makers to understand that intuitive thinking has taken over proper scientific assessment to determine if things like wind energy is really a technically, economically and environmentally sound solution to our energy problems. Despite my efforts to relate these problems with gov't reps etc, they always come back with this idea that wind (or solar) forms only a "part of the energy mix". This leads us to ASSUME that they can replace, to some extent fossil fuels or other conventional sources. Like in your paragraph, comparisons are often made of how many windmills it would take to eliminate the need for a conventional power plant. Unfortunately these comparisons are totally meaningless because wind turbines or solar panels do not add any megawatts to the grid when the wind is not blowing or the sun is not shining. Without fossil fuel generation, wind and solar cannot exist and in many cases, these increase fossil fuel consumption because of winds intermittent, unreliable, non-dispatchable, inefficient form of generation. Thank you Marita for your efforts to get the other side of renewable energy story out. I believe it is also very important for the general public and policy makers to understand that intuitive thinking has taken over proper scientific assessment to determine if things like wind energy is really a technically, economically and environmentally sound solution to our energy problems. Despite my efforts to relate these problems with gov’t reps etc, they always come back with this idea that wind (or solar) forms only a “part of the energy mix”. This leads us to ASSUME that they can replace, to some extent fossil fuels or other conventional sources. Like in your paragraph, comparisons are often made of how many windmills it would take to eliminate the need for a conventional power plant.
Unfortunately these comparisons are totally meaningless because wind turbines or solar panels do not add any megawatts to the grid when the wind is not blowing or the sun is not shining. Without fossil fuel generation, wind and solar cannot exist and in many cases, these increase fossil fuel consumption because of winds intermittent, unreliable, non-dispatchable, inefficient form of generation.

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