What will it take for the U.S. to move away from coal and move on to Solar and wind energy?
Tuesday, November 17th, 2009 at
4:32 am
It would create more jobs and we wouldn't be destroying the very thing we sought out to protect, The Appalachian Mountain range, and other natural resources.
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Tagged with: appalachian mountain range • jobs • natural resources
Filed under: Wind Energy
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Money, lots of it at current photovoltaic prices or we can wait a few years and the price will drop dramatically.
The biggest problem is that if everyone had solar panels, the power companies wouldn’t have anyone to sell power to so they don’t want it. As individuals, we find it difficult to finance $30,000 to $50,000 for the solar panels so who’s going to pay for the panels?
We’re seeing the power companies put more wind turbines out because they can sell the power from that but winds don’t always blow when you want them to blow so for grid stability, standby gas turbines must be ready to step in when the winds falter. It’s awfully difficult to build power plants on the hope that you’ll never use them. This means that only so much of the power can be from wind turbines before the grid destabilizes.
It will not happen. The sun shines only 4 hours a day bright enough to produce solar. Wind is nice but maintenance on those turbines is high. One of the few things the USA does export is coal. We do need to create more jobs but high cost unreliable energy is not the answer.
Water power is great but I am afraid some fish might complain to congress and we would not want that. Come to think of it maybe the spotted owl will complain about windmills.
Take away all the coal industry tax breaks and charge coal companies for all the damage they do to the environment and peoples health. Then coal will be too expensive for us to use and we’ll have to find something better and cheaper.
A reliable backup. Significant levels of wind or solar energy can make a power grid unstable. Germany is currently running into this problem. For now, natural gas plants would serve as good partners to renewables because they can start up and shut down quite easily to respond quickly to changes in wind or solar production. In the long-term, natural gas could be replaced by hydrogen fuel cells. If there was excess power supply it could be used to generate hydrogen which could then be converted back to energy at night/when the wind wasn’t blowing.
The claim that there isn’t enough sun is completely false.
how would you propose to power the US when the sun doesn’t shine or the wind doesn’t blow? How would we employ more people. Spain tried to go all solar and the number of people in the energy industry lost 5% of its employees, even with all those solar plants they built. Why not complain that the sports teams destroy more land building mega stadiums with parking lots than any coal mine does.
It won’t. Coal is too reliable and truly employs too many people. Also, although many environmental conservationists will tell you that coal is destroying the earth, coal today simply is not like it was back in the old days. Nowadays, the regulations are very strict. The planning and applying for permits that conform to EPA standards takes years. In fact, plans and permits that were once ok’d for years are now forced to be revised several times, until everyone is absolutely certain, that nothing will be irreversibly damaged. As far as mountaintop removal and strip mining go, both the EPA and the coal industry in itself are held and bound by projections to make certain that the contour of the mined land will be put back exactly as it should be, as well as the vegetation there must be replaced. Coal mines today employ environmental engineers and wildlife specialists that roam all the property belonging to the mine to make sure that no endangered species of animals are naturally there-if they are, the land can not be mined, tress can not be removed and production there is halted immediately. There are so many regulations that are followed and abided by, that I wonder why are we trying to put everyone employed directly and otherwise, by mines out of business? Because I’ll tell you what, I love nature, but i love being safe in my environment, too. If they suddenly take away everyone’s jobs, many people will find thenselves concerned about the environment in which they live immediately, as opposed to years dowwn the road, when crime, drug abuse and depression rates go through the roof
I think the answer lies with consumers like us. We pay for electricity and we can influence from where we get it and how it is generated. Read up as much as possible on energy generation. The answer does not lie only with generating energy but with transmission too, what we need is good power infrastructure and energy efficient transformers. Check out Pacific Crest Transformers website to read and play a knowledgeable role
citizen of US should be, must be informed about solar and wind energy and other alternative of resource..
U.S government want to change, like President Barack Obama wants 10% of America’s electricity to be relied upon renewable sources by the year 2012, and also for that percentage to be increased to 25% by the year 2025. President Obama promised to provide significant tax credits with the aim of encouraging citizens for helping to revive the economy and the creation of the new power capacity