Why do we have renewable energy caps?

5 Comments

1. John W says:

   October 28, 2009 at 5:02 am

   I’m not sure as to which caps you are referring to however if it’s about wind power, the problem is that winds do not blow on demand and they have to be blowing within very specific parameters in order to produce usable power. Because of this, an equivalent amount of standby generation capacity must be maintained in case the winds aren’t available when needed. Of course, it is very expensive to duplicate the generation capability in hopes of never using the standby capacity so there is some degree of overbooking allowed based on statistics and probabilities Also, wind power tends to produce power of varying frequencies which when hooked to the grid could destabilize the grid. Because of the lack of on demand generation and the stability issue, there’s a limit as to how much of the generation on a grid can be allowed to be from wind power.
2. Dan-Calin says:

   October 28, 2009 at 5:02 am

   Renewable energy is very reliable and can be utilized using actual technologies.

   But renewable energy is cheap, almost free, giving financial independence.
   And it is "better" to pay for energy instead of having it for free.
   Now energy is produced from oil, gas or coal named fossil combustibles.

   Stored deep inside the Earth, the existence of those fossil combustibles means less CO2 in the atmosphere.

   Burning fossil combustibles increase the percentage of CO2 in the atmosphere: climate changes.

   So renewable energy is reliable: sun produces light, heat,which means free energy.

   Yes, we can use renewable energy!
3. roderick_young says:

   October 28, 2009 at 5:02 am

   I’m not sure what you mean. There are mandates that California use a minimum percentage of renewable energy by a certain date, but I have never heard of a maximum.

   Can you give us a little more detail about the cap you heard about? Maybe that was a cap on certain kinds of emissions?
4. dylstar7 says:

   October 28, 2009 at 5:02 am

   it’s actually a ploy to keep the old technology alive a little longer
   eventually we are certain to be totally renewable energy dependent because it is most efficient, the big Co.’s have the money to hire lobbyists to oppose such luminous bills that might raise the caps on renewable energy
   the man with all the gold makes the rules
   The technology for renewable energy is well beyond where it needs to be
   solar
   wind
   water
   thermal
   all renewable sources of energy that the energy co..’s are opposed to in the long run because they gepordise the livelihood of too many CEO’s and executives who have been raking in the benefits of our
   dependance on their dirty energy
   the technology exists today to abandon fossil fuel using vehicles
   that’s right cars trucks, trains, airplanes, ships, etc.
   It may not seem like it would be free of delays and ensue dramatic problems only looking at the history. Few of us beings have our eye on the prize rather than the process
5. joescuriosityshoppe.com says:

   October 28, 2009 at 5:02 am

   Maybe they don’t want an over-reliance on one energy source, so they cap the more popular ones to encourage diversity?