It is unfortunate that wind developers are still trying to lease land as are solar developers and in certain areas the prices have hit historical highs. Certainly ruined my summer as the fight against them is heating up against my neighbors who bought the land cheap to develop it for wind!
Will the IRA go away - I hope so, but from what I understand what has already been committed cannot be cancelled, at least not without lawsuits. Your thoughts on that?
Your EIA chart shows what we all know - there is no transition.
The obvious dilemma in Germany is not resonating with our politicians here and though the senators in Texas may see it - they have no idea now to move forward other than becoming a bank (the TEF) for the gas industry. Only the richest will benefit from that, instead of making a commitment themselves to our economy, they seek to grift on the system, which only benefits themselves.
Our Texas politicians backed a lame horse years ago and still don't know how to put it down! Renewables will continue to grow in Texas at an astonishing rate! Another 135 GW of solar and 26 GW of wind and an despicable 133 GW of battery storage, all planned on the ERCOT list.
It's interesting what you cover as far as the search engines - yes they have become totally corrupted now. Several years ago they started deleting some studies, I used to store information by links. Then I had to pdf, so I could find that same information on my computer. Now in the last 6 months and even more recently the only information we get on the "green" is glowing platitudes! Nothing adverse, just as you described. I fear for the worst and it is coming faster than I would have thought. We are certainly not the only people who have noticed this change. Europe has censored their media and Britain, and now we are well into it ourselves...
I remember during COVID when we were fighting a solar abatement at the School Board meetings, someone was calling us terrorists, luckily I had the ear of the president of the board, and even though we had opposing opinions we were able to quell that quickly! I am hoping this doesn't happen going forward, but I heard there was a "Climate disinformation database" with lists of people who speak out.... "the shaming wall" - next they will be calling for burning at the stake! I guess I shouldn't joke about that too loud!
There doesn't seem to be much sense left in the world today!
Thanks for the great comments, JF. Sorry to hear about your neighboring land being bought for wind development. Did the wind companies buy the land, or did they buy it through 3rd parties?
You are correct that there have been a lot of attempts to make permanent many parts of the IRA, but I believe "where there is a will, there is a way" to get around those attempts. It will take a new President with the will to do so.
Yes, the Internet has become so corrupted what it may be beyond repair. I, too, have tried to keep track of lies on the Internet but everything gets lost and buried. The only way to keep track is with screen shots and PDFs.
I am working on an article about how the Texas grid is headed to become the next California.
No doubt there is a climate disinformation database but I'm old enough that I don't care!
Your remarks are great as usual, JF. Thank you for reading and commenting! Ed
Apparently wind droughts not were not taken seriously until very recently because as long as there was enough conventional power with a margin to cover breakdowns and extreme weather it didn’t matter whether the wind blew or not.
People assumed that low winds were local and the capacity of battery storage would obey Moore’s Law and double every couple of years
The official meteorologists never sounded a warning about winter droughts and it was left to independent investigators in Australia, Anton Lang and the Miskelly team, to show that the windpower supply is vulnerable to periods of next to no wind lasting up to three or four days across the whole of SE Australia. Planners and lawmakers took no notice.
This is an overview of the situation and their contribution.
Where net zero policies are in place, grids are approaching the tipping point and in the case of Britain, Germany and South Australia they have passed that point and rely on imports and deindustrialization to keep the lights on.
This should have been apparent in Europe long ago due to the experience of mariners and millers for centuries.
Major investigations are required to find out why the meteorologists didn’t issue wind drought alerts and the energy planners and lawmakers didn’t do due diligence on the wind supply.
Thank you for your thoughts and comments, Rafe. Great points and links, especially to your article in Spectator Australia. Your closing statement, "We are left with serious concerns about the diligence and competence of our energy planners" certainly applies to the U.S. as well, as does your recommendation to buy a backup generator. Many in the U.S. are taking that advice. Thanks for reading and commenting, Rafe. Ed
yes I guess I fit that category too - just to old to care what they say... but not too old to care about this fight!
The land will be leased for wind, the small one in the north of the county is about 11,000 acres with about 29 turbines and 100 MW. This one maybe be a lot bigger. I am working on a database to get some stats of existing wind farms... land use, MW and number of turbines... Sometimes I wonder about getting a real life!!! But guess I'm just a nerd!
Wind certainly is unreliable, which is why sailing ships were replaced by steamships many years ago. I've read a lot of historical novels about the old navy battles in sailing ship days. Every sailor dreaded the days when they would be "becalmed". If it lasted too long, they might run out of food and water. I had to read "The Ancient Mariner" (Coleridge?) in English Lit. I remember the awful state the ship was in when the wind stopped. The line I'll never forget is "Water, water, everywhere, and not a drop to drink."
When wind stops, there's no way of knowing how long the calm spell will last. There have been whole decades of low wind - wind 'droughts'. Just as the wheat farmers in the midwest were fooled by over a decade of above normal rain in the early 1900s, and then came the 'dustbowl'; today we see wind turbine investors being fooled by thinking there won't be wind droughts.
Great context about sailing ships being replaced by steamships, Al. Relying on weather dependent means of electricity generation was always a very bad idea. Good points about the dustbowl. It is interesting to note that much of the data cited to try to convince people that our summers are now the hottest on record cite data that begins in 1940. The New York Times does this over and over. We know why they want to exclude the 1930s dust bowl years. Thanks for your thoughts and comments, Al. Ed
It is unfortunate that wind developers are still trying to lease land as are solar developers and in certain areas the prices have hit historical highs. Certainly ruined my summer as the fight against them is heating up against my neighbors who bought the land cheap to develop it for wind!
Will the IRA go away - I hope so, but from what I understand what has already been committed cannot be cancelled, at least not without lawsuits. Your thoughts on that?
