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Relevance | Date‘Hate Speech’ at Greenwire? William Gray, RIP
By Robert Bradley Jr. -- April 18, 2016 6 CommentsEarlier today, the online subscription news service Greenwire published this item:
OBITUARY: Hurricane researcher-turned-climate denier dies at 86
William Gray, who pioneered hurricane forecasting tools as a professor at Colorado State University and voiced skepticism of climate change models, died Saturday.
The university said Gray, 86, died peacefully at home with his family.
Gray and his researchers were among the first to link the El Niño phenomenon to the formation of hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea in their predictions.
“He consistently issued these forecasts for over 30 years, a track record unparalleled for university predictions,” said Phil Klotzbach, one of Gray’s researchers.
Gray, a Washington, D.C., native and alumnus of George Washington University, questioned the science of climate change in his later years.
“How can we trust climate forecasts 50 and 100 years into the future (that can’t be verified in our lifetime) when they are not able to make shorter seasonal or yearly forecasts that could be verified?”
‘Grid Parity’ for Renewables: Why Subsidies? (Part II)
By Mark Febrizio -- March 22, 2016 3 Comments“By focusing strictly on cost-competitiveness, grid parity fails to consider how dispatchability influences an energy source’s value on the grid. Moreover, renewable energy sources rely heavily on government funding to even reach cost-competitiveness. Continued subsidization of solar and wind to make them cost-competitive or accelerate their adoption is unjustified. “
As Part I of this analysis explained, grid parity for renewable energy is an empty concept because it fails to consider the functionality of renewable resources on the electric grid. Since grid operators must balance supply and demand to sustain grid stability and meet the power needs of Americans, dispatchable resources are extraordinarily valuable for electricity generation.
Resources such as coal, natural gas, nuclear, and hydropower can dispatch power on demand, but solar and wind energy are intermittent, making them undependable for electricity generation.…
Continue Reading‘Grid Parity’ for Renewables: An Empty Concept (Part I)
By Mark Febrizio -- March 21, 2016 7 Comments“Coal, natural gas, nuclear, and hydroelectric power are essential because they are predictable and dispatchable resources; conversely, renewables produce power intermittently and are less valuable as a generation resource…. To reach true grid parity, an energy source should be able to produce affordable electricity as well as dependably meet electricity demand.”
The idea of cost-competitiveness for renewable energy resources—called “grid parity”—is misleading and incomplete without considering reliability. Yet recent reports are pushing grid parity as an imminent reality. For example, a February 2016 study from GTM Research assessed that electricity from residential solar has attained grid parity in 20 states.
How an electricity source functions on the grid is more important than mere cost-competitiveness. To reach true grid parity, an electricity source should provide affordable, reliable power on a dependable basis.…
Continue ReadingAWED Energy & Environmental Newsletter: March 7, 2016
By John Droz, Jr. -- March 7, 2016 1 CommentThe 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 mainstram media about energy and the environment. We appreciate MasterResource for their assistance in publishing this information.
Some of the more thought-provoking articles in this issue are:
Physician Explains Some Wind Turbine Health Impacts
Wind Infrasound Hazards Worse than Initially Thought
The laughable idea that renewable energy is or ever will be ‘least cost’
The Charade of Industrial Wind
Non-Compliant Wind Developers Are Threatened with Jail Time
Two Well-Intentioned Laws and Aims Collide
Continue Reading