Wind and Solar Power Have Become Amazingly Affordable

[Boiler 44,986]

6 minutes ago, ALFKAD said:

While true, they are a bear to find along most interstates.

And bad for the fishes.

[Boketto 211]

1 hour ago, Nature Boy 2.0 said:

If it was economically viable it would be in use on a mass scale.

 

No source of energy is going to dominate until A. We run out of current sources

B. It becomes profitable to do so.

 

The article is typical hog slop for non critical thinkers.  Have prices dropped,  yes. Anywhere near enough to make it feasible,  no.

 

Now cold  fission.  That gets me excited.  One day maybe 

 

[90DayFinancier 910]

1 hour ago, Neonred said:

I read that there is a way to run your car on water...

That was earlier models, a banana peel works great now.

 

 

[Dashinka 24,172]

1 hour ago, Boketto said:

 

Wind and solar efficiency is increasing?

[Boiler 44,986]

Much windier today.

[Dashinka 24,172]

1 hour ago, ALFKAD said:

While true, they are a bear to find along most interstates.

A few weeks ago, we drove a little more than 5000 miles in 7 days.  The big drives were from MI to CA and then back again of 30 hrs each.  I tried to figure out how much time it would have taken us in an EV.  By my rough figures, it would have added at least 10 hrs each way as every time we filled up we had a range of 500+ miles in about five minutes, For an EV charging 40-60 minutes would have netted us about 200 miles of range in ideal conditions.  Needless to say we did not take an EV.  On another note, during our drive across Iowa, we saw quite a few windmills, by my estimates, about a third of them were not running.  I have no idea why since the wind was moderate and many of the others in the wind farm were running.

[Boiler 44,986]

Hopefully you offset the carbon emitted..

[Boketto 211]

13 minutes ago, Bill & Katya said:

Wind and solar efficiency is increasing?

Yes.

[Steeleballz 7,550]

14 hours ago, Boiler said:

Just need to make the sun shine and the wind blow all the time.

 

  You live in a state that annually gets 250+ days of sunshine and averages wind speeds of 7+ MPH.

[Steeleballz 7,550]

4 hours ago, Nature Boy 2.0 said:

If it was economically viable it would be in use on a mass scale.

 

No source of energy is going to dominate until A. We run out of current sources

B. It becomes profitable to do so.

 

The article is typical hog slop for non critical thinkers.  Have prices dropped,  yes. Anywhere near enough to make it feasible,  no.

 

Now cold  fission.  That gets me excited.  One day maybe 

 

  Both of those issues are on the horizon. Estimates are around 50 years of oil left at current consumption rates, and as sources diminish, it becomes more difficult to extract

[Nature Boy 2.0 8,369]

2 hours ago, Boketto said:

 

Thats why i said. One day maybe 

[Dashinka 24,172]

36 minutes ago, Steeleballz said:

 

  Both of those issues are on the horizon. Estimates are around 50 years of oil left at current consumption rates, and as sources diminish, it becomes more difficult to extract

Interesting, I found this article that was written five years ago saying the same thing except they based on on production rates and not consumption rate.  They did make one huge assumption that there would be no new sources found within the 53 years they estimate is left.  It seems to me that new reserves have been found in the past five years or so.  Regardless, I don’t have a problem with having a nice mix of energy sources.

 

https://jalopnik.com/bp-says-the-world-only-has-53-years-of-oil-left-should-1602354842

Edited November 8, 2019 by Bill & Katya

[Dashinka 24,172]

1 hour ago, Boketto said:

Yes.

Interesting, the OP article only mentioned affordability measures, and not efficiency.  Last I heard, solar was around 12% on average with peaks up to 20% and it has not moved much.  Wind runs 30-45% efficient.  Hydro, the best renewable source, runs 85-90%.

[yuna628 9,652]

A lot of people in this area got solar, I hope it works for them but I heard it can be a nightmare if you need a new roof. No way we could ever afford it. With the nasty heat pump that died last year, the replacement for that was super expensive. The power company installed a smart meter, and we run all LED bulbs, open windows, and keep the heating/air down low. That's saved us a lot of money this year.

[Boketto 211]

1 hour ago, Bill & Katya said:

Interesting, the OP article only mentioned affordability measures, and not efficiency.  Last I heard, solar was around 12% on average with peaks up to 20% and it has not moved much.  Wind runs 30-45% efficient.  Hydro, the best renewable source, runs 85-90%.

The article discusses cost efficiency of solar and wind energy which has dramatically improved over time due to improved technology. It is fallacious to discount that by rephrasing it as “affordability measures”, don’t you think?