Comments on: Can Renewables Replace Fossil Fuels? http://www.getreallist.com/can-renewables-replace-fossil-fuels.html Deal With Reality or It Will Deal With You Fri, 19 Mar 2010 00:25:40 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Chris http://www.getreallist.com/can-renewables-replace-fossil-fuels.html/comment-page-1#comment-1714 Chris Wed, 11 Nov 2009 03:37:37 +0000 http://www.getreallist.com/?p=1389#comment-1714 @Justin: Your point is well taken. However I do believe distributed PV is one of the easiest paths we can take: <a href="http://www.getreallist.com/seven-paths-to-our-energy-future.html" rel="nofollow">Seven Paths to Our Energy Future</a>. I have designed many solar systems in northern California that produced 100% of the home's electricity. It works, and it's easy to deploy. This really isn't a question of choosing one fuel source to entirely replace all the others. There are no silver bullets, but PV is one "silver bb." <a href="http://www.getreallist.com/utility-scale-solar-heating-up.html" rel="nofollow">Utility scale CSP</a> offers the potential for 24-hour uptime. I also believe that V2G technology and residential/commercial distributed storage (batteries, flywheels, compressed air, hydrogen, etc.) could eventually solve the intermittency problem. @Justin: Your point is well taken. However I do believe distributed PV is one of the easiest paths we can take: Seven Paths to Our Energy Future. I have designed many solar systems in northern California that produced 100% of the home’s electricity. It works, and it’s easy to deploy. This really isn’t a question of choosing one fuel source to entirely replace all the others. There are no silver bullets, but PV is one “silver bb.”

Utility scale CSP offers the potential for 24-hour uptime. I also believe that V2G technology and residential/commercial distributed storage (batteries, flywheels, compressed air, hydrogen, etc.) could eventually solve the intermittency problem.

]]> By: Justin Ritchie http://www.getreallist.com/can-renewables-replace-fossil-fuels.html/comment-page-1#comment-1713 Justin Ritchie Wed, 11 Nov 2009 03:07:52 +0000 http://www.getreallist.com/?p=1389#comment-1713 EROI aside, most talk I've seen about solar energy replacing coal and nuclear energy completely fails to incorporate the concept of production capacity. A nuclear fission plant runs about 95% of the given hours in a year, a coal plant between 70% and 90%, a PV solar panel between 10% and 16%. In the Southeast US, only about 4-5 hours a day are suitable for generating the peak amount of power out of any given solar system, in the Southwest US its about 5-6 hours a day... An average residential system might be in the range of 3.5-4kWpeak and installed in Arizona would generate only 20kWh a day. Since the average US household uses around 12,000 kWh/year, efficiency is clearly the way to go. If we could get average household energy usage down in the 3500 kWh/year range, renewables might be useful. EROI aside, most talk I’ve seen about solar energy replacing coal and nuclear energy completely fails to incorporate the concept of production capacity.

A nuclear fission plant runs about 95% of the given hours in a year, a coal plant between 70% and 90%, a PV solar panel between 10% and 16%.

In the Southeast US, only about 4-5 hours a day are suitable for generating the peak amount of power out of any given solar system, in the Southwest US its about 5-6 hours a day… An average residential system might be in the range of 3.5-4kWpeak and installed in Arizona would generate only 20kWh a day. Since the average US household uses around 12,000 kWh/year, efficiency is clearly the way to go. If we could get average household energy usage down in the 3500 kWh/year range, renewables might be useful.

]]> By: mika. http://www.getreallist.com/can-renewables-replace-fossil-fuels.html/comment-page-1#comment-1674 mika. Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:12:30 +0000 http://www.getreallist.com/?p=1389#comment-1674 We don't need economic "growth", we need economic wealth. We need to abolish the FED, get rid of the IRS, and claw back the extreme legal, political, and economic privileges usurped by the corporatist mafia. We don’t need economic “growth”, we need economic wealth. We need to abolish the FED, get rid of the IRS, and claw back the extreme legal, political, and economic privileges usurped by the corporatist mafia.

]]> By: Christopher http://www.getreallist.com/can-renewables-replace-fossil-fuels.html/comment-page-1#comment-1673 Christopher Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:09:53 +0000 http://www.getreallist.com/?p=1389#comment-1673 So investments in efficiency will have an accelerated payback after ~2013. Unless the cost of those investments increases in lock-step with the cost of energy, in which case we're back where we started. So investments in efficiency will have an accelerated payback after ~2013. Unless the cost of those investments increases in lock-step with the cost of energy, in which case we’re back where we started.

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