Gaining Footholds: Solar and Wind Power; Electric Vechicles

[ATeam]

Wind and solar energy combined to generate 13.6% of utility-scale electricity last year.

Sales of all-electric vehicles rose to 5.8% of the total 13.8 million vehicles Americans purchased in 2022, up from 3.2% in 2021

Source

 

[LDB]

Yes, next generation's potentially good solutions are being forced upon us now in spite of not being ready for prime time. And who cares about the millions of raptors killed and the mining devastation, anyway.

 

[danthewolf00]

Wonder where the money is coming from to push this green new deal.....I mean our electric infrastructure is not even close to being able to put out enough power to charge what ev's that are out as well as keep our homes running......but the Democrats know what they are doing right?

 

[muttly]

Overloading an electric grid. What could go wrong? Like Germany, The US Is Greening Its Grid Towards Catastrophe

 

[ATeam]

While it is difficult to conceive if you have not thought it through, it is possible that the world will enjoy free energy in the not too distant future. At my age, I may not see it in my lifetime, but I believe it's coming. The significant foothold mentioned above gives me great confidence in a free-energy world ahead.

It is conceivable today that, if I made the investments, I could use my solar-powered home to charge my electric vehicle. My house and car would be powered by free energy, which the sun happily provides. Of course you have to buy the solar panels, battery storage and electric car, but the energy from the sun is free.

Our strip mall landlord would not allow us to install solar panels on the roof to power our gym. But with the significant power bills we pay each month, the economics of doing so are appealing. Imagine that. A gym powered off grid. That immediately frees the grid for other uses like providing electricity to charge electric vehicles in parking lots when people are away from home. As the technology advances and costs come down, it is very easy to imagine landlords shifting their views. Instead of prohibiting solar panels, they will provide them as a free-electricity incentive to draw tenants in.

By the way, solar panels are nearly 100% recyclable, and there are companies emerging now to meet that need and business opportunity (not a green deal thing at all, just good business).

I like the idea. Instead of being an electric consumer, I'm an energy producer.

While there are plenty of people eager to explain why none of this can work, people like Musk and others are leading the way. The electric grid powered by centralized power plants is a thing of the past. As solar, wind and other renewable energy is enhanced, the need for centralized power plants fades.

 

[LDB]

I've put in my application for all this free energy and being one of the first to do so am also entered in the drawing for the free bridge as well.

 

[ATeam]

I've put in my application for all this free energy and being one of the first to do so am also entered in the drawing for the free bridge as well.

Open your eyes, my friend. Free energy is all around us. I use it to charge my cell phone in the woods. It's used with our neighbor's outdoor security lights. It powers electronic road signs truckers often see.

Think of what we used to pay for but now don't because technology made it free. Free Energy is on this path. It's making inroads now and more will come.

• Paper maps
• Cameras
• Calculators
• Tape recorders and tapes
• CD players and CDs
• Stock market quotes and services from stockbrokers
• Dictionaries
• Many books
• Newspapers and magazines
• Long distance phone calls
• Letters and postage stamps
• A college education (you still have to pay if you want the official degree, but the entire education itself is available free online from that very same university or college)
• Alarm clocks
• Trip planning services
• Games
• Presentation tools (slide shows replaced by PowerPoint, software not available free).
• Numerous software programs now free that used to cost.
• Encyclopedias
• Computer backup devices and file storage
• Business travel replaced by online conferencing
• Cookbooks

 

[LDB]

Open your eyes, my friend. Free energy is all around us. I use it to charge my cell phone in the woods. It's used with our neighbor's outdoor security lights. It powers electronic road signs truckers often see.

Think of what we used to pay for but now don't because technology made it free:

• Paper maps
• Cameras
• Calculators
• Tape recorders and tapes
• CD players and CDs
• Stock market quotes and services from stockbrokers
• Dictionaries
• Many books
• Newspapers and magazines
• Long distance phone calls
• Letters and postage stamps
• A college education (you still have to pay if you want the official degree, but the entire education itself is available free online from that very same university or college)
• Alarm clocks
• Trip planning services
• Games
• Presentation tools (slide shows replaced by PowerPoint, software not available free).
• Numerous software programs now free that used to cost.
• Encyclopedias
• Computer backup devices and file storage
• Business travel replaced by online conferencing
• Cookbooks

My eyes are open, as they were when I paid hundreds of dollars for my cell phone which is what you are referencing in a good part of your list of "free" things. Nothing is free and none of these magical things like wind, solar, geothermal, hydroelectric, lunar, saturnian or anything else is advanced enough and mature enough to do the job now. Those are solutions, maybe, a generation from now. But nothing is free. Someone, somewhere, is paying for it in some way.

 

[ATeam]

My eyes are open, as they were when I paid hundreds of dollars for my cell phone which is what you are referencing in a good part of your list of "free" things. Nothing is free and none of these magical things like wind, solar, geothermal, hydroelectric, lunar, saturnian or anything else is advanced enough and mature enough to do the job now.

That is partially true, but I've driven through some major-huge wind farms in Texas that are doing the job now. This is a post about footholds. It's not about what isn't being done now. It's about the clear path we're on to tapping into the free energy that comes from the sources you list.

