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What happens when the wind doesn't blow?

I have used wind, solar and vegetable oil powered diesel generators. For all of them, you have to have a lot of storage for the times you have no wind, low sunlight or you have the generator off. I like the plan, but how is this storage reality going to be dealt with? We need Nuke power to make electricity and free up the natural gas to power cars. The French have very good designs (improved versions of our original designs) that can be cooke-cuttered and up in about 5 years, if we could stop the eco nut jobs (I distinguish them from true eco people) from tying them up with lawsuits. If you think Nuke power plants are dangerous, you have been getting about 20% of your electrical energy from them for the past 40 years and no one has died yet. These are not the "explodomatic" models that the Russians used. As to the "Nuclear Waste", Japan and France reprocess it (again, using improvements on our old designs) and then they use what's left to produce more electricity. When all of the "good stuff" is reprocessed out of the "spent" fuel rods, what's left is very small and has a relatively short half-life. Left-overs from producing electric energy for a family of four for twenty years will approximately fit in a shoebox. Want an education? Get on the Internet on Saturday and Sunday nights starting at 10 p.m. and listen live to radio station KGO (www.kgoam810.com). You will hear a real expert, Dr. Bill Wattenberg, who, by the way, has been saying for many years we should use natural gas to power cars. Don't think I am down on Mr. Pickens plan, I'm not. In fact, he is the only one, other than Dr. Wattenberg, that has had the guts to take this issue head-on!

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Permalink Reply by Allenwrench on July 20, 2008 at 7:24pm
We have built a society that demands power 24/7. If there were outages we would have a real mess in the markets with all that stuff spoiling. And industry can't shut down to wait for the sun to shine or the wind to blow.

Just be ready to give up the A/C, the electric range, washer and dryer. (Well, washers can run on vast banks of solar fed batteries, but that is about it unless your house is built of batteries.) And after the NG dries up and everyone switches to electric, we hopefully will have some coal and little nuke left. We can't heat out homes with solar powered forced air in the NE.

Of course if we lower our expectations of how we 'must live' then almost anything is possible. And who knows, maybe the cornucopians day will arrive someday to save us all?

But as a realist and survivalist I can only work with 'what is' in the present. I'm not poo-poo'ing solar and wind. They are great areas to work with. Just realize they are not seamless and fungible alternatives to fossil fuel and nuke power generation.



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Permalink Reply by Jacob on July 20, 2008 at 9:18pm
I think solar and wind should power individual, rural and suburban, homes, like have solar panels on every roof and 1 or 2 wind turbines in the yard. Cities should be powered by nuclear.
Permalink Reply by Richard L. and Judy C. White on August 26, 2008 at 10:09am
Rather than keep reading all of the posts, we have a question to ask anyone on this site, and it's the most important question on this discussion.

How many active lawsuits are there currently to stop 'Wind' and 'Solar' Farms? We know the answer, but you should search/research this subject for yourself on the internet. One of the lawsuits is a 'Farmer/Rancher' who does not want "Those Ugly Windmills Next To Me".

You are going to be shocked at what is being done to stop Wind and Solar "Dead In Their Tracks".

Not really betting people, we are willing to bet a 'Group' of people in this Great Country Of Ours will do everything in their 'POWER' to stop T. Boone.

MAXX
Permalink Reply by Jessica Campbell on August 26, 2008 at 11:48am
Worrying about the wind not blowing isn't worth the time. For most of the wind turbines, those in the 1mW range and higher, you only need a 6mph breeze for them to cut in and turn. In central Texas, the turbines are generally placed up on mesas or other high elevations. Just the wind currents having to divert around the land is going to be fast enough. Actually, the main problem here that causes the turbines not to turn is the grid being maxed out. It simply can't take additional energy input so the turbines are shut down to save wear on the gears.
Permalink Reply by Robert Boyd on August 28, 2008 at 1:38am
I think that you need to study this matter more. In Europe, there are already problems with using wind as part of the base. If wind currents diverting around the land is enough to start turbines, then the ones in California would be turning all the time, which they are not. Unless there is a radical change in storage technology, wind is not practical as a base. I keep reading about lifting water and other methods to run turbines that produce electricity when there is no wind. It's all theory that doesn't work! Where are you going to put the dams? Build new ones? I think not. There is already so much controversy about existing dams that no new ones will be built without years of legal fights. Produce hydrogen? Have you looked at the problems with transporting, storing and using it? Yes, use wind to help feed the grid and take pressure off the electrical system. Use nuclear power as a base. They can be built quickly and operated safely.

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