Wind and solar for energy are said to be “carbon-free.” In other words, they don’t contribute to global warming. But hold on. They are both “backed up” by burning natural gas when the wind doesn’t blow and there’s no sun.
According to the California Energy Commission, 30.5 percent of the natural gas burned in huge California goes to back up wind and solar! There’s a lot of snake oil salesmanship in the renewable energy arena.
Another example is something called “nameplate capacity and capacity factor.” “Nameplate capacity,” like that of the Topaz Solar Farm’s 550 megawatts, shows what the farm could produce if it ran day and night. But Topaz Solar Farm also has a “capacity factor” (their actual power produced as a percent of nameplate capacity) of only 24.4 percent, or about one quarter of what they advertise to the public about production. With our cloudy skies and rain, it’s considerably less than 25 percent.
The result is because of the variable and smaller amount of power coming out of solar and wind. California must burn more fossil fuel to keep the state running, and that prevents reaching our emission-reduction goals.
In 2014, famed investor Warren Buffet said it all: “On wind energy, we get a tax credit if we build a lot of wind farms. That’s the only reason to build them. They don’t make sense without the tax credit.”
However, the wind and solar business does have a good friend. They are warmly supported by the fossil fuel industry when they want to appear “green.” They love wind and solar and even feature them in TV ads, knowing better than the average citizen that wind and solar will never produce enough carbon-free electricity to eliminate, or even reduce, their billions in fossil fuel income.
So the Koch brothers go on polluting the planet for profit, while the public buys the snake oil, thinking wind and solar will save Mother Earth and their children and grandchildren. Check the facts behind the hype on renewable energy. Nuclear power is far safer by injuries and fatalities than fossil fuel, and it emits zero carbon.
As with France and the U.S. nuclear Navy, clean and safe nuclear could run almost everything. If you love your children and grandkids, do something today. Start by calling your state and federal senators and demanding a simple tax on carbon emissions. Tell them you support nuclear, too. That will make polluters like the Koch brothers pay for their damage to earth and people. Maybe they’ll get into a healthy, non-polluting, non-carbon-emitting power business—like nuclear power.
This article appears in Jan 19-26, 2017.