Tag Archives: solar

Challenges to making California’s grid renewable

Posted on September 10, 2019 by

What follows is a report from the California Energy Commission. But in less bureaucratic language, this may summarize it better (Petersen 2019): “I’ve always been amazed at a strange mental disconnect that’s common among renewable power advocates. On one hand, … Continue reading →

Posted in Grid instability | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Germany’s renewable energy program, Energiewende, is a big, expensive failure

Posted on July 20, 2019 by

After reading this post, or better yet the original 44-page document, you’ll understand why the Green New Deal is a bad idea.  This is a cautionary tale worth paying attention to. The goal of Energiewende was to make Germany independent … Continue reading →

Posted in Alternative Energy, Wind | Tagged , , , | 9 Comments

Why solar power can’t save us from the coming energy crisis

Posted on July 2, 2019 by

Preface. Embedded within the posts below are many reasons why solar electricity can’t replace fossil fuels.  All solar and wind do is add to the giant fire of burning fossil fuels with just a tiny bit more power, about 4% … Continue reading →

Posted in Alternative Energy, CSP with thermal energy storage, Solar, Solar EROI | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Pedro Prieto: many solar panels won’t last 25-30 years, EROI may be negative

Posted on March 4, 2019 by

Preface. Pedro Prieto and Charles Hall wrote the definitive book on the EROI of solar power, “Spain’s Photovoltaic Revolution. The Energy Return on Investment” and has built many commercial facilities himself and witnessed the failure of solar panels long before … Continue reading →

Posted in Pedro Prieto, Photovoltaic Solar | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments

Challenges to the Integration of Renewable Resources at High System Penetration

Posted on February 2, 2019 by

Preface.  This overview of challenges for wind and solar written in 2010 is still true today. We are far from being able to reach even a 50% renewable grid (excluding hydropower from the total) given the lack of storage, the … Continue reading →

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Vaclav Smil: from wood to coal to oil, energy transitions take a long time

Posted on December 17, 2018 by

Preface.  This post has a shortened, reworded, and heavily commented on article from Scientific American in 2014.  You can also see two much longer articles about energy transitions by Smil from n 2008 and 2010 here: Vaclav Smil: Our transition … Continue reading →

Posted in Alternative Energy, Coal, Dependence on Oil, Energy, Vaclav Smil | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Solar PV requires too much land to replace fossils

Posted on December 4, 2018 by

Preface. This is a brief summary of the Capellan-Perez paper that calculates the land needed to use solar to replace electricity as well as the land needed if solar were to replace all of societies use of energy (i.e. transportation, … Continue reading →

Posted in Solar | Tagged , , , , , | 9 Comments

Book review of Vaclav Smil’s “Energy Transitions: History, Requirements, Prospects”

Posted on November 13, 2018 by

Preface.  In my extract of the 178 pages in the book below, Smil explains why renewables can’t possibly replace fossil fuels, and appears to be exasperated that people believe this can be done when he writes “Common expectations of energy … Continue reading →

Posted in Alternative Energy, Energy, Vaclav Smil | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 14 Comments

Renewable EROI must include storage, low capacity factor, wide boundaries

Posted on June 25, 2018 by

[ Trainer argues that when you consider how the capacity factor of wind and solar are to fossil plants, seasonality of wind and solar the number of facilities is quite large to deal with the intermittency problem.  Therefore the storage … Continue reading →

Posted in Solar, Solar EROI, Wind, Wind EROI | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Richard Heinberg: Paul Krugman’s Errors and Omissions

Posted on March 2, 2018 by

Preface. This article by Richard Heinberg at Postcarbon refutes a column by Paul Krugmen called “Errors and Emissions Could Fighting Global Warming Be Cheap and Free?” here.  Most of my friends and family think I’m nuts because articles like this … Continue reading →

Posted in EROEI Energy Returned on Energy Invested, Richard Heinberg, Solar, Wind | Tagged , , , , , , | 8 Comments