More wind energy was installed in 2020 than any other energy source
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Re: More wind energy was installed in 2020 than any other energy source
#2But the news told me that trump destroyed american renewables.... In reality, america has surpassed it's Paris climate goals every year despite not being party to the agreement. That's a better model.
Re: More wind energy was installed in 2020 than any other energy source
#3Best news is that cost of these installations is now quite low: less than $1.5 per watt peak.
What about capacity utilisation factor of newly installed turbines? Does it trend downwards? Which means, are we close to exhausting potential of wind?
PS: It's not, it's actually trending a bit up. Which is explainable because average capacity of a turbine trends up -> the turbine is bigger and taller -> wind blows faster and more consistently on higher altitude.
Re: More wind energy was installed in 2020 than any other energy source
#4Is there a plan to eliminate coal and gas as big elements in USA's eletricity production?
Re: More wind energy was installed in 2020 than any other energy source
#5Is there a plan to eliminate coal and gas as big elements in USA's eletricity production?
If it’s cloudy and an extended period of calm wind, it’s unacceptable for me to not have electricity, and neither is it for hospitals or nursing homes. We will always need some form of petro backup unless our queasiness with nuclear is solved.
Re: More wind energy was installed in 2020 than any other energy source
#6Is there a plan to eliminate coal and gas as big elements in USA's eletricity production?
If it’s cloudy and an extended period of calm wind, it’s unacceptable for me to not have electricity, and neither is it for hospitals or nursing homes. We will always need some form of petro backup unless our queasiness with nuclear is solved.
I think you'd have to look at the statistics for consecutive windless days for the given location to rule out battery storage? Also in the US, I think natural gas peakers are more common than petro.
Re: More wind energy was installed in 2020 than any other energy source
#7Am I correct to assume that wind is a more indirect source of power than solar?
In my mind, solar energy creates wind by heating up the surface of the earth, which then heats up the air above it, which then moves around to even out the temperature differences.
Therefore I suspect that in the long run (10 years? 100 years?) solar energy will be more common than wind energy. Similar to how solid state drives are overtaking spinning drives.
What do you guys think?
Re: More wind energy was installed in 2020 than any other energy source
#8Earlier quoted context omitted.
If it’s cloudy and an extended period of calm wind, it’s unacceptable for me to not have electricity, and neither is it for hospitals or nursing homes. We will always need some form of petro backup unless our queasiness with nuclear is solved.
I think you'd have to look at the statistics for consecutive windless days for the given location to rule out battery storage? Also in the US, I think natural gas peakers are more common than petro.
Michael Shellenberger is very good on the realities of this but sadly this site will quickly flag anything that is inconvenient to the preferred narrative.
https://michaelshellenberger.substack.com/p/finally-they-adm...
Re: More wind energy was installed in 2020 than any other energy source
#9Am I correct to assume that wind is a more indirect source of power than solar? In my mind, solar energy creates wind by heating up the surface of the earth, which then heats up the air above it, which then moves around to even out the temperature differences. Therefore I suspect that in the long run (10 years? 100 years?) solar energy will be more common than wind energy. Similar to how solid state drives are overta…
Both seem useful in different places. There are very windy locations that get very little sun, and very sunny locations that get very little wind.
Re: More wind energy was installed in 2020 than any other energy source
#10Am I correct to assume that wind is a more indirect source of power than solar? In my mind, solar energy creates wind by heating up the surface of the earth, which then heats up the air above it, which then moves around to even out the temperature differences. Therefore I suspect that in the long run (10 years? 100 years?) solar energy will be more common than wind energy. Similar to how solid state drives are overta…
Yes, but the advantage wind has is that the solar energy gets stored for a while in the surface and atmosphere before you harvest it.