The climate change consensus extends beyond climate scientists

[freebeard]

It's silly to imply that what we need to implement today is technology we hope will be developed in the future.

Antiquitech.

[NeilBlanchard]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

Wind on average shuts down several times daily, and if not shut down, operates at diminished capacity for long periods of time. Solar shuts down a minimum of once per day, and too suffers from diminished capacity depending on weather.

A few examples of plants shutting down is not indicative of a systemic problem. If it were a serious problem, we would see nuclear power diminishing rather than growing faster than solar/wind. We would also see lower capacity factors rather than the very steady 80%+ over the past 2 decades.

Wind capacity factor may be improving, but that has more to do with it being very poor to begin with ~30%.

It's silly to imply that what we need to implement today is technology we hope will be developed in the future. We can only implement what is available today while still hoping for improvements in the future. To say that RE storage might be technically feasible and cost effective in the future doesn't give us direction on what to build now.

No - an installation across an area almost never totally shuts down. The site is chosen because it has a lot of wind much of the time. And if / when it shuts down - it is PREDICTABLE.

Pilgrim had at least 10 SCRAMs during it's lifetime. And it had to be shut down every 18 months or so for refueling, which takes a number of weeks. It also had to be shut down for regular and emergency repairs.

Nuclear power is NOT growing. In the US, we are decommissioning as many plants as we are building. Nuclear is MUCH much expensive - and decommissioning Pilgrim will cost AT LEAST $1 Billion dollars. IT will have 61 dry casks - that will last only about 100 years. And then they will have to be replaced. Then in 100 years, they will have to be replaced again. And so on, and so on - for possibly THOUSANDS of years.

Nuclear power is simply the stupidest way possibly to boil water.

[RedDevil]

Wind does not shut down several times daily? Especially those >2MW mills that are hundreds of meters tall almost always have enough wind to keep producing at least some power uninterrupted for months on end.
At least over here they do.

Our polders have been kept dry by wind mills for over 4 centuries. There have been floods by dike breakthroughs, but never by rain and no wind.

[redpoint5]

Half the time I look at the wind turbines in the gorge, they aren't spinning. None of them.

I'll commit the same error as others who say perhaps RE storage will be viable in the future by saying that perhaps in 100 years we won't be storing nuclear "waste", but using it to fuel new generation reactors.

[freebeard]

Nuclear power is simply the stupidest way possibly to boil water.

Suppose you want to melt salt. What's the best way to do that?

[NeilBlanchard]

The Great Fusion Reactor in the Sky is the best way to make heat.

[NeilBlanchard]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

Half the time I look at the wind turbines in the gorge, they aren't spinning. None of them.

I'll commit the same error as others who say perhaps RE storage will be viable in the future by saying that perhaps in 100 years we won't be storing nuclear "waste", but using it to fuel new generation reactors.

Look at Texas up through the Dakotas. South Dakota alone could generate about 1/3rd of all the electricity need in the entire lower 48 states.

Off shore wind is huge in some areas. Add wind together with solar, and biomass and wave, tidal, geothermal, and storage - and we are finding that we can get more than enough energy.

[NeilBlanchard]

Originally Posted by RedDevil

Wind does not shut down several times daily? Especially those >2MW mills that are hundreds of meters tall almost always have enough wind to keep producing at least some power uninterrupted for months on end.
At least over here they do.

Our polders have been kept dry by wind mills for over 4 centuries. There have been floods by dike breakthroughs, but never by rain and no wind.

The larger a wind turbine is, the better it works - we are up to 8-12MW units now. One single revolution can power a house for a day.

We can also deploy high flying autonomous tethered wind turbine systems, that get 1/2 mile altitude without a tower.. They can even have portable bases (i.e. they are trucks), and can be moved as needed.

[freebeard]

I knew you'd say that.

It's certainly viable in the inner Solar System.

Meanwhile, whatever the source, it should be decentralized:

hardware.slashdot.org: California Approves Wide Power Outages To Prevent Wildfires (nbcnews.com)

[sendler]

Originally Posted by NeilBlanchard

The Great Fusion Reactor in the Sky is the best way to make heat.

Way too diffuse by the time it gets here. Takes a desert full of mirrors to do anything. And totally useless 3 months a year where I live.