And now that we know the growth in solar energy was grossly underestimated, is Trump revising his push to invest in coal rather than solar? I doubt it. And what country is taking the lead in solar energy technology and implementations?
China IDLES most of it's renewables way too often. It's a SUPPLEMENT to them. Not a fundamental power source. And that's the way it should be. Because neither wind/solar are predictable, dependable. Can't sign a contract to buy 4GWatts of wind energy next Tuesday. Not even a marketable business if it wasn't completely subsidized.
As far as the Govt being spectacularly wrong. Welcome to my world. They are messing in WAY too many things with brains that NEVER practiced in those areas. Fire those folks at EIA making the predictions. But to be FAIR -- 10 years out in 2006, nobody saw the BAILOUTS and price declines coming from solar factory closing and consolidation. And the high investments by the states in pouring buckets of subsidies into this "supplement" which is NOT an "alternative"..
It's NOT coal vs solar. They are not alternatives. Never were. Solar is a daytime PEAKING source. It allows you defer construction on NEW power generation until you use up your margin of demand reserve for mid day peaks. That's really ALL it is.....
It's a SUPPLEMENT to them. Not a fundamental power source. And that's the way it should be. Because neither wind/solar are predictable, dependable.
What? How do you manage to arrive at a normative conclusion about what energy sources one or a country should use as its primary source of energy, be it now or in the future?
Since when is the Sun not reliable? Solar energy does not need to be used on an "as you go" basis. Energy collected from the Sun can be stored for later use. No doubt after the next large-enough asteroid hits and the planet becomes wrapped in a shroud of dust and smoke, the Sun won't be as effective an energy source. Be that as it may, if such an asteroid -- one that envelops the planet in a thick dust cloud -- well, what energy source any nation or individual uses isn't going to be a big concern, not nearly as much as will be merely surviving, and the fact of the matter is that humans survived for a long time without power plants of any sort. Until such a calamity, however, the Sun is a reliable enough energy source.
The solar insolation at mid lattitudes is good for 8 hours a day. LESS if you're not somehow gimbaled mechanically. For a single home, you can propose storage. Although you need to more than DOUBLE the power of the collection system to GET excess for storage. Then -- the 1/4 ton of BATTERIES you need to store the power is an enviro nightmare if EVERYBODY did that. The scale of storage for a supermarket is unworkable in terms of environment and economics.
You have no grid scale solution to make solar a PRIMARY grid generator. The avg use in Cali summers at 10PM is 80% of the mid day peak. So you can relieve the mid-day peak by 15% or so with solar. And you still need 100% RELIABLE PRIMARY generation for cloudy/rainy/snowy days. You do not build advanced societies on "maybe" power.
It's a SUPPLEMENT -- never an "alternative"..
Did it fully escape you that you are describing an operational paradigm that might apply to some people/places in the U.S. and that my remark had to do with China where (1) there is a different paradigm and (2) the government is investing vastly more than the does our government in overcoming the challenges of collecting, using, storing, etc. solar power?
One thing's certain: not putting in the effort needed to find ways to overcome those challenges is easily the surest way to either not overcome them or overcome them well after others who invested the effort, thereby relegating oneself into a "catch up" position rather than securing for oneself a leading position. As goes the development and implementation of new and innovative clean energy collection, storage, management, distribution, etc. means/modes, at the moment, the U.S. is well behind other nations, most notably, China, though China isn't the world's current leader in the actual deployment of solar energy usage implementations. (
I believe Germany is the current leader in that dimension of the matter.)
Truly, I'm not even convinced by your unsubstantiated assertions that the operational model you described is accurate on all scale levels -- individual, industrial/enterprise and governmental -- even in the U.S.
Hell, solar isn't the only clean energy option, and truly, the central point/goal is to replace non-readily-renewable energy sources with ones that are readily renewable. Thus whether solar, wind and/or other renewable sources are or can be used in concert or exclusively isn't really the point.
I don't much care whether individuals/entities obtain their electricity from a power company that produces it via one or several renewable sources or whether an individual obtains it by producing for themselves. Which of those two approaches turns out to be the most efficacious remains to be seen.
(Solar seems to be the one approach that is readily implementable on an individual level, whereas hydrogen, wind, and water are probably not viable for most or even many individual energy production situations and purposes.)
Aside:
Call me crazy if you want, but while Trump and his cohorts apparently define their patriotism with regard to superficial things like whether one stands during the National Anthem, I define mine in terms of being proud of my country for being the leader in key dimensions that actually matter and that have real and positive impacts on the way each individual lives. Being first in the discovery, development and implementation of technologies is without question one of those things that has real and positive impacts on human lifestyles. The U.S. used to be first in the implementation and exploration of technological advances, but as goes energy production, it seems Trump doesn't want the U.S. to lead humanity's evolution from non-renewable energy production to renewable energy production. That's nothing to be proud of.
Need daily reports on your welfare.
