The Alliance for Wise Energy Decisions (AWED) is an informal coalition of individuals and organizations interested in improving national, state, and local energy and environmental policies. Our premise is that technical matters like these should be addressed by using Real Science (please consult WiseEnergy.org for more information).
A key element of AWED’s efforts is public education. Towards that end, every three weeks we put together a newsletter to balance what is found in the mainstream media about energy and the environment. We appreciate MasterResource for their assistance in publishing this information.
Some of the more important articles in this issue are:
US Tax Subsidies For Renewables Now Far Outpaces Fossil Fuels
Wind Industry Titan Soaks Up Billions in Tax Subsidies
Oklahoma ends wind power subsidy
Solar Power: An Environmental Disaster
The Real Threat is ‘Big Environment’
53 year old coal plant generates more electricity that all wind facilities combined
DOE study on electric grid to be done by “renewable skeptic”
We must protect Texas’ military installations from encroaching wind turbines
Failed Economics Of Renewable Energy: The Facts
End of Global Warming Debate — It’s As Easy As 1-2-3
Every green initiative imposed on us by politicians has ended in disaster
Exiting the Paris Climate Agreement
Peer-Reviewed: Paris climate promises will reduce temps in 2100 by 0.05°C
Please: Sign Petition Against Paris Agreement
Real science must guide policy
Continue Reading“About $3 trillion has been spent globally on renewable energy since 2004, and the figure has now stabilized at about $300 billion for each one of the last six years.”
This post describes renewable-energy performance in the United States through 2016 as reported in annual reports of the Department of Energy (DOE).[1] The DOE lists six renewable sources: Wind, Solar, Hydro, Wood, Waste, and Geothermal. The term “solar” means the combined output of both photovoltaic (PV) and concentrated solar plants (CSP).
Renewable sources are usually divided into two groups: “Wind and Solar” (W&S), and “Other” (H&W&W&G). Accordingly, the following two graphs show the history of the two groups’ outputs in separate charts: W&S first and H&W&W&G second. A quick glance at both graphs reveals the upward trending lines in the first chart and the near horizontal lines in the second, with wiggles in the line for hydro output caused by differences in rainfall and irrigation demand from one year to the next.…
Continue Reading“Power plants, usually natural gas, must be kept in spinning reserve, ready to come online when the wind stops blowing or the sun stops shining. There is the cost of natural gas to keep these units operating off-line, as well as maintenance costs from the added wear and tear on these units.”
“The strongest winds, which are the best for generating electricity, are found hundreds, if not a thousand or more miles away from where the electricity is used. [Fossil-fuel] power plants are located closer to where the electricity is used.”
“Coal-fired and NGCC power plants were built to operate as baseload plants operating continuously. Cycling results in an increase in the number of cold-starts and shutdowns.”
The renewable-energy lobby has the advantage of many citizens having short attention spans and not being experts in the field.…
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