Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Renewable Energy Inconvenient Facts

We as a nation are hell-bent on shutting down reliable generation and replacing it with not reliable generation. We're going to find out if we're clever enough to figure out how to keep the lights on, and I'm not sure we're going to like the answer.

Inconvenient facts:
-there is no free lunch
-some energy sources use non-renewable resources that can be used for other purposes
-the sun doesn't shine all day, nor does the wind blow without pause
-more people means more demand

Pick your poison and live with it.

W/O subsidy...wind is the cheapest installed capacity today.


Dang it!

so we should all "break more wind"? but that's methane, right? but, if we light the methane.... I am so confused now

The numbers and stated “facts” in that article are laughable.

Gas generation costs $0.02 per kWh
Solar costs $0.08.

It’s actually closer to the other way around.

You have to have fossil fuel plants to back up solar. No you don’t. I just got a quote for a solar array for the farm, including battery backup. Payback period is less than five years.

And so on, and so on...........

We had a guy about 15 years ago that went with a complete wind power system. Worked so well that the tower now has a lighted star on it without anything else. It’s lit by REA power company. Ed k

Think outside the box....

what would happen if the globalist crowd can completely play havoc with the electrical grid, but being able to get "environMENTALists" to demand that we go with solar and wind, to 'save the environment man'...

that would put the globalist crowd in a controlling position wouldn't it? giving them the upper hand?

Communism 101 folks... another 'there ya have it' realization....that goes right over the general public's head...

There's a huge difference in powering a "farm" and powering the public in general.
Batteries can't supply power for extended periods without recharging.
A few days without enough sun and you'd be in the dark.

You are correct that in a few days without sun, you'd be in the dark, but there are ways around that. Have the electric company hook up a meter that shows what you put into the grid and gives you credit for it. Then on occasions that you use more power than you produce, the electric company uses those credits to pay your bill. Got a friend that has that set-up. Gets a $6/mth electric bill, for the special meter, and 1 or 2 times a year, in the winter, he gets a $30 electric bill. And, he has done away with the battery backup...... they are a pain in the wazoo

My friend hasn't 'cut the cord' competely, but it's about as close as you can get and still have power all the time.

$150 a year more than pays for his electricity.

And what might happen if everyone went battery backup, or simply cut half the cord as mentioned??????

Posted options that have no possible way currently to be scaled up. The grid functions like a giant battery backup, and a few people here or there can tap into that with their home-brewed setup to benefit.

Also, what happens to the environment to produce and dispose of the batteries if used? They are one of the most toxic products that humans currently use, and their is little disposal for such.

Finally, if solar/wind were not subsidized by the taxes of others via govt intervention, they would not be able to match the prices of oil/coal generation or installation. That may change, but in the bigger picture that is where it stands now. And that is even with oil/coal paying more than their share due to govt regulation.

Solar panels aren't so eco-friendly themselves, and there's essentially no regulations regarding their disposal. Funny, any legitimate disposal/recycling costs are never included when we're told how cheap solar is.

Oil and gas is subsidized....just like every thing else.

I love it. "We can eliminate the existing power grid with individual sources." And when the sun doesn't shine "We can just tie in to the existing grid!"

You mean the grid you eliminated? Or the one you want to keep in place and operating for when the sun doesn't shine?

I knew some people who were REALLY off the grid, solar, a little wind, and a gasoline generator for backup, no rea to stand in. Wood and propane
You can't claim self contained and then still have a big old fashioned power plant to fall back on
Way back when farms used windmills and batteries, with kerosene lamps as a supplement but radio, no tv, computers and such. They also had a team and a model t
My last thought is those windmills rank right above LADY birds billboards

Off the grid is a non-starter. What powers the grid is another tale entirely. I will wait patiently for them to sort out the fusion option. Works for the sun, we might oughta figure out how to do it here.

Simple Dan

How so?

Those huge wind generators don't generate enough electricity to justify the cost of repairing them so there's many THOUSANDS of them sitting idle all over the world. Another problem is that the Federal subsidy to buy and install a wind generator doesn't include the infrastructure to get that generated electricity to the consumers. Your local power company pays for the required infrastructure and passes those costs on to you.

Who wants to eliminate the existing grid?

Texas doesn't give oil and gas any tax exemptions?

The US Military has not spent any money on oil and gas?