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In my opinion this whole thing doesn't work because renewable energy is still for many some sort of hippie talk. If it were about become-independent-and-never-
by stfu 13y ago
In my opinion this whole thing doesn't work because renewable energy is still for many some sort of hippie talk.
If it were about become-independent-and-never-pay-electric-bills again there would be potential for a much wider adoption. But the save the whales perspective just doesn't work especially for many in the single-home-owner areas.
- nsxwolf 13y agoIndeed, there seems to be an open hostility towards that approach. It's like the greens don't want the technology to spread outside their little club, which means it will never have real ecological benefits. I will buy a Tesla as soon as I can afford it, and it has nothing to do with a desire to save the Earth.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- Mikeb85 13y agoNo. It's because there are legitimate hurdles to going 100% green, mainly power storage. Because both solar and wind generate lots of power sometimes, and no power at other times, there needs to be a way to generate electricity when the solar panels aren't producing, and a way to store it when the panels are producing too much. On a small scale this is do-able, but not on a massive scale.
- jsilence 13y agoWhile it might be hard to go 100% green, it is doable to go maybe 50% green and desirable too. It is a popular verbal feat by the fossil fuel energy industry to state: "Yes, but we can't go 100% because of x.", to chill the discussion and the momentum of renewables.
- yorak 13y agoIn fact I just discovered that there are Pumped-storage hydroelectricity plants (PSPS) because they were planning to build one also to Finland into a old mine (with mile long shaft). PSPS could solves the power storage problem for wind and solar as long as there is enough suitable locations to use as PSPS reservoirs.
- rdl 13y agoAnother good way to pitch renewable energy to people like that is disaster tolerance, including ... "what if terrorists blow up all the power plants?" (And the kernel of truth is that the grid itself is pretty close to capacity in a lot of places, so decentralized generation, even if it costs per-KWh more than centralized, defers or avoids huge capital costs in upgrading the grid, lowering cost overall. That works even if it's cogen with gas turbines vs. something like solar or wind. The subset of crazies on the pro-renewable/green side never remember that the capital equipment also has embodied energy costs/pollution, so avoiding spending on that also is a win.)