Solar is from nuclear power. We aren't there yet, this isn't the highest level of achievement. And if you never try for something, it never happens. The rest you say all good too.
And... Let The Fun Begin
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I agree with your premise. Shouldn’t we push to ramp up the development of the technology and test it before we shut down the current sources of electrical power?
otherwise we are caught without the power we need to live in the 2020’s.
Yes creating a crisis might move the development faster, but we all suffer in the meantime.
Let‘s act like adults and push that development while maintaining the current plants u til we can safely shut them down.
When the power is out, do you shut off your generator before the power comes back on? No you do not. So why are we shuttering oil, coal, and natural gas plants before the alternative sources are online and the tech is able to provide the same or more output as the “older” tech?
I regularly make the point that intentionally inducing suffering is insane. Instead, let's provide solutions and prevent hardship. We have time to implement them, let's do so. From my point of view, things that reduce the suffering of your fellow man trend towards "good" and conversely, intentionally increasing suffering trend towards the non-religious sense of "evil" or "bad".
Are we really shuttering those prematurely? I hear about that but don’t know that. In Texas I hear the shortage in winter was mainly due to not wanting to share power with other areas or something like that. What about too many people and too many using A/C, isn’t that a reason for the power shortages too? I mean today everyone is a baby, have to be in 70 degrees year round or they get upset. Go to Costco and the big doors are open in summer and winter around here. No one is upset because they have their comfort.
From the quote at the start of the linked article:
"The grid operator recommends avoiding charging during peak hours between 3 pm and 8 pm, if possible, to help statewide efforts to manage demand."
Is it unreasonable to ask that users of a system help manage it where possible? Brownouts aren't an issue where I live, as our power comes almost exclusively from coal and natural gas. I still set my dishwasher to run during the early morning hours in order to help spread demand out where I can. The same can be done with an electric car - set it to charge from 02:00-05:00 or whatever works. Not a big deal.
The above isn't to suggest that the electrical grid in Texas is ideal - it certainly needs work to say the least.
"The grid operator recommends avoiding charging during peak hours between 3 pm and 8 pm, if possible, to help statewide efforts to manage demand."
Is it unreasonable to ask that users of a system help manage it where possible? Brownouts aren't an issue where I live, as our power comes almost exclusively from coal and natural gas. I still set my dishwasher to run during the early morning hours in order to help spread demand out where I can. The same can be done with an electric car - set it to charge from 02:00-05:00 or whatever works. Not a big deal.
The above isn't to suggest that the electrical grid in Texas is ideal - it certainly needs work to say the least.
That should be one of the many definitions of Insanity.
Well said. People can't police their own trash, yet they'll attend a rally to save the planet.
I recall an article I read several years ago. I'll try to find it, but the short version was that when you take into account the mining, mining waste, transportation to battery manufacture, manufacturing waste, transportation of batteries to assembly plant, and disposal of said batteries at end of life, (not to mention that in the US it's a coal fired plant that the energy comes from), a 10mpg Hummer is more green than an EV, by a long way.
Day to day the Hummer looks to put out more pollutants, but if you take look at the whole picture it's different. Need life of vehicle view.
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I did find some articles that the EV batteries are now being recycled. Hooray! But we're not there....yet.
In addition, even back in the 1990s we had a “Saver Switch” connected to our central A/C unit. The electric company could shut off your A/C remotely if demand gets too high.
Electric companies can doing that same thing right now with networked EVSEs.
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So having a solar system on my house that is 20kwh and 2 10kwh batteries controlled by hubs that will directly charge EV's has caused me to look into this. I like EV's that still look like a normal vehicle. Certainly nice examples of this would be the Audi E-tron or Jaguar I-Pace. So ignoring the cost of the free electricity which will still take years to get to zero on that project, I decided to look at how long it would take to get to zero with free electricity. Assuming one would drive 12,000 miles a year in a vehicle that got 30 mpg and stack the deck with a $10 per gallon of fuel. 400 gallons *10 = $4,000 To get to zero with free electricity against $10 per gallon gasoline would take 17.5 years. It's even worse because the batteries will have to be replaced before 17.5 years. In my case I can't justify it. The rest of the story is I reside next to an interstate where the speed limit is 75. The SAE protocol for EV's range is not based on how I would use an EV. It is based on suburbia USA where you don't see a lot of drag from reasonable speeds and benefit from regenerative braking. Run down the interstate at 75-80 and the range is cut in half. I really would like to have one of these but being relatively remote and driving a lot of interstate makes it very difficult to replace an Audi TDI V6 diesel that gets 37 mpg and has a real range of 600 miles. I guess they would make a lot more sense to use in a suburban area where you can use it daily and recharge at home overnight. Traveling where there are not a lot of options for fast charging not so much. Watching coal plants getting regulated out of existence before the EV program is more viable does not seem like the right path to me. With potential supply issues of fuel and forecasted brownouts in AZ in 2024, the only remaining reason to jump in would be the actual ability to operate off the grid. While that works for me not everyone has put $60K in a 20kwh solar system on their house.
edyvw
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Well, Texas….
In the Northeast we have shut down a power plant in Providence RI and Somerset MaSS in the last 10 years. Nothing adding power to the grid has gone up except a very few windmills and some solar farms. I don’t have the exact figures, but a large net loss of kilowatts.
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Yes, most definitely, we are shutting those prematurely. Half the country (28 states) will most likely experience blackouts and power delivery disruption this summer due to insufficient capacity. Over the next 5 years the federal government estimates that 51 gigawatts of dependable base-load coal powered production will go offline. Much of that will be replaced by intermittent production like wind and solar.
What many people don't understand is that the grid needs close to 100% of peak load production capacity in the form of base-load production (fossil fuel, nuclear and hydroelectric) in order not to have regular interruptions. The sun doesn't always shine and the wind doesn't always blow.
https://www.nerc.com/pa/RAPA/ra/Reliability Assessments DL/NERC_SRA_2022.pdf
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/california-says-it-needs-more-power-keep-lights-2022-05-06/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/energy...ust-unlock-a-just-transition/?sh=3e8398d74e91
There won't be 5 gazillion EVs on the road in 10 yrs. 20-30 yrs maybe, if we find a suitable replacement battery tech.
And why the hell are we giving these people up to $7,500 tax credits for buying these things, when they're the ones that are causing the grid overload to begin with? That's ridiculous. They're the ones who should be giving..... Not receiving.
If you buy a ICE vehicle that burns a greater amount of fuel, you are forced to pay a Federal, "Gas Guzzler Tax". If you want an EV so bad, they should be forced to pay a, Energy Production Tax. In order to help with the cost of upscaling the power grid, to accommodate the millions of these things they plan on selling. The added electrical energy they will all require sure as hell isn't going to produce itself.
https://rideanddriveclean.org/how-t...HfskHBlhYg376kCFP88sRHGJIJNQDxGMaAthJEALw_wcB
If you buy a ICE vehicle that burns a greater amount of fuel, you are forced to pay a Federal, "Gas Guzzler Tax". If you want an EV so bad, they should be forced to pay a, Energy Production Tax. In order to help with the cost of upscaling the power grid, to accommodate the millions of these things they plan on selling. The added electrical energy they will all require sure as hell isn't going to produce itself.
https://rideanddriveclean.org/how-t...HfskHBlhYg376kCFP88sRHGJIJNQDxGMaAthJEALw_wcB
$8.00 per gallon gass will, put lots of EVs on then road ,, besides the Tv will tell us we are saving the Earth.
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