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US in energy landmark as renewables produce more electricity than coal

Media_Truth said:
I decided to contact EIA, and found out that form EIA-861 is filled out annually by each Utility. Note the last question under Photovoltaic. "If Available, Enter the Electric Energy Sold Back to the Utility". "If Available" - my point is that this is seldom, if ever, available. There is one meter, and it measures total electric usage minus renewable generation. It doesn't measure the exact contribution of the PV system.

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Because of the "If Available" clause, Utilities have the option to leave this blank, and that's probably what most do... In other words - the philosophy that "no information is better than wrong information"...
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More likely they create an algorithm to estimate.
 
Bergslagstroll said:
Renewables beat coal for the first time in the US during April this year.

"Clean energy such as solar and wind provided 23% of US electricity generation during the month, compared to coal’s 20%, according to the Energy Information Administration.
This represents the first time coal has been surpassed by energy sources that do not release pollution such as planet-heating gases.

April was a favorable month for renewables, with low energy demand and an uptick in wind generation. This means that coal may once again pull ahead of renewables again during 2019, although the long-term trends appear to be set."

US in energy landmark as renewables produce more electricity than coal | Environment | The Guardian

There you also are starting to see a shift among Republican politcians.

Why Republican Leaders Love Renewable Energy

Some Republican Lawmakers Break With Party on Climate Change - WSJ
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That is probably a good thing.
 
Jay59 said:
Coal has been dying slowly for over a generation. Given 25 more years most of the mines will be closed.
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They will die out naturally. If democrats were smart, they would stop trying to kill them. Continue to say they don't like them, but actually trying to kill them is one reason why they lost the 2016 election.
 
longview said:
The transport is certainty easier. I lived down the road from a coal plant in the 80's,
and that several hundred rail cars of coal a day is nothing to laugh about.
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And relatively safe high paying union jobs.
 
Jay59 said:
Not to mention the soot and toxic gasses. It's good that the coal plant is going away.
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That depends on the quality of the plant. Some are cleaner than diesel cars.
 
PoS said:
When green energy can actually replace oil based fuels by 100% is when I'll start believing in any of the OP's articles.
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That is a long tome to come still. Without some paradigm shift in the technology of power generation, fossil fuels will be around until they are expensive due to supply and demand.
 
Jay59 said:
That is not a possibility in the foreseeable future. Power generation could go up to 80% eventually, but even that is problematic. Transport will be petro-driven far into the future.

That said, there is no doubt coal is on the way out. You can trust that much.
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That's another thing.

Asian nations are changing and mare are starting to become 1st world nations. With that, is an incredible increased need for power.
 
Surface Detail said:
Hydroelectric power constituted less than half of the renewable power, and is pretty much static while other sources are growing rapidly. It seems that you are writing to mislead!
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It is nearly static, because there aren't many more places it is viable to build at. We have already, in most counties, built all the large hydro-power plants we can. Three Gorges is probably the last large hydro plant to be built until India decides do displace millions of their citizens. Africa may still have a few good locations.
 
Bergslagstroll said:
The potential of renewables have been underestimated time after time.

IEA Gets Hilariously Slammed For Obsessively Inaccurate Renewable Energy Forecasts | CleanTechnica

Also that Denmark already gets 40 percent of their electricity from wind power and in total 68 percent of their electricity from renewables.

As Wind Turned Down A Notch, Solar Soared -- 2018 Renewable Energy Report Denmark | CleanTechnica

While in Norway and 1 out of 3 cars sold in the market was a zero-emission vehicle last year and 49 percent of the market including plug in hybrids.

Electric car sales grew by 40% in Norway this year - Electrek
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Nobody is against renewable energy. Those of us who actually have critical thinking skills realize we can only have so much at our understanding and capacity of technology, for cost effective power.
 
Lord of Planar said:
Nobody is against renewable energy. Those of us who actually have critical thinking skills realize we can only have so much at our understanding and capacity of technology, for cost effective power.
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Not entirely true. There are significant environmental concerns related to solar and wind power. For example, wind farms are a hazard to birdlife.

Still, electricity power generation is relatively benign. The real opposition comes from battery obsolescence. That is some seriously toxic waste.
 
Lord of Planar said:
It is nearly static, because there aren't many more places it is viable to build at. We have already, in most counties, built all the large hydro-power plants we can. Three Gorges is probably the last large hydro plant to be built until India decides do displace millions of their citizens. Africa may still have a few good locations.
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You seem to be stuck in a paradigm. There are many different kinds of hydroelectric power. "Low-Head" hydropower only requires a head pressure of 2 to 20 meters. That can be just about anywhere.

Hydropower Technology Development | Department of Energy

Hydroelectric power is the largest source of renewable electricity in the United States, producing about 6.3% of the nation's total electricity throughout the last decade. Even after a century of proven experience with this reliable renewable resource, significant opportunities still exist to expand the nation's hydropower resources through non-powered dams, water conveyance systems, pumped storage hydropower, and new site development. The Water Power Program supports the hydropower industry and complements existing investments through the development and deployment of new technologies and key components, as well as by identifying key opportunity areas through which hydropower generation can be enhanced.
...
There is a significant opportunity across the country to add new hydropower generating capabilities at low-head sites (i.e., those that operate with a change in elevation ranging from 2 to 20 meters). These types of waterways are often present at existing non-powered dams, canals, and conduits across diverse areas of the United States. The Water Power Program is investing in innovative low-head hydropower technology R&D, such as Percheron Power’s installation of the nation’s first Archimedes Hydrodynamic Screw system. This project demonstrated that the low-head technology is simple, robust, and economical.
 
Jay59 said:
Not entirely true. There are significant environmental concerns related to solar and wind power. For example, wind farms are a hazard to birdlife.
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Yes, it is. Plus, we already have older ones left to rot.

I have said before, wind is not viable in most places. It will die, and the structures left to rot.

Jay59 said:
Still, electricity power generation is relatively benign. The real opposition comes from battery obsolescence. That is some seriously toxic waste.
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Even without considering their limited life in the grand design, they are still too expensive to compete with other power that can deliver 24/7/365 electricity. I don't expect battery storage to be viable for some time to come still.
 
PoS said:
Eggs go well with bacon.
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I wonder if a feral cat problem like in Australia could endanger a wild hog population. If Australia has wild hogs or something similar, I suppose we could see.
 
[h=2]Climate Scam Collapse Continues[/h][FONT=&quot]Posted on July 11, 2019 by tonyheller[/FONT]
China’s solar industry had been dependent on the US Government transferring US taxpayer money to China via solar panel subsidies, but apparently that isn’t working any more.

Meanwhile, they are building hundreds of new coal fired power plants, in a “dramatic step to fight climate change” – as NPR describes it.



 
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