Relying on renewable energy = disaster

[markofan]

This is what can happen when you shut down the coal fired power plants and rely on wind and solar.

https://iceagenow.info/entire-state-south-australiabblacked-unprecedented/

[Ruffian]

This is what can happen when you shut down the coal fired power plants and rely on wind and solar.

https://iceagenow.info/entire-state-south-australiabblacked-unprecedented/

It looks like the problem was in the transmission lines and not how power was generated.

"The entire state was plunged into darkness after wild weather knocked out three transmission lines and more than 20 towers on Wednesday afternoon."

"The fact is that it didn't matter how power was generated — this was a failure of the transmission systems," he said.

"Labor is up for a discussion about how you regulate and sort out a national energy market, but we won't use this storm and the damage it has caused to score some sort of Tony Abbott-like point about renewable energy.

[Necrosis]

good thing power outages don't occur with coal power

[Tapeworm]

It blows my mind that we still have electrical transmission infrastructure.  Millions of miles of copper cable and turbines running constantly so you can turn on your toaster any time you want.  Huge cost for a little convenience.

I'll have a modest battery bank which will handle 95% of my needs and I'll run a generator periodically for higher demands.  Makes perfectly good sense to me but apparently making power when you need it and where you need it instead of making it a long way away when you don't need it means you're some kind of a nut. 

[mass243]

What about if government stops subsidizing the renewables?
We will be back in stone age because no one can afford the electricity produced by wind power or something similar 

 

[Weedlejuice]

This is what can happen when you shut down the coal fired power plants and rely on wind and solar.

https://iceagenow.info/entire-state-south-australiabblacked-unprecedented/

Its not a case of this is better, its a case of tough shit fossil fuels are going to be a non option in the very near future, the more backing renewable energy gets the faster they can iron out the bugs before we HAVE to rely on it

[Necrosis]

Its not a case of this is better, its a case of tough shit fossil fuels are going to be a non option in the very near future, the more backing renewable energy gets the faster they can iron out the bugs before we HAVE to rely on it

Exactly,

Lets rely on a non-renewable for our energy, what could ever go wrong?

[Board_SHERIF]

3.2.1 - Howard enter thread and suggest we  harness fart for powers

[oldtimer1]

Windmills and solar will never replace power plants. It's a drop in the bucket. Not saying we shouldn't have it but if anyone thinks we could have them as a replacement is just misinformed.  Clean coal provides the lion's share of energy. Nuclear is another avenue that is being so regulated they can't build anymore. Get rid of coal and nuclear relying on just natural gas/oil will result in a huge price increase. 

[Necrosis]

Windmills and solar will never replace power plants. It's a drop in the bucket. Not saying we shouldn't have it but if anyone thinks we could have them as a replacement is just misinformed.  Clean coal provides the lion's share of energy. Nuclear is another avenue that is being so regulated they can't build anymore. Get rid of coal and nuclear relying on just natural gas/oil will result in a huge price increase. 

LOLOL.

Solar panels could solely power the US and would result in far less cost once battery tech increases considerably. Things can never change, never improve. We have a multi billion pound fusion reactor in the sky, lets dig up coal.

To move forward in civilization, harnessing the sun is the only option. It is unlimited in it's potential (virtually). COAL>DYSON SPHERE.

[Vince G, CSN MFT]

This is what can happen when you shut down the coal fired power plants and rely on wind and solar.

https://iceagenow.info/entire-state-south-australiabblacked-unprecedented/

Hate to burst your bubble but most residents in that country as well in Iceland have rooftop solar and wind along with backup gas generators.  Its no big deal when you can generate your own power

[_bruce_]

3.2.1 - Howard enter thread and suggest we  harness fart for powers

Hahaha - just as the despicable thought of Howard entered my mind ... I read this... 

[loco]

LOLOL.

Solar panels could solely power the US and would result in far less cost once battery tech increases considerably. Things can never change, never improve. We have a multi billion pound fusion reactor in the sky, lets dig up coal.

To move forward in civilization, harnessing the sun is the only option. It is unlimited in it's potential (virtually). COAL>DYSON SPHERE.

Once battery tech increases considerably?  Let's talk once that happens.  

Why not nuclear?  It's clean, ain't it?

[Nirvana]

Whether you're on board with renewable energy or not doesn't change the fact that fossil fuels will run out someday. Fossil fuels renew but not quickly enough to count on forever. You might as well support renewable energy because that's what we'll have to resort to anyway.

[Moontrane]

Whether you're on board with renewable energy or not doesn't change the fact that fossil fuels will run out someday. Fossil fuels renew but not quickly enough to count on forever. You might as well support renewable energy because that's what we'll have to resort to anyway.

Sailing ships weren't replaced by steamships because we ran out of wind.  Same with fossil fuels - we won't run out because entrepreneurs will improve and innovate energy production.   A problem today is that various governments subsidize renewables to the extent that electricity becomes expensive. 

