The Times They Are A-Charging

[TMSBOSS]

Various non-renewable. Likely to be coal.

 

[VoodooBoss]

While it's certainly possible that there is coal powered electricity coming from the Western ISO grid it's not from CA. I don't believe there are any coal fired plants left here. They have all been replaced with natural gas.

But we do have what I think is the future of renewable solar power. Of course you know CA, these things zap birds and fry them in their path so the environmentalist are up in arms. I've driven by this and unless you've seen it in person it's hard to comprehend how large it is.

http://www.brightsourceenergy.com/ivanpah-solar-project#.Wv5KadMvzUI

 

[Big Black]

Ded birds. Cali, right?

 

[Big Black]

Bam. Shotgun!!! GO pup! Dead Bird!

 

[TMSBOSS]

It’s a National Power Grid.

 

[RES_22]

Hmmmmm....no wind turbines?

All that political churn and no physical“wake”?

 

[TMSBOSS]

We have a Wind Farm in our backyard. Zero local benefit. Power is sold to the Grid.

 

[VoodooBoss]

Wind is in the renewable bucket. They are everywhere here in CA. Even the local Budweiser plant has two turbines.

And I believe we’re shutting down our last nuclear plant in the next year or two.

 

[TMSBOSS]

No nukes, no coal, and not enough turbine/hydro power.

You better Pray the wind does not stop overnight. Sure sounds great on paper. All Cali will be doing is claiming the high ground, a false narrative, while buying power from outside the state.

Can anyone with knowledge of power production please explain how dumping nuclear power is logical? How you make power from inconsistent sources; wind and solar and stay viable without traditional sources as a backup? When was the last time environmentalists allowed a stream to be damned for power production?

Hydro will Not expand to meet needs. Nuke, well Cali killed nuke power. Wind, even in the wind corridors, the wind stops. Solar, the sun goes down and battery backup is an inefficient pipe dream at this point. The short term solution most power companies use is to buy from outside their production capability or lean on fossil fuel turbines or even worse, recip. engines.

The convenient “Omission” floated by environmentalists is that they can keep the lights on without burning coal or running nuke plants. Technology just won’t support the illusion. It may some day. Until then, be thankful you can import power into Cali.

 

[VoodooBoss]

Your narrative is a bit off. The plants are old, 40-50 years old, and simply being decommissioned. Very few nuclear plants are being built in the USA and it’s not just CA. For the record I’m a fan of nuclear power.

 

[302BOB]

It's a shame we can't harness all that hot air coming out of D.C. That might hold us til the next energy breakthru is discovered!

 

[RES_22]

Aside from fear mongering (mis)directed frequently at nuclear...the commercial bottom line always wins.

Used to be that nuclear was cheap per megawatt. Right now, however, there's a lot of natural gas in America (Capital Hill committee rooms, traditional gas fields and/or the rebirth of fracking).... and pipeline plans a-plenty.

So at present, the business case for nuclear isn't strong.

 

[TymeSlayer]

Solar and wind are viable power options but we need a better way to harness and store that energy. At some point in tyme, they'll figure it out and the world will be a better place for it.

 

[Fat Boss]

Your narrative is a bit off. The plants are old, 40-50 years old, and simply being decommissioned. Very few nuclear plants are being built in the USA and it’s not just CA. For the record I’m a fan of nuclear power.

A bit off??? Waaaaay off. Solar is growing by leaps and bounds. This article is over a year old, but illustrates how much electricity we generate. Solar is critical in the summer months when people run AC. The batteries you can buy from Tesla ($15k for two, get $12k cash rebate) are pretty amazing and allow people to charge them up during times of low demand (read: middle of the night) and discharge during times of high demand.

http://www.latimes.com/projects/la-fi-electricity-solar/

 

[VoodooBoss]

And more on CA nuclear power for those that are interested.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-diablo-canyon-nuclear-20160621-snap-story.html

 

[TymeSlayer]

We should embrace these alternative sources of energy. Just don't you take away my 100 octane gas.

And fusion is better than fission but you need fission to detonate fusion? Don't recall it's been a long tyme since I got hit in the head by that spent fuel rod.

 

[boss302ls]

This chart gives a breakdown of how electrical power is produced in the USA.

https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=427&t=3

 

[VoodooBoss]

It’s shocking to see 30% of energy production coming from coal.

 

[JAJ]

It’s shocking to see 30% of energy production coming from coal.

Really? You couldn't come up with a better word? It'd be a compliment to call it a "bad pun". Anyway, "clean coal" is the new best energy source in the USA. Just ask your government. As for where I live, it's all hydro-electric, and even we have protesters complaining that it's "dirty".

 

[TymeSlayer]

Funny how some folks tout electric cars as clean when you break it all down, 30% of that electricity to charge your "Clean Air" car is generated from coal and over 62% comes from all fossil fuels. Better yes, perfect no.