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You mean like the "stimulus" spend that shot wind power from ~1% of the power grid to ~6%, approximately 8 years ahead of when most forecasters head predicated

You mean like the "stimulus" spend that shot wind power from ~1% of the power grid to ~6%, approximately 8 years ahead of when most forecasters head predicated this would occur?[1] You mean the "stimulus" that caused renewables to be 55% of new power that went online in 2012? (Which is really significant when you consider demand is flat?[2]) [1]http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-18/u-s-wind-power-accounted-for-6-of-generation-capacity-in-2012.html http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-18/u-s-wind-power-acco... [2]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_in_the_United_States#Consumption http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_in_the_United_States#Con...

spikels 14y ago
I wish it was so easy. The 6% and 55% numbers for wind and renewables are percentage of CAPACITY not actual power used. And your own references undermine your argument. In addition to qualifying that this is capacity the Bloomberg article goes on to mention the current weakness in the wind production equipment market and strength of gas. The Wikipedia article contradicts you in the second paragraph: "renewable energy supplied 8%,[4] which was mainly from hydroelectric dams"
- quandrum 14y ago
  > The Wikipedia article contradicts you in the second paragraph Only if you don't follow it far enough to find out it's 2010 numbers.
  - spikels 14y ago
    Unfortunately these numbers come out with a significant lag. EIA released the revised 2010 numbers on December 11th of last year. We get the initial version of the 2011 data in August. As of 2010 wind supplied less than 1% of US energy consumption while solar and geothermal combined supplied less than 0.5%. The latest report is linked below. Figure 1 might come as a bit of a shock but sadly this is where we are. And all the politics and complex business interest involved just make it more confusing. http://www.eia.gov/renewable/annual/trends/ http://www.eia.gov/renewable/annual/trends/

spikels 14y ago

I wish it was so easy. The 6% and 55% numbers for wind and renewables are percentage of CAPACITY not actual power used. And your own references undermine your argument. In addition to qualifying that this is capacity the Bloomberg article goes on to mention the current weakness in the wind production equipment market and strength of gas. The Wikipedia article contradicts you in the second paragraph: "renewable energy supplied 8%,[4] which was mainly from hydroelectric dams"

quandrum 14y ago
> The Wikipedia article contradicts you in the second paragraph Only if you don't follow it far enough to find out it's 2010 numbers.
- spikels 14y ago
  Unfortunately these numbers come out with a significant lag. EIA released the revised 2010 numbers on December 11th of last year. We get the initial version of the 2011 data in August. As of 2010 wind supplied less than 1% of US energy consumption while solar and geothermal combined supplied less than 0.5%. The latest report is linked below. Figure 1 might come as a bit of a shock but sadly this is where we are. And all the politics and complex business interest involved just make it more confusing. http://www.eia.gov/renewable/annual/trends/ http://www.eia.gov/renewable/annual/trends/