Marty Sieff exposes the the phantasies of "green" energy:
Understand this: the technology to store solar energy on a gigawatt (billion
watts of power) scale does not yet exist. If you want it to, invent it. But to
imagine that it does exist is to indulge in science fiction.
The energy output of a single medium-size coal mine in Kentucky, Robert Bryce
writes, is greater than the entire solar and wind energy output of the United
States.
This is not because some mythical evil oil and nuclear corporation executives
have plotted to sabotage virtuous “clean” and renewable wind and solar power. It
is because wind and solar power do not work. Wind power never will. Solar power
may fifty or a hundred years from now. But right now, to bet on wind and solar
power to run the US economy is ludicrous. It is science fiction.
And to dream that hydroelectric power, biomass, or thermal power can make the
American people energy-independent is worse than science fiction; it is a fairy
tale for babies.
--
Wind energy is never going to be more than a marginal energy source. That is
because, quite simply, it depends on the wind. Electrical generating stations need to have regular, sustainable sources
of energy their machinery can constantly rely upon. Storage batteries and
technology to store wind energy do not exist. Hopefully, one day soon they will.
But we simply cannot count on it.
Also, as Robert Bryce, the managing editor of Energy Tribune, has
pointed out, the most effective wind turbines require major quantities of the
extremely rare minerals or rare earths lithium and lanthanides. “That means
mining,” Bryce writes in his book Power Hungry. “And China controls nearly all
of the world’s existing mines that produce lanthanides.”
In other words, when Thomas Friedman is telling us to embrace a wind energy
future, he is not making us less energy-dependent on the Middle East, he is
making us far more energy-dependent on China.
Read the entire article here
The question to ask is why so many "progressive" and leftist - and even a number of conservative - politicians continue to praise "green" energy, even if most of them understand, or at least should understand, that solar and wind power are no solution to our present - or foreseeable future - energy needs. We in Europe have reason to envy the United Sates, where the overwhelming majority of leading Republican politicians dare to oppose the politically correct enviro-fundamentalist agenda, dictated by the greenies and their supporters in the media.
No comments:
Post a Comment