The climate change consensus extends beyond climate scientists

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by NeilBlanchard

Same latitude as NY. Germany is the same latitude as ALASKA, and they manage to have solar work just fine.

Latitude isn't the only factor. There's cloud cover: winter in say the intermountain west is a much different thing than winter in Buffalo.

[sendler]

For some reason i can't find any real performance data on any of the USA wind farms such as Maple Ridge which has been online for 10 years.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maple_Ridge_Wind_Farm
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Are they ashamed?

[sendler]

So the USA wind farms are running at about 27% capacity factor on average. Because of the variability even at a minute to minute basis they are considered as almost a liabilty to the stability of the grid. Trying to replace conventional generation with wind, NY determined that with a wind farm capacity factor of 30% of nameplate, that only reduces the demand for the construction of conventional generation plants by 10% because of the lack of storage and smoothing.
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https://www.wind-watch.org/faq-output.php
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Run the numbers
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Let’s Run the Numbers – Nuclear Energy vs. Wind and Solar | The Energy Reality Project
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[oil pan 4]

Most wind farms don't publish actual output.
The ones here run up to 50% of name plate capacity on average.

[rmay635703]

Meanwhile Wisconsin 's last nuclear plant has been decommissioned and is being disassembled because it's not financially profitable to operate

[sendler]

Originally Posted by rmay635703

Meanwhile Wisconsin 's last nuclear plant has been decommissioned and is being disassembled because it's not financially profitable to operate

Replaced by gas. Good move.

[rmay635703]

Originally Posted by sendler

Replaced by gas. Good move.

No it, like 3 hydro plants were replaced by Weston 3 & 4 which were built recently without pollution controls and burn COAL

[oil pan 4]

More flyash for making concrete.

[sendler]

Originally Posted by rmay635703

No it, like 3 hydro plants were replaced by Weston 3 & 4 which were built recently without pollution controls and burn COAL

Perfect example of the failure of the free market. The cheapest way is often the worst way in the long term. The solution would be a carbon tax. Not building new Nuclear plants is one mistake. But shutting down perfectly good running ones that are already built just because they are due for fuel and it is considered cheaper to burn gas or coal is completely foolish. If the Nuclear plants are still serviceable, keep them running. All of the resource heavy investment of building them is already done.

[freebeard]

My personal electricity needs are met by 5.3¢/kWh power from the same Grand Coulee Dam that Woody Guthrie sang about.

If I were to try to employ wind power it would be wind->compressed air->electricity.

Probably a vertical axis windmill on top of this 25ft 1" hex-bar stock I have, with an air compressor (that currently needs a new motor) at the bottom of the tower. The hex bar would store energy in torsion, until it kicks over the air compressor.

Originally Posted by jamesqf

You haven't been listening to me, then. Or many another skiier who gets tired of slush in January.

Or myself, who would argue for being able survive progressively colder and hotter extremes, with time.