Wind and Solar Are Crushing Fossil Fuels

76 Comments on "Wind and Solar Are Crushing Fossil Fuels"

simonr on Sun, 10th Apr 2016 1:34 pm 



In a free energy market, (I am sure most right right wing thinkers would approve of this)
all producers can bid and take the given grid price.
Renewable producers are consistently producing and being chosen first.
Reasons, are NOT legislations, it is that they are ‘price takers’ not price setters.

in other words the price of leccy is set by the FF or nuclear lads and then imposed on the renewable producers

Why is this ?

because otherwise fred bloggs windfarm could put a bid in very low, and distort the market.

From this you can see that indeed renewables are economically viable.

As for the claim that they produce no power … if they produced no power you could not
power down a FF generator.

As for storage, this is indeed the achilles heel of renewables, but with pumped storage
there are ways around this.

As for subsidies, nuclear is subsidised like crazy

However, this does not address any concerns in collapse, in which case doomer dave
is probably correct.

Simon

rockman on Sun, 10th Apr 2016 1:58 pm 



Simon – Apparently you don’t know a f*cking thing about wind power in Texas which has the capacity of the #2 and #3 states COMBINED. But, hey, don’t let me distract your efforts to make wind power a political issue and not economic and technical issues.

simonr on Sun, 10th Apr 2016 2:18 pm 



Rockman – I am not really interested in Texas, however I suggest you re-read the post, as I am stating that Renewables are economic.

the clue was when I said “Renewables are Economically Viable”

but, since I have never seen you swear before (and your reading skills are good) I will assume this is some other person trolling your account.

geopressure on Sun, 10th Apr 2016 3:07 pm 



Simon; your original post is difficult to follow.

simonr on Sun, 10th Apr 2016 3:40 pm 



Just re-read it, sorry Geo, you could be right.

Gist is, Renewables are Economically viable.

let me sleep on it and try to clarify my thoughts tomorrow …..

Go Speed Racer on Sun, 10th Apr 2016 4:46 pm 



Why does this website malfunction above a certain number of posts? It says 55 posts and I see only 6.

Why does our omnipotent ruler not reach down from the I.T. heavens, part the clouds, and Behold, fix it for us?

Go Speed Racer on Sun, 10th Apr 2016 4:48 pm 



The windmills suck so bad, usually they sitting still in stagnant air.

So flip the wires around and change from generator, to motor. They can serve a purpose, use them for big fans, to blow away all the legalized pot smoke.

simonr on Mon, 11th Apr 2016 5:11 am 



Let me try Again

Wind and Solar are very economically viable.

The proof is that, in a free energy market, they are not allowed to set the
price of Leccy, this is down to FF and Nuclear lads.
The reason renewables are not allowed to bid, is that they can bid in, at an unrealistic low (for FF Nuclear Generators) rates. Thus distorting the market.

From this we can see that actually renewable energy is very cheap per Kwh (In fact so cheap the market has to exclude them from the bidding process)

Thus Renewables are ‘Price Takers’ and not ‘Price Makers’

Yes, sometimes they are not working … sometimes Coal and nuclear are also not working

I hope thats Clearer

Simon

Kenz300 on Mon, 11th Apr 2016 9:14 am 



Wind and solar are safer, cleaner and cheaper forms of energy…………..wind and solar with battery storage are the future

NO fossil fuels…………….

Electric cars, bikes and mass transit are the future…..fossil fuel ICE cars are the past…………..

Think teen agers vs your grand father………………….

cell phones vs land lines…….

NO EMISSIONS……..climate change is real………

rockman on Mon, 11th Apr 2016 9:53 am 



Simon – I should have tacked on my regular “LOL” to show I was essentially teasing. But you should focus on Texas: we are the posterchild for getting wing right. The key element was that the expansion was based upon a very sound BUSINESS PLAN and not some emotional “save the planet drum beat. And it’s the utility in Texas that sets rates…not the oil patch or anyone else. And on top of that our public gets to vote on those plans. Which is how our somewhat liberal citizens in Austin voted FOR INITIAL HIGH RATES which sweetened the pot enough to pull in private wind investors. In return those voters get much lower (in fact $0 for consumption late at night already) long term rates. Even then the rates would have been unacceptable if the utility had to pay for the grid expansion. So the state govt kicked that $7 BILLION.

It worked in Texas because everyone (the utility, the voters, the ff industry, conservatives, liberals, environmentalists, capitalist investors and the state govt) played a significant role in the overall dynamic. A level of cooperation rarely seen elsewhere. Consider the decade long legal battle the feds have had with the states over offshore New England wind. BTW Texas had installed the first offshore wind test facility while the east coast battle raged. In fact the state grants the first offshore wind leases almost 10 years ago. That’s because Texas, unlike the east coast states, has completely control over our near shore waters. But given low ff prices it will be a while before offshore Texas wind becomes viable.

PracticalMaina on Mon, 11th Apr 2016 10:55 am 



Rockman, I read Texas actually experiences occasional negative rates, along with Cali. That is one way to stimulate domestic storage options.

desumaiden on Mon, 11th Apr 2016 3:28 pm 



Sounds like someone is hyping wind and solar as the saviours of industrial civilization, while failing to acknowledge the limitations of these energy sources. Wind and solar will be able provide some energy to certain places, but it is very unlikely these energy sources will allow us to continue our growth-based, pyramid scheme of an economy.

