Analysis: depending on wind and solar energy sources is seriously misguided

Posted: October 14, 2015 by oldbrew in Analysis, opinion
Tags: ,

Solar power tower, Spain [image credit: Coyot.es Network]

Solar power tower, Spain [image credit: Coyot.es Network]


Energy blog Master Resource analyses the future of world energy generation. Several scenarios are considered, but the bottom line is that the the idea of renewables as a primary energy source can never be made to work.

Wind, Solar Mirage

Regarding the power market, wind and solar will actually play a minor, even inconsequential, role in reducing emissions by 2035. Worse still for those that believe human-caused CO2 emission are responsible for disastrous climate change, other reasonable options now available will not have a timely effect.

Adaptation, and using wealth diverted from inappropriate energy policy, is a key public-policy takeaway from this series.


Removing wind and solar from the mix planned for 2014–2035 will reduce investment costs by almost $3 trillion globally, with very little, if any, increase in CO2 emissions. What does become clear is that there is only one approach, apart from aggressive conservation, that would have had any chance of greater impact on human-caused emissions.

So what should we do?

Source: Primary Energy Consumption (Part III—Emissions) – Master Resource

Conclusions

The current strategies of major implementations of “clean” energy sources, largely depending on wind and solar, to address concerns about climate change are seriously misguided, and should be abandoned.

It is important to keep the big picture in mind.

Comments
  1. ivan says:

    I thought that was common knowledge. It doesn’t work on a small scale (I have friends with an EDF solar station that I had to get a diesel generator for and get their battery bank increased to allow them to run more than one thing at a time) therefore why should it work on a larger scale where the costs are much higher and the system more complex.

  2. smamarver says:

    From what i know, the offshore wind-farms play a role in climate change. I think that many “green activists” have never thought of the side effects of those facilities, some of them pointed out here: http://oceansgovernclimate.com/baltic-2-another-climate-change-factor/.

  3. […] is that the the idea of renewables as a primary energy source can never be made to work. – Click here to read the full article […]

  4. oldbrew says:

    ivan: the problem is, it doesn’t seem to be common knowledge in political circles.

    If the politicos could just grasp that renewables can never be a PRIMARY energy source, they might not be in such a hurry to shut down sources that are primary.

  5. ivan says:

    oldbrew, I have to admit that I forgot that the politicians at the moment don’t have a clew about anything other than how to fiddle their expenses and therefore don’t ask the engineers that know about such things about what should be done.

    I would have hoped that at least one or two would have realised that an intermittent source of energy will never supply base load and without reliable base load generators there is no industry and the lights are very likely to go out.

  6. oldbrew says:

    ‘I would have hoped that at least one or two would have realised’

    In the UK that would be Graham Stringer and Peter Lilley.
    http://www.thegwpf.com/peter-lilley-graham-stringer-vote-against-climate-committees-ipcc-report/

    And a mention for David Davies MP.
    http://www.bishop-hill.net/blog/2015/6/11/david-davies-does-climate-change.html

  7. E.M.Smith says:

    @Ivan:

    I would wager that most politicians don’t even know what “baseload” is or means. Remember that the common understanding level of electricity is it is magic juice that comes ftom the wall when you flip a switch… like water comesfrom faucets, only not as wet…

  8. Climatism says:

    Reblogged this on Climatism and commented:
    The misguided and reckless use of literally trillions of dollars of other people’s (taxpayers) money to fight ‘global warming’ that is now called ‘climate change’ to cover hot or cold is the real travesty of this age of collective environmental madness.