In anticipation of a Biden-Harris presidency, it might make sense to take a look at here we might be headed.
Green Energy Alternatives…15, or so, years in and Still Not Ready for Prime Time.
Remember “Global Warming”? Not to mention “Global Cooling,” or the “New Ice Age” that was all the rage a mere 30 years before. Then “Global Warming” morphed into “Climate Change,” which is now morphing into such scaremongering ideas as “Climate Catastrophe,” “Climate Meltdown,” and “Climate Emergency.” I guess the normal scare tactics were not providing the expected hysteria so the bullshite had to be ramped up.
Given the new buzzwords being used to ramp up the hysteria amongst the young, know-nothings like Greta Thunberg, it’s time to post some facts…
Here’s what I found…
> A 1,000-megawatt nuclear facility needs just over one square mile.
> A 1,000-megawatt solar photovoltaic (PV) facility would require up to 75 times the land area of a nuclear facility – for the mathematically challenged, that’s 75 squares miles.
> A 1,000-megawatt wind farm would require up to 360 times as much land area as a nuclear facility – for the mathematically challenged that’s 360 square miles.
For perspective, Rhode Island, our smallest geographical state, is 1,034 square miles. That being the case, a wind farm covering an area about one-third the size of Rhode Island would provide the power for 900,000 homes in the Northeast, but only 460,000 homes in the South.
Let me do some math here. The average household size in the US is 2.6 people per household. Thus 900,000 homes represents 2.35 million people. The city of Houston, Texas, had 2,325,502 people as of the 2018 census. Houston’s land area in 2016 was reported as 637.5 square miles. BINGO… it would require a wind farm one-third the size of Rhode Island to provide power for a city the size Houston, if Houston was in the Northeast. Unfortunately, Houston is not in the Northeast and the energy generated by the above mentioned wind farm would only provide power for about half of Houston’s residents. To provide power for all of Huston, the wind farm would have to be doubled in size to two-thirds of the state of Rhode Island.
What this equates to is an area twice the size of Houston to provide the power required by the city of Houston.
I know, the numbers are beginning to make you dizzy. Now you know why you don’t really know these facts because those pushing these energy sources realize that if you knew the numbers you’d laugh at their ideas for moving to “Green Energy.”
Of course, when the wind stopped blowing in Houston, there’d have to be some back-up energy source, and therein lies the hook. There is no green energy source, of which I am aware, that can operate as a stand-alone source. There has to be some back-up plan for the times when the environment does not cooperate – windless days, night time, etc. Back-up sources would be nuclear, natural gas, clean-burning coal… I hope you get the point.
In addition, it should be pointed out that nuclear energy is not carbon-based nor is it subject to the whims of green energy which is dependent on the sun shining or the wind blowing.
Please, feel free to correct me where I have it wrong. I am always ready to adjust my thinking when the facts require it.
In other words… Change My Mind!
Change My Mind! 