You know, it may even be true that existing supplies of wind and solar don't depend on fossil fuel for a net energy balance. That to me is a trivial fact that tells us nothing -- absolutely nothing -- about whether that would still be true were wind and solar deployed on a scale comparable to what fossil fuels are today.
All the estimates depend on assumptions and most of those assumptions concern variables for which there is very little empirical record. It's guesswork. When I hear confident projections based on nothing more than guesses, I put it in the category of wishful thinking. On Tue, Apr 9, 2013 at 9:40 PM, <[email protected]> wrote: > * *"Tom Walker" <[email protected]> quoted: > > > "There is an impression that we have a choice between fossil fuels and > clean energy technologies such as solar cells and wind turbines. > > That choice is an illusion. Alternative energy technologies rely on > fossil fuels through every stage of their life. Alternative energy > technologies > > rely on fossil fuels for mining operations, fabrication plants, > installation, ongoing maintenance and decommissioning. Also, due to the > > irregular output of wind and solar, these technologies require fossil > fuel plants to be running alongside them at all times. Most > > significantly, alternative energy financing relies on the kind of > growth that fossil fuels drive." > > > > http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/15588-power-shift-away-from-green-illusions > > Wind and solar power aren't dependent on fossil fuel energy for a net > energy balance. > > Wind is competitive with some types of fossil fuel electricity production > and solar is > effective for areas with high daytime temperatures for peak energy needs > of air conditioning. > > Some remote areas benefit greatly from having solar power. > > A few years ago I saw a neighbor charging his Prius converted to plug-in > with a solar array. > > Of course, some policies such as feed-in-tariffs put the cost of migrating > to green energy on the poor. > > -- > Ron > > > _______________________________________________ > pen-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l > > -- Cheers, Tom Walker (Sandwichman)
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