Green Energy Almost Cost-Competitive with Fossil Fuels

js7a writes "As reported in the Houston Chronicle, the sharply rising cost of natural gas and other fossil fuels has caused the cost of renewable energy to finally reach the price of nonrenewables. However, wind still has some catching up to do: 'a 10 percent wind- and 90 percent water-generated mix is about $9 per month less expensive than the 100 percent wind plan.' As more wind generation and grid transmission capacity is built, wind will eventually become more competitive than hydroelectric, but hydro and other sources will be required to balance grid demand in calm areas. Slashdot has been following this trend."

Comments

Re:Which means

[UWC]

I'd imagine that cleanup costs are included to the extent that the vendors of the related energy sources are required to pay for such cleanup.

Then again, I imagine a lot of things.

Also, I think "Not that I expect the current administration to do anything about it" would make a great .sig, regardless of what the "current administration" is at the time.

No Free Lunch

[Detritus]

Wind and hydro have their own environmental problems. Hydro, in particular, can have severe environmental consequences for regional ecosystems and human populations. Some of these effects may only become apparent after billions of dollars have been spent and many years have elapsed. The Aswan dam in Egypt is a good example of all the things that can go wrong when you try to control a river.

Re:Not exactly "green" yet

[big-giant-head]

Here in Oklahoma they are putting up ALOT of new windfarms Cheap land, it can be dual use (cows and horses can still graze on a windfarm). Alot of empty land and a calm day here is a 10mph wind, drove back from lunch with a nice 20-25mph breeze blowing over the highway. the plains from the Dakotas down to oklahoma get alot of wind and large expanses of either unused land or land where livestock are grazing and thus could graze in and around the windfarms.

Re:Geo Thermal

[jaredmauch]

Well, it depends on exactly what you need/desire.

I have a open-loop geothermal system at my home. It's used for heating and cooling of the air. It takes water out of my well, which is a moderated temp year round and uses it to transfer the heat into it during the summer, and takes the heat out of the water in the winter.

You can do the same thing with a closed-loop system (you just pump the water in a big circuit of underground pipes). In a closed-loop system you can even use antifreeze (that stuff that transfers the heat out of your engine block and through the heaters in your car) and the system works simiarly to that.

I'm slowly working on converting some of my more sustained power requirements to a solar/battery powered system. I have a simple parts page online that will allow you to start building a small system to operate lighting or other must-need devices (basically, build your own UPS and charge off of solar/wind/whatever DC voltage source you want).

I just got a 700W inverter on sale recently, and have some older car/boat batteries that the previous owner left here. I just ordered a solar charge controller kit, and am going to borrow some 12-24V solar cells from a friend to do some testing.. If it works well, i'm going to expand my cells and get some good batteries to operate some of my necessary devices.

Highway Dividers

[ruadh80]

Dinosaurs: Millions of years ago, nature destroyed them. Help them get even... use fossil fuels.

Ok, on a more serious note, I had seen an interesting news article years ago about someone who setup some windmills, except they were a little different than most. They consisted of long three sided objects... like the turning signs car dealerships put on the top of cars except they were long and skinny rather than short and squat. These were built into the concrete dividers on the highway. The traffic driving in opposite directions on opposite sides created MORE than enough wind to turn the rows of hundred mini-windmills.

No eyesore (no worse than a concrete divider) No dead birds (if they fly into these they deserve to die) No changing wind patterns (any more than they already are that is)

Re:10 % wind 90 % hydro? Where?

[Scrameustache]

So, where are all the dams going to go

There.

It's amazing people still call hydroelectric power "green", but then hypocrisy in defense of liberal ideas is no vice...

You fucking troll. It's renewable, not magical. Every action causes a reaction, our energy needs aren't going away, but there are ways to minimise the impact of our actions. Hydroelectric damns cause dammage, but the impact of a local flood is not in the same ballpark as the impact that the floods from melting the artic and antartic with greenhouse gases would have.

Re:Amnesia

[Red Rocket]

If the Ottoman empire didn't want to be carved up maybe they shouldn't have joined Germany in WW1.

The Ottomans were Turks, not Arabs. The Arabs fought against the Ottomans during WWI, in collusion with the British (Laurence of Arabia). After using the Arabs to help defeat the Ottomans, Britain betrayed them by splitting Arab lands with France. This is how right wingers distort history, by confusing one group with another. But I bet they're all just brown people to you.

The "democracy" we overthrew to put the Shah in charge consisted of replacing the old Shah with his son.

BULLSHIT! The CIA overthrew Mohammed Mossadegh and replaced him with the Shah (Mohammad Reza Pahlavi).
What you're doing there is knows as "revisionist history."

...don't automatically jump on the "the west deserves it" bandwagon.

I didn't say the west "deserves" it. My point was that the west was asking for it. Don't poke a hornet's nest and then blame the hornets for stinging you.