Those are solutions, maybe, a generation from now. But nothing is free. Someone, somewhere, is paying for it in some way.

You paid for your smart phone but not a dime extra for the many free apps it runs. Yes, others pay to develop and deliver them but they are free to you.

 

[LDB]

That is partially true, but I've driven through some major-huge wind farms in Texas that are doing the job now. This is a post about footholds. It's not about what isn't being done now. It's about the clear path we're on to tapping into the free energy that comes from the sources you list.


You paid for your smart phone but not a dime extra for the many free apps it runs. Yes, others pay to develop and deliver them but they are free to you.

Living in Texas and dealing with the inadequacies of the grid I can assure you those wind farms are not doing the job. Along with failing to do the job they also kill many many many MANY thousands of raptors. And yes, when I paid for my phone I paid for all your "free" apps along with it. Were they not in it and were the developers not paid royalties that I'm pretty sure they are paid the price of the phone could have been lower. These "footholds" aren't great and wondrous things because something magnificent is making its way ashore to us, they are footholds of unready, inadequate, negatives that are being pushed upon us. Forget those foolish wind farms, build a few more nuclear plants that will provide more than adequate power for the next quarter century until these wannabes mature enough for viability.

 

[ATeam]

Living in Texas and dealing with the inadequacies of the grid I can assure you those wind farms are not doing the job.

Are they producing no electricity? If they are producing it, where does it go? Someone benefits from it do they not?

Along with failing to do the job they also kill many many many MANY thousands of raptors. And yes, when I paid for my phone I paid for all your "free" apps along with it. Were they not in it and were the developers not paid royalties that I'm pretty sure they are paid the price of the phone could have been lower.

Not being fussy about having the latest and greatest, I generally get my phones for free.

These "footholds" aren't great and wondrous things because something magnificent is making its way ashore to us, they are footholds of unready, inadequate, negatives that are being pushed upon us.

When electricity, the telephone, the automobile, television, etc. were gaining their first footholds in the US, they had their vehement skeptics too. But bit by bit they established themselves and no one would dream of doing without them today.

Forget those foolish wind farms, build a few more nuclear plants that will provide more than adequate power for the next quarter century until these wannabes mature enough for viability.

It would not trouble me a bit to see new, modern nuclear plants built. Even more exciting is the advances made in nuclear fusion. That too is coming.

 

[LDB]

Are they producing no electricity? If they are producing it, where does it go? Someone benefits from it do they not?

Not being fussy about having the latest and greatest, I generally get my phones for free.

When electricity, the telephone, the automobile, television, etc. were gaining their first footholds in the US, they had their vehement skeptics too. But bit by bit they established themselves and no one would dream of doing without them today.

It would not trouble me a bit to see new, modern nuclear plants built. Even more exciting is the advances made in nuclear fusion. That too is coming.

They produce but not in the quantities needed.

No one would do without them today because they are generations later and fully developed. As I've said, wind and solar are great (probably) a generation from now but at this moment they are too new and underdeveloped to do an adequate job.

Nuclear is the correct answer but it won't be allowed.

 

[ATeam]

There is something else to be aware of regarding this topic. That's not just the changes coming soon, but also the increased speed at which new breakthroughs will come. Electricity and the first computer chips made computers possible. Landline and cable networks combined with computers to make the internet possible. The internet combined with more powerful computers makes artificial intelligence possible. Step by step, network effects bring components together to create even more powerful network effects.

Scientific advance makes it possible for Musk's Starlink satellite project to bring broadband internet access to every square inch on earth. Connecting everyone will bring even more brains into the game and produce even more network effects.

Artificial is now emerging too. That power is being applied to medical research projects such that studies that would have taken years can be modeled in far shorter times and new discoveries can be made. So too in engineering and just about any other field you can name.

When you see these changes and see them coming faster, it's OK to be skeptical and pessimistic. No one ever said you must be the first to wire your home for electricity or buy a mobile phone. The early adopters do that first and the rest follow after the value becomes obvious. I think all of us here on EO are old enough to remember what life was like before everyone had a mobile phone. The first ones came out and in a fairly short time, everyone came around.

I'm not usually an early adopter of something new. I like wait for the prices to come down and the bugs to be worked out. But I'm also not one to deny the profound world-changing developments I see happening before my eyes.

 

[ATeam]

They produce but not in the quantities needed.

No one would do without them today because they are generations later and fully developed. As I've said, wind and solar are great (probably) a generation from now but at this moment they are too new and underdeveloped to do an adequate job.

Nuclear is the correct answer but it won't be allowed.

I would like to see that change. Nuclear is not the answer, but it is part of it. The sooner new nuclear plants are allowed the better.

Since 2020, five new nuclear plants have opened in countries other than the US. In contrast, strong public sentiment that grew stronger over the years led Germany to shut down the last three of its 17 nuclear power plants in 2023. Germany is committed to deriving 80% of its power from renewable sources by 2050. (Source: Bard and ChatGPT, free AI apps that provide instant answers to such questions, and is greatly enhancing the productivity of our gym staff. )

That 2050 target date supports your point about the world not being ready now or soon. Closing all of a country's nuclear power plants is a bold move that supports my point about the increasing foothold free energy is making.