Germany: Some weekends over 50% of the energy is from wind and solar.
Portugal: The last 2 months 70% of nations power is from wind, solar and hydro.
California: April 7 a new high, 4,196 MW of wind power produced, theoretical capacity is 5,899.
Texas: Record wind power produced 9,481 MW, capacity 10,407.
Germany: April 15th, 1.3 million solar systems (in foggy cloudy Germany) produced 22.68 GW (gigawatts) at noon, the bell curve from 6 am to 8 pm totaled 167 GWh of electricity. The equivalent of up to 16 nuclear reactors running at noon.
Denmark: 25% of the nations electricity comes from wind.
India: 1 million homeowners have solar PV.
Just a few of the hundreds of examples, yet it is suppose to be nearly impossible to use solar panels in all but the southwest US, look at Germany and other central and northern European nations who are the world leaders in installed PV in a sunshine climate equal to Alaska.
Another conversation needed so badly that will not be allowed to happen.
ReplyDeleteOF, a German fried of mine has since this post put one up on hers bragging the 22 GW at noon, saying no other country can do this. Germans love technology and educated people, they are looking forward to closing all the nuclear plants and coal plants in the next 15 to 20 years, screw the arabs and texans they say, we got our own.
DeleteHoosierland is coming along - We just have to kill this coal gasification plant at Rockport. The problem is that those making the deccisions are connected to those that benefit the most from having the plant built.
DeleteIt simply doesn't make sense to produce natural gas from coal when the cost of the product is more than what it cost to pump it out of the ground.
Sarge
Sarge, write your state house rep and senator, let them know your opinion. My experience is they feel the pressure, some more than others but it makes a dif.
DeleteWe are in the process of installing solar panels on our large shop that sits away from the house on our property. The shop will be completely off grid. My brother is attending school to learn all about renewable energy, and he assures us that wind and solar in this area (Iowa of all places) is absolutely the way to go. He estimates a return on investment of less than 7 years for 25 year guaranteed solar panels. Individuals can make a difference!
DeleteT.R.;
DeleteExcellent, I am so glad to hear this. I have been attending and doing some lobbying on my own in Kansas to put down the push back from coal and oil. They have tried to make it less attractive for renewables to be installed.
I would love to know if people in your area add solar too. There is a study that shows that there is a copy cat effect with solar, the neighbors start looking and decide they want to get in on a good thing. In California it spreads in clusters. Individuals can make a difference, indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.