Tag: wind

Study Grades Natural Gas as Best Source for Reliability, Affordability and Environmental Impact

Just the News
Natural Gas Pawer Plant

A new study finds that natural gas is the most effective energy source meeting growing energy demands affordably and reliably, while balancing environmental and human impact.

The “Grading the Grid” study by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a pro-free market nonprofit, and Northwood University rates natural gas, coal, petroleum, nuclear, hydroelectric, wind, solar and geothermal generation sources on their reliability, environmental and human impact, cost, innovation and market feasibility.

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Red Tape Closes Pennsylvania Power Plants Before Replacements Ready

The Center Square
Power Plant

Despite the key positions states like Ohio and Pennsylvania hold to solve future energy problems, shifting the power grid from coal and natural gas to wind and solar isn’t as easy as flipping a switch.

A cadre of Pennsylvania legislators trekked to Columbus for a joint meeting of three House and Senate committees from the two states to be advised by energy officials on PJM, the regional power grid to which both belong.

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Commentary: The Delusions of Davos and Dubai Surrounding Wind and Solar Energy

Admin
Solar Energy

In the most recent “Conference of the Parties,” otherwise known as the United Nations extravaganza that convenes every few years for world leaders to discuss the climate crisis, several goals were publicly proclaimed. Notable were the goals to triple production of renewable energy by 2030 and triple production of nuclear energy by 2050. Against the backdrop of current global energy production by fuel type, and as quantified in Part One, against a goal of increasing total energy production from 600 exajoules in 2022 to at least 1,000 exajoules by 2050, where does COP 28’s goals put the world’s energy economy? How much will production of renewable energy have to increase?

To answer this question, it is necessary to recognize and account for the fact that most renewable energy takes the form of electricity, generated through wind, solar, or geothermal sources. And when measuring how much the base of renewables installed so far will contribute to the target of 1,000 exajoules of energy production per year in order to realize—best-case scenario—800 exajoules of energy services, the data reported in the Statistical Review of Global Energy is profoundly misleading.

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Commentary: The Energy Transition Is a Delusion Indeed

RealClearWire

The “energy transition” continues to receive thunderous applause from all the usual Beltway suspects, an exercise in groupthink fantasy amazing to behold. For those with actual lives to live and thus uninterested in silliness: The “energy transition” is a massive shift, wholly artificial and politicized, from conventional energy inexpensive (Table 1b and here), reliable, and very clean given the proper policy environment, toward such unconventional energy technologies as wind and solar power. They are expensive, unreliable, and deeply problematic environmentally in terms of toxic metal pollution, wildlife destruction, land use massive and unsightly, emissions of conventional pollutants, and in a larger context large and inexorable reductions in aggregate wealth and thus the social willingness to invest in environmental protection.

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Whaley Energy Plan for Ohio Excludes Fossil Fuels

Bradley Vasoli

Ohio Democratic gubernatorial candidate Nan Whaley this weekend took to Twitter to promote an energy plan for the Buckeye State that excludes fossil-fuel production in favor of renewables.

“Check out mine and [running mate Cheryl Stephens’s] energy plan…,” she wrote. “1. Reform the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) so consumer interests are at its core; 2. Spur innovation & create good-paying, union jobs in clean energy; 3. Build climate resilient communities.”

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Commentary: Butler County, Ohio Bans Wind and Solar Projects in a Dozen Townships

RealClearWire

The backlash against the encroachment of wind and solar projects continues. On June 23, the Butler County (Ohio) Board of Commissioners adopted a measure that designates a “restricted area” that prohibits “the construction of an economically significant wind farm, a large wind farm, and/or a large solar facility.” The measure, which passed unanimously, covers all unincorporated areas within a dozen townships in the county.

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DFL Senators Author Bill to Make Minnesota ‘First State in the Nation to Use Only Renewable Energy’

Anthony Gockowski

Three DFL state senators have co-authored a bill that aims to “make Minnesota the first state in the nation to use only renewable energy.” Senate File (SF) 425, set to be introduced Thursday and referred to the Energy and Utilities Finance and Policy Committee, was co-authored by Sens. John Marty (D-Roseville), Nick Frentz (D-Mankato), and Chris Eaton (D-Brooklyn Center). “The Department of Commerce Division of Energy Resources, in consultation with other state agencies and the Legislative Energy Commission, must develop a framework for the state of Minnesota to transition to a renewable energy economy that ends Minnesota’s contribution to greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels within the next few decades,” SF 425 states. In creating a renewable-energy framework, the Division of Energy Resources would be asked to consider a number of various factors, including the “economic and environmental costs of continued reliance on fossil fuels,” and the “creation of jobs and industry in the state that result from moving ahead of other states in transitioning to a sustainable energy economy.” Additionally, it must account for “the appropriate energy efficiency and renewable energy investments in Minnesota to reduce the economic losses to the Minnesota economy from importation of fossil fuels.” “The…

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Bill Gates Reminds People Solar And Wind Alone Won’t Solve Climate Change

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Bill Gates

by Jason Hopkins   Bill Gates, writing in a year-end blog post, shot down the idea that renewable energy alone can sufficiently reduce carbon emissions and address the world’s fight against climate change. “Some people think we have all the tools we need, and that driving down the cost of renewables like solar and wind solves the problem,” the business magnate wrote Saturday in Gates Notes, his personal blog site. “But solar and wind are intermittent sources of energy, and we are unlikely to have super-cheap batteries anytime soon that would allow us to store sufficient energy for when the sun isn’t shining or the wind isn’t blowing.” Instead, the founder of Microsoft touted the potential of nuclear technology. “Next year I will speak out more about how the U.S. needs to regain its leading role in nuclear power research,” he wrote. “Nuclear is ideal for dealing with climate change, because it is the only carbon-free, scalable energy source that’s available 24 hours a day.” The famous business magnate recognized the promise of nuclear energy for a long time. Gates is the founder of TerraPower, a nuclear reactor design company. TerraPower is working on an advanced nuclear reactor that would help innovate industry.…

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