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Natural gas has well overtaken coal, I wasn't debating that point. Coal is becoming less relevant by the year, providing close to 25% of the total base generation and falling rapidly.
So, focus on wind over solar. Wind energy is coming up to 50% of all electricity generated in some states or in short order. Advancements in blade technology and engineering make them very efficient, and rural landowners get land lease payments per turbine.
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Originally Posted by GraniteStater
Natural gas has well overtaken coal, I wasn't debating that point. Coal is becoming less relevant by the year, providing close to 25% of the total base generation and falling rapidly.
Discussed ad nauseum on other threads here: wind & solar, without even getting into their negative effects on habitat or aesthetics, are unreliable. Without efficient storage methods, they require continuous back-up by traditional power plants kept running at idle, generating that poisonous co2 so feared by the partially educated.
While coal itself is being used in decreasing quantities, summed with NG, the fossil fuels still produce 65-70% of American electricity.
Discussed ad nauseum on other threads here: wind & solar, without even getting into their negative effects on habitat or aesthetics, are unreliable. Without efficient storage methods, they require continuous back-up by traditional power plants kept running at idle, generating that poisonous co2 so feared by the partially educated.
While coal itself is being used in decreasing quantities, summed with NG, the fossil fuels still produce 65-70% of American electricity.
Coal will provide a small percentage of the total share over the next decade conpared to natural gas. Engineers had best make progress with battery storage technology, but has been slow to advance.
So, focus on wind over solar. Wind energy is coming up to 50% of all electricity generated in some states or in short order. Advancements in blade technology and engineering make them very efficient, and rural landowners get land lease payments per turbine.
One wants a portfolio of renewable technologies. Solar and wind complement each other as in most areas wind is a larger night time resource and solar, obviously, day time. Roof top solar also has transmission benefits as the resource and load are very close together.
Coal will provide a small percentage of the total share over the next decade conpared to natural gas. Engineers had best make progress with battery storage technology, but has been slow to advance.
Battery storage will be a benefit, but we don't need battery storage for renewables to displace 100% of the coal fired capacity in this country. All systems already operate with spinning reserve ready to compensate for fluctuations in supply. Nuclear plants are actually a larger issue because they can and have been shut down for regulatory/safety reasons and those are typically 1000-2000 MW chunks that require replacement. TVA really struggled back in the 80s when the had to shut down all of their nukes.
There's a concept called the law of large numbers that shows the effective availability of intermittent technologies like solar increases dramatically as the amount of capacity installed over a large area increases. The lay public can fret about solar reliability. Utility dispatch people do not.
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