Renewable Energy

[Johnny P]

While several states are having peak electrical power demands they can't meet due to frigid conditions, the wind turbines are freezing up and the solar panels are covered in snow.

Hmmm, better not scrap those coal fired generating plants just yet.

[Marine A5 Sniper Rifle]

While several states are having peak electrical power demands they can't meet due to frigid conditions, the wind turbines are freezing up and the solar panels are covered in snow.

Hmmm, better not scrap those coal fired generating plants just yet.

The last 10-years of my career was devoted to renewable energy. I sought, and received, several grants to research turning animal wastes to methane (Natural Gas). I cannot adequately impress upon you the corruption and incompetence I was exposed to in those 10-years. Government grants are given to entities that will produce what the government wants to hear. I had heard that before I got into the industry, but I thought it was just BS. I became very good at getting grants ($1,000,000 or more). Once a year, Grants.gov publishes listing of topics of research they will fund. Not enough space to explain it all, but basically, the process is designed to support government funded programs and universities. You have to be affiliated with a university, and an acclaimed professor. You can't just pocket the money, and the grant only pays for expenses and capital costs. The way you make money is by paying yourself a nice salary.

I spent a lot of time at the National Research Energy Laboratory in Golden, CO. I actually got to manipulate the apparatus that started the ethanol craze. But don't blame the NREL. Their prolonged research indicated ethanol was not financially feasible. Blame Congress for rewarding the mid-west farmers for Congress having cut Do Not Plant funding. Strangely enough, Grants.gov funded research suddenly started showing ethanol to be financially feasible. That is how we simultaneously became the largest importer of corn in the world, and the largest exporter of corn in the world. The industrial hog farms had to have corn for their hogs, but ethanol jacked up the price of mid-west corn. So the hog guys import cheaper corn, and a lot of it. Of course, ethanol had to have a subsidy to stay afloat, because it really isn't financially feasible. Never make fuel out of your food. It's stupid.

Then came the energy credits, and things really got stupid. If you want to sell power to Duke Energy, you will give them your energy credits. The rich got richer, and the poor got poorer. While trying to shut down the coal plants, our former Vice-President invested heavily in chip plants (they burn chipped wood to produce power). How the hell those plants ever got approved is beyond me. They are huge polluters, and they are de-foresting our lush forests on a daily basis. The guys who haul the chips can clear-cut 100 acres a day with about 6-men. When they finish, there is nothing left but bare ground. Unlike timber companies, they do not have to replant seedlings.

Solar and wind are worse. Use our fossil fuels while we have them. They are plentiful and cheap in comparison to any renewable fuel. Nuclear is the least expensive and the cleanest environmentally. I mined uranium for 15-years, and carried a bottle of yellowcake on the dash of my truck. Our uranium mines were less radioactive than a local bank built of granite.

[blackhawknj]

For home use many people would be better off with a bicycle style generator. It's there whenever you need it, let's you burn off calories and keep fit, you're not dependent on a grid.

[S.A. Boggs]

Starting in March we are starting our project of going off grid as much as possible. Energy costs are only going to go up and in 4 years my wife is going to retire so we will have less money incoming. Energy costs are one of our controllable costs and in the last two years we have reduced our energy consumption by about 40%.
Sam

[bruce]

Re:bicycle style generator. Is this a real option? Specifically in a condo. Asking for a friend. Sincerely. bruce.

[lyman]

Re:bicycle style generator. Is this a real option? Specifically in a condo. Asking for a friend. Sincerely. bruce.

https://www.amazon.com/Pedal-Power-B.../dp/B003GJL6GO

[Bt Doctur]

Green Energy, definitely not working in Texas.Windturbines are iced over and frozen. So much for any energy.Go Green and freeze to death, what a pleasant America.Oh yes, Biden , Americas worst president, totally useless.
Wod stoves are back in to simply keep alive. Screww all green energy deals and go back to wood stoves or die. Your choice

[Roadkingtrax]

The ERC (Electric Reliability Council of Texas) the power grid custodian of Texas, has stated the main factors of power loss are due to frozen instruments at Natural Gas, Coal, and Nuclear facilities. The wind turbines are the "least significant factor."

Makes a great talking point though when you're upset at the world.

[lyman]

Green Energy, definitely not working in Texas.Windturbines are iced over and frozen. So much for any energy.Go Green and freeze to death, what a pleasant America.Oh yes, Biden , Americas worst president, totally useless.
Wod stoves are back in to simply keep alive. Screww all green energy deals and go back to wood stoves or die. Your choice

I appreciate your optimism, but way to early to take the crown away from Carter or Obama

[Johnny P]

If the distribution facilities have been wrecked because of an ice storm, it doesn't matter how much generating capacity you have.