A case in point is Germany, which gets 25% of energy from renewables, but the cost per kw-hour is about 3 times what it is in the US.  If the typical US electric bill doubled or tripled, we'd be hang-drying our clothes and forgoing AC - a 50-year regression to our way of life.

[Ropo]

good thing power outages don't occur with coal power

Or nuclear power. Like in Japan, one tsunami and they were seconds away the new Chernobyl disaster, and part of the country is uninhabitable for decades 

[sync pulse]

The new generation of reactors are very safe...Nuclear Fission is the only industrial process that generates large amounts of dense energy without burning anything.

[Skylge]

Windmills and solar will never replace power plants. It's a drop in the bucket. Not saying we shouldn't have it but if anyone thinks we could have them as a replacement is just misinformed.  Clean coal provides the lion's share of energy. Nuclear is another avenue that is being so regulated they can't build anymore. Get rid of coal and nuclear relying on just natural gas/oil will result in a huge price increase. 

Climate change and air pollution are a lot more expensive....

[Ropo]

The new generation of reactors are very safe...Nuclear Fission is the only industrial process that generates large amounts of dense energy without burning anything.

And leave behind shitload of nuclear waste, which stays insanely dangerous next few thousand years. We have hundreds of billions tons that crap already, and history of the nuclear power is only few decades. How about a hundred years forwards? In the OECD countries, some 300 million tonnes of toxic wastes are produced each year, so what will you do with it? There is no real and efficient way to deal with that crap anywhere in this world.

[sync pulse]

You recycle the fissile material which greatly reduces the waste stream...

[Europe]

wireless electricity, Tesla discovered it long time ago..

[Moontrane]

Or nuclear power. Like in Japan, one tsunami and they were seconds away the new Chernobyl disaster, and part of the country is uninhabitable for decades 

The Fukushima reactor design (boiler water reactor) was not the safest, but it was cheaper than a safer design (pressurized water reactor).  Also, the backup generators for cooling were pretty much at sea level, which allowed the tsunami to wash them away.  A poor design in a hazardous environment.

Areas evacuated in 2011 are being repopulated.

[Moontrane]

And leave behind shitload of nuclear waste, which stays insanely dangerous next few thousand years. We have hundreds of billions tons that crap already, and history of the nuclear power is only few decades. How about a hundred years forwards? In the OECD countries, some 300 million tonnes of toxic wastes are produced each year, so what will you do with it? There is no real and efficient way to deal with that crap anywhere in this world.

Per treehugger.com (I didn't make that up!  ) there are 138 million pounds of nuclear waste in the US.

Progressives - er - environmentalists have stopped every attempt to open Nevada's Yucca Mountains for storage of nuclear waste.  US law actually requires it be used, but Obama refuses to comply with the law.

We've been using nuclear power for over sixty years, notably the first nuke sub, commissioned in 1954.

[phreak]

A case in point is Germany, which gets 25% of energy from renewables, but the cost per kw-hour is about 3 times what it is in the US.  If the typical US electric bill doubled or tripled, we'd be hang-drying our clothes and forgoing AC - a 50-year regression to our way of life.

Also please take into account the quality of the infrastructure itself, which will add some cost.  I so often hear about brown-outs and blackouts in the US. That is essentially unheard of in Germany. The productive hours lost also should be factored in, plus the required backups that having an unreliable supply necessitates. So I doubt very much that the difference is as stark if the total costs are taken into account.

[Moontrane]

Also please take into account the quality of the infrastructure itself, which will add some cost.  I so often hear about brown-outs and blackouts in the US. That is essentially unheard of in Germany. The productive hours lost also should be factored in, plus the required backups that having an unreliable supply necessitates. So I doubt very much that the difference is as stark if the total costs are taken into account.

Can you quantify those costs?  I've had one blackout and about a dozen momentary outages in 14 years.  A trebling of my electric bill with a minor improvement in reliability would not be worth it. 

The US is much larger than Germany and has a much larger population. For example, California alone imports twice as much electricity as Germany produces via renewables.  Each state has numerous utilities with varying ages of equipment, so delivering power to so many over such a large area will necessarily have problems.

Presuming you are in Germany, has this been resolved:

In a stunning admission, the German Government recently announced that its transition to Renewable Energy was, “On the Verge of Failure.”  This blunt statement was released by Germany’s Economic Minister and Vice Chancellor to Angela Merkel, Sigmar Gabriel at an event at SMA Solar… Germany’s leading manufacturer of Solar technology.

According to the article, Angela Merkel’s Vice Chancellor Stuns, Declares Germany’s ‘Energiewende’ To Be On The Verge Of Failure:

https://srsroccoreport.com/germany-death-of-renewable-energy-bring-on-the-dirty-coal-monsters/