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The U.S. wind industry now employs more than 100K people

washingtonpost.com

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Re: The U.S. wind industry now employs more than 100K people

#71

Post by alblue »

llccbb wrote: post #59
rodionos wrote: post #8

According to the EIA [0], wind energy reached 5.6% of total electricity production. Having worked with raw EIA data I can say that the inputs are not very reliable: a) a lot of smaller farms are not included in EIA data b) reporting is voluntary and 30%+ of wind sites stopped reporting data in 2016, for example [1], and c) reporting is based on surveys which means errors, delays, etc. The US is really lagging behind…

As someone who is working with global powerplant data I can say that the US is the global leader. It is not perfect, but it is miles ahead of 170 other countries.

Bollocks.

The UK has a live feed of the makeup of the power plants that is updated on this website every 15 minutes.

http://www.gridwatch.templar.co.uk/

Re: The U.S. wind industry now employs more than 100K people

#72

Post by noonespecial »

Normal_gaussian wrote: post #56
noonespecial wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I think wind turbines are absolutely beautiful They are. Like living sculptures. There's just something extremely dignified about them. Like finally growing up after the childishness of strip-mining. The adults are here.

I couldn't disagree more. They popped up as I was growing up - littering the coastline and countryside. They can be seen from great distances and serve to make the place seem an awful lot smaller. I for one can't wait until we develop a way to live without them - the only condolence is that they move us away from the coal and gas industries. I do hope that solar leaves them in its wake and we can be done with the mon…

I guess it's a matter of perspective. I suppose the true end-game is for tech is to be completely invisible. The great thing about wind and solar is that when you're done with them, you can pretty much just pack them up and haul them off. Strip-mining? Not so much.

Re: The U.S. wind industry now employs more than 100K people

#73

Post by philipkglass »

quickben wrote: post #3

Anybody has a good link to compare TOC of solar vs wind? From what I've heard, solar panels have a definite lifespan, but are maintenance free until then. Wind could last longer provided you maintain it right.

See figure 3-6 in this report:

https://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2017/01/f34/Electricity%...

The EIA thinks that the levelized cost of energy from utility scale solar PV in the US is still above wind. NREL and Lazard seem to think they're about at parity now. PV is lowering costs (both initial construction and O&M) faster than wind, so I expect it to start underpricing wind in the US. Of course there are going to be places where wind remains cheaper for a long time just because they have much better wind resources than sunshine resources.

Utility scale solar farms and wind farms both require maintenance labor, though little compared to coal, hydro, or nuclear facilities. Gas based power plants also require little maintenance relative to the power they produce.

I'd generally expect a PV module installed this year to have a longer useful lifespan than a wind turbine installed this year. Turbines have to endure much more mechanical stress. I'd say a typical rule of thumb right now is 20 years for a turbine and 25 years for a PV module. Both numbers are creeping up over time.

Re: The U.S. wind industry now employs more than 100K people

#74

Post by vincentperes »

jnordwick wrote: post #67

This is NOT a good thing. Producing the same amount or less with more resources is generally considered a very very bad thing. It is the definition of being less efficient..

environmental impact should be taken into consideration, it's most probably a good move for future generation

Re: The U.S. wind industry now employs more than 100K people

#75

Post by jnordwick »

jnordwick wrote: post #67

This is NOT a good thing. Producing the same amount or less with more resources is generally considered a very very bad thing. It is the definition of being less efficient..

Downvoted for basic economic on HN as usual. Why is this site so economically illiterate?

Re: The U.S. wind industry now employs more than 100K people

#76

Post by chris_va »

jnordwick wrote: post #67

This is NOT a good thing. Producing the same amount or less with more resources is generally considered a very very bad thing. It is the definition of being less efficient..

That's the beauty of capitalism. You can just let it run its course and not worry about it. If something is less efficient, it will not be able to compete in the market for very long.

Re: The U.S. wind industry now employs more than 100K people

#77

Post by jnordwick »

vincentperes wrote: post #74
jnordwick wrote: post #67

This is NOT a good thing. Producing the same amount or less with more resources is generally considered a very very bad thing. It is the definition of being less efficient..

environmental impact should be taken into consideration, it's most probably a good move for future generation

Of course, but that it takes more people is a net negative. I didn't say there aren't any positives to wind power. I think it is a balanced part of an alternative energy solution. That is takes so many people resources is a worry though.

Re: The U.S. wind industry now employs more than 100K people

#78

Post by chris_va »

alblue wrote: post #71
llccbb wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who is working with global powerplant data I can say that the US is the global leader. It is not perfect, but it is miles ahead of 170 other countries.

Bollocks. The UK has a live feed of the makeup of the power plants that is updated on this website every 15 minutes. http://www.gridwatch.templar.co.uk/

There is something incredibly satisfying about seeing steam dials on the internet.

Re: The U.S. wind industry now employs more than 100K people

#80

Post by jnordwick »

chris_va wrote: post #76
jnordwick wrote: post #67

This is NOT a good thing. Producing the same amount or less with more resources is generally considered a very very bad thing. It is the definition of being less efficient..

That's the beauty of capitalism. You can just let it run its course and not worry about it. If something is less efficient, it will not be able to compete in the market for very long.

My basic idea was that when seeing this headline people don't go "more people? great!" but instead go "more people? how can we fix that?"
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