- Joined
- Sep 10, 2010
- Messages
- 38,198
- Reaction score
- 15,841
- Gender
- Male
- Political Leaning
- Other
I believe the opposite. Wind, Solar, Tidal should be the primary supplier with oil and natural gas and Thorium nuclear as the backup. When AE (Alternative Energy) is unable to meet the load demand, more traditional systems can take up the slack. Traditional energy relies on depletable energy sources, so these sources should be used sparingly and only when really needed. That's why traditional energy should be the backup, not the other way around.
The big issue with AE is storage, which more than one person has pointed out in this thread. Folks are right to bring it up. Well there's many ways to handle that problem. The kneejerk solution people suggest is batteries. I think that's fine for cars, but I hate it as a grid solution. The best battery tech we have requires Lithium, and that's another finite resource, which puts us back where we started. So I say, leave the Lithium for cars (until we find a better idea) and apply different solutions for grid storage. Here's some ideas:
First, battery solutions are getting better all the time:
Battery Technology - Galvanic cells that store chemical energy
Next, here's a top-level "executive view" of many AE storage solutions (settle in, there's LOTS of them):
Energy storage - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Here's another one:
Energy Storage Industry Grows To Integrate Wind, Solar | Renewable Energy News Article
My favorites are:
Hydro-electric storage (Water):
Grid energy storage - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Pumped-storage hydroelectricity - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Since the best wind is in the mid-west and most of the mid-west is flatter than a pancake, hydro-electric may not be the best solution.
So then you use...Air (compressed that is):
Compressed air energy storage - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Don't know if this is included in your links. But its one of my favorites.
Largest Flywheel Energy Storage System (FESS) Almost Up in Stephentown, New York | CleanTechnica
Flywheels have GREAT potential in stationary applications.
NASA is working on this technology for the Space Station. In space applications they also serve as gyroscopic stabilizers.