Iron Bru › Forums › Non Football › The Problems with Renewable Energy › Reply To: The Problems with Renewable Energy
The drive to net-zero has created huge problems for the western world. Renewable wind and solar energy sound great in theory but their inherent intermittency makes generating electricity at the levels required for national grids both wasteful and expensive.
First, national grid supplies require a steady base load, which renewables cannot provide without hugely expensive battery support. Second, changes in demand mean high levels of capacity are required at very short notice, which means back-up for renewables must be maintained at high ‘spinning levels’ to accommodate the unpredictability of their supply. Third, drops in wind and/or sunshine can happen unpredictably over prolonged periods of time, during which even the biggest batteries would be unable to cope, meaning total capacity back-up is required. In simple terms, all of this means creating two national grid supplies. As well as being uneconomic this is also hugely wasteful in resources and energy.
On top of this, wind turbines require large quantities of materials, from steel to cement that need huge amounts of energy to manufacture and build as well as to site and secure. Offshore they damage large areas of the seabed while the harsh environment in which they operate demands high levels of maintenance. Onshore and offshore wind turbines kill significant numbers of birds. Solar panels are well-suited to domestic use but at national grid levels require large amounts of land, which takes valuable farmland and destroys habitats.While renewables can provide useful sources of electricity, at the scale required for national grids they are unlikely ever to become economic, even given likely developments in battery and other storage technology. The only practical and viable source to fossil fuels for producing electricity is nuclear power.
It will be many decades before fossil fuels can be phased out.
Tell that to those that have been in power in this country for the last decade and a quarter.