Your EIA chart shows what we all know - there is no transition.
The obvious dilemma in Germany is not resonating with our politicians here and though the senators in Texas may see it - they have no idea now to move forward other than becoming a bank (the TEF) for the gas industry. Only the richest will benefit from that, instead of making a commitment themselves to our economy, they seek to grift on the system, which only benefits themselves.
Our Texas politicians backed a lame horse years ago and still don't know how to put it down! Renewables will continue to grow in Texas at an astonishing rate! Another 135 GW of solar and 26 GW of wind and an despicable 133 GW of battery storage, all planned on the ERCOT list.
It's interesting what you cover as far as the search engines - yes they have become totally corrupted now. Several years ago they started deleting some studies, I used to store information by links. Then I had to pdf, so I could find that same information on my computer. Now in the last 6 months and even more recently the only information we get on the "green" is glowing platitudes! Nothing adverse, just as you described. I fear for the worst and it is coming faster than I would have thought. We are certainly not the only people who have noticed this change. Europe has censored their media and Britain, and now we are well into it ourselves...
I remember during COVID when we were fighting a solar abatement at the School Board meetings, someone was calling us terrorists, luckily I had the ear of the president of the board, and even though we had opposing opinions we were able to quell that quickly! I am hoping this doesn't happen going forward, but I heard there was a "Climate disinformation database" with lists of people who speak out.... "the shaming wall" - next they will be calling for burning at the stake! I guess I shouldn't joke about that too loud!
There doesn't seem to be much sense left in the world today!
Thanks for your posts, always good information.
Thanks for the great comments, JF. Sorry to hear about your neighboring land being bought for wind development. Did the wind companies buy the land, or did they buy it through 3rd parties?
You are correct that there have been a lot of attempts to make permanent many parts of the IRA, but I believe "where there is a will, there is a way" to get around those attempts. It will take a new President with the will to do so.
Yes, the Internet has become so corrupted what it may be beyond repair. I, too, have tried to keep track of lies on the Internet but everything gets lost and buried. The only way to keep track is with screen shots and PDFs.
I am working on an article about how the Texas grid is headed to become the next California.
No doubt there is a climate disinformation database but I'm old enough that I don't care!
Your remarks are great as usual, JF. Thank you for reading and commenting! Ed
Apparently wind droughts not were not taken seriously until very recently because as long as there was enough conventional power with a margin to cover breakdowns and extreme weather it didn’t matter whether the wind blew or not.
People assumed that low winds were local and the capacity of battery storage would obey Moore’s Law and double every couple of years
The official meteorologists never sounded a warning about winter droughts and it was left to independent investigators in Australia, Anton Lang and the Miskelly team, to show that the windpower supply is vulnerable to periods of next to no wind lasting up to three or four days across the whole of SE Australia. Planners and lawmakers took no notice.
This is an overview of the situation and their contribution.
https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/doomed-planet/2024/06/things-that-go-slump-in-the-night/
The problem is as simple as ABC.
A. Input to the grid must continuously match the demand.
B. The continuity of RE is broken on nights with little or no wind.
C. There is no feasible or affordable large-scale storage to bridge the gaps.
So the transition to wind and solar power can’t proceed with current storage technology.
Moreover, there is a tipping point when conventional power capacity runs down to the point where there is not enough to meet the baseload.
https://newcatallaxy.blog/2023/07/11/approaching-the-tipping-point/
Where net zero policies are in place, grids are approaching the tipping point and in the case of Britain, Germany and South Australia they have passed that point and rely on imports and deindustrialization to keep the lights on.
This should have been apparent in Europe long ago due to the experience of mariners and millers for centuries.
https://www.spectator.com.au/2023/04/the-endless-wind-drought-crippling-renewables/
Major investigations are required to find out why the meteorologists didn’t issue wind drought alerts and the energy planners and lawmakers didn’t do due diligence on the wind supply.
Thank you for your thoughts and comments, Rafe. Great points and links, especially to your article in Spectator Australia. Your closing statement, "We are left with serious concerns about the diligence and competence of our energy planners" certainly applies to the U.S. as well, as does your recommendation to buy a backup generator. Many in the U.S. are taking that advice. Thanks for reading and commenting, Rafe. Ed
yes I guess I fit that category too - just to old to care what they say... but not too old to care about this fight!
The land will be leased for wind, the small one in the north of the county is about 11,000 acres with about 29 turbines and 100 MW. This one maybe be a lot bigger. I am working on a database to get some stats of existing wind farms... land use, MW and number of turbines... Sometimes I wonder about getting a real life!!! But guess I'm just a nerd!
Wind certainly is unreliable, which is why sailing ships were replaced by steamships many years ago. I've read a lot of historical novels about the old navy battles in sailing ship days. Every sailor dreaded the days when they would be "becalmed". If it lasted too long, they might run out of food and water. I had to read "The Ancient Mariner" (Coleridge?) in English Lit. I remember the awful state the ship was in when the wind stopped. The line I'll never forget is "Water, water, everywhere, and not a drop to drink."
When wind stops, there's no way of knowing how long the calm spell will last. There have been whole decades of low wind - wind 'droughts'. Just as the wheat farmers in the midwest were fooled by over a decade of above normal rain in the early 1900s, and then came the 'dustbowl'; today we see wind turbine investors being fooled by thinking there won't be wind droughts.
Great context about sailing ships being replaced by steamships, Al. Relying on weather dependent means of electricity generation was always a very bad idea. Good points about the dustbowl. It is interesting to note that much of the data cited to try to convince people that our summers are now the hottest on record cite data that begins in 1940. The New York Times does this over and over. We know why they want to exclude the 1930s dust bowl years. Thanks for your thoughts and comments, Al. Ed