I live near the new Berryessa Snow Mountain Natl. Monument, and there is a wind plant being proposed and planned 2 miles from where I live, at an entrance to the Monument.
I looked into wind with a depth I hadn’t previously, looking at fire danger, bird fatalities etc.
I kept running across claims that it would not reduce carbon overall, and would in fact increase it, which I dismissed as right-wing crap. Of course if you replace a plant that burns anything with a wind plant you are making progress - I assumed.
Turns out that because of their intermittency they are backed up by regular plants, just as the movie points out. Plus they use massive amounts of grid power, on or off.
It took me days of reading to convince myself, and I’ve angered friends trying to explain it, so I was greatly heartened that Michael Moore and a Jeff Gibbs made that point in the movie.
Great movie, and if it bothers anyone, they need to hit the books and open up to the truth.
I think we should still make use of things like solar panels on the roofs of cars and attached to microgrids, to lessen the dangers of pollution, fire from the grid, and profits in the hands of oligarchs.
I think your heart is in the right place, but if you think car roofs are a good place for solar panels, alas, you may not be very good at assessing engineering tradeoffs. That makes me take your assessment of wind energy's net effects with a large grain of salt. I'm still open to hearing both sides, but mainly from people who can numerically compare alternatives.
I live near the new Berryessa Snow Mountain Natl. Monument, and there is a wind plant being proposed and planned 2 miles from where I live, at an entrance to the Monument.
I looked into wind with a depth I hadn’t previously, looking at fire danger, bird fatalities etc.
I kept running across claims that it would not reduce carbon overall, and would in fact increase it, which I dismissed as right-wing crap. Of course if you replace a plant that burns anything with a wind plant you are making progress - I assumed.
Turns out that because of their intermittency they are backed up by regular plants, just as the movie points out. Plus they use massive amounts of grid power, on or off.
It took me days of reading to convince myself, and I’ve angered friends trying to explain it, so I was greatly heartened that Michael Moore and a Jeff Gibbs made that point in the movie.
Great movie, and if it bothers anyone, they need to hit the books and open up to the truth.
I think we should still make use of things like solar panels on the roofs of cars and attached to microgrids, to lessen the dangers of pollution, fire from the grid, and profits in the hands of oligarchs.
Fairy dust is a much more effective energy source. And it even smells good!
I think your heart is in the right place, but if you think car roofs are a good place for solar panels, alas, you may not be very good at assessing engineering tradeoffs. That makes me take your assessment of wind energy's net effects with a large grain of salt. I'm still open to hearing both sides, but mainly from people who can numerically compare alternatives.