I doubt we can continue our current levels of consumption and energy use–let alone meet the demands of the future, which will be magnitudes greater–with wind, solar or any combination of renewable energies.

Not even free energy can save us. We’ve systematically depleted and exhausted almost all of the key resources on this planet from our excessive consumption and population growth. Since it is impossible to create resources out of thin air, printing more money will not simulate more economic growth unless there is the resources to back up the demands of the economy.

In short, anyone thinking wind and solar is going to save the day is being overly optimistic. The truth is much less pleasent…nothing will be able to prevent the collapse of modern civilization…not even free energy.

Go Speed Racer on Mon, 11th Apr 2016 5:06 pm 



Soon we will find the ninth planet. We can mine it for resources.

simonr on Tue, 12th Apr 2016 2:03 am 



Hi Rockman

Ahhhh … it was the lack of LOL that did it.

yep,in texas you are good, but spain has 23,000 mwh installed.

Wind and solar are very good money makers, and here in Europe, our markets are (reluctantly) opening up to competition, as a EU competition ruling, is essentially forcing it.
The problem is that people basically don’t want to see the windmills.
The English, with EU’s 2nd largest wind resource have even declared it is the wrong type of wind !!!.
To meet their paris agreements, they are laying in an interconnector to Norway, which will allow them to purchase Renewable Credits .. no leccy mind you, you couldn’t make it up.

Maybe this wont keep BAU going, but every little helps.

Simon

ps.
I am loving this ninth planet, where do I invest ?

Kenz300 on Tue, 12th Apr 2016 9:12 am 



We will transition to safer, cleaner and cheaper alternative sources… the only question is how fast…..

Oil Giants Spend $115 Million A Year To Oppose Climate Policy

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/oil-companies-climate-policy_us_570bb841e4b0142232496d97

Kenz300 on Wed, 13th Apr 2016 8:22 am 



Wind and solar are the future…..fossil fuels are the past……….

Climate Change is real…… utilities need to deal with the cause (fossil fuels)

If the world is to have any hope of dealing with Climate Change we need to stop building any more coal fired power plants and begin to shut down the oldest and dirtiest ones replacing them with wind and solar power.

Bruce Johnson on Thu, 8th Dec 2016 10:16 am 



By these charts, solar produces less than 2% of our energy and wind less than 4%. Is this “crushing” fossil fuels?

GregT on Thu, 8th Dec 2016 11:46 am 



More Bloomberg B.S.

For starters, call them what they are. Alternates, not renewables. Anything that requires non-renewable resources in it’s manufacturing, repair, or maintenance, is in of itself non-renewable.

Trees and birds are renewable. Products of fossil fuels powered modern industrialism, are not.

Boat on Thu, 8th Dec 2016 1:27 pm 



greggiet,

O, so my washer and dryer is an alternate machine but if I wash my clothes on a rock it is a renewable. Lol Give it up dude, renewable wind and solar are here to stay.

Apneaman on Thu, 8th Dec 2016 2:03 pm 



Boat, plenty of things are here to stay – congratulations.

There are over 300,000 contaminated soil and water sites in the U.S.

“There are too many problems requiring too much energy to solve after oil decline that we should have spent our energy on while it was still bountiful for the sake of future generations. Along with climate change and nuclear waste, our descendants will be walloped with polluted water that can cause cancer, adverse neurological, reproductive, or developmental conditions, and shorten lifespan in many other ways. Groundwater will be polluted for thousands of years at the over 300,000 sites that are unlikely to be cleaned up by the time energy shortages start to occur.”

http://energyskeptic.com/2016/there-are-over-300000-contaminated-soil-and-water-sites-in-the-u-s/

Apneaman on Thu, 8th Dec 2016 2:07 pm 



Boat all that matters is today. Like me you ain’t got kids so fuck em all eh?

All that matters is getting your Rocks Off

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOEOc9RrL8k

I appreciate honesty.

GregT on Thu, 8th Dec 2016 2:10 pm 



“O, so my washer and dryer is an alternate machine but if I wash my clothes on a rock it is a renewable.”

Correct Boat, but only if your clothes are also made entirely from renewable resources, without any input from fossil fuels powered modern industrialism.

And also Kevin, without fossil fuels, my solar system is for all intents and purposes useless, in less than two decades. The fact that you are unable to figure out why, does nothing less than further expose your complete lack of intelligence.

Boat on Thu, 8th Dec 2016 6:01 pm 



Let me pass on a couple thoughts. The future is a huge cloud of opportunities with many paths.

Humans are not capable of out guessing even short term comprehensive consequences let alone any longer term scenario.

Davy on Thu, 8th Dec 2016 6:21 pm 



It’s not about guessing but rather orientation. One can set himself on the right path without the need to achieve a concrete goal of a hollow success. Be creative and only decisive as needed in this time of volatility and destructive change. We have no play books for what we face. We do have a realistic range of possibilities that plenty of science provides. One should be very cautious today in the status quo since almost all messages are corrupted by a status quo narrative of growth and progress. The idea of what is growth and progress has been embellished with tasty tidbits that entice stimulating fantasy over the sobriety of reality.

makati1 on Thu, 8th Dec 2016 7:09 pm 



Boat, those paths are being shut down one by one. If you think there are still many possibilities you need to look farther down that path. It is quickly narrowing to just one and then it ends.

GregT on Thu, 8th Dec 2016 9:07 pm 



It’s not about guessing Boat, unless one is totally ignorant of reality, like you.