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Renewable Energy Shows Strong Gain In U.S. (arstechnica.com)
WheezyJoe writes: According to the US Energy Information Administration, solar, wind, and gas dominate new US generating capacity in 2016. This year is notable because it will see the first new nuclear plant brought online in 20 years, contributing 1.1 GigaWatts to the grid. But that contribution will be dwarfed by renewable power sources, which together account for nearly two-thirds of 2016's new capacity. Part of the boom in renewables came because the tax incentives for their installation were in danger of expiring, so utilities rushed to get projects through the pipeline ahead of the end of the year. 9.5GW of capacity is expected to come online from solar -- more than the past three years combined. Another 6.8GW is expected from planned additions of wind power, largely spread across the Great Plains. Of new fossil fuel plants, the vast majority are going to be burning natural gas; there are no planned additions of coal plants.
I'm not sure what all the hate is about concerning coal. Clean coal technology is carbon neutral and actually much better for the environment that producing solar panels (which require massive amounts of energy and dangerous chemicals). I have don't know of any solar power factory that is powered by solar panels.
We actually replaced two electric furnaces in our house with a pair of coal stoves. Contrary to what you may think, it doesn't soot up the house or smell, etc. It's a very high quality of heat, and very clean.
I intent to replace my mother's furnace with a coal stove this July.
The principle advantage I have seen claimed for natural gas other than the lower carbon content is that the generators used for natural gas in electricity production can be quickly ramped up and down to adapt to demand. A possible marginal benefit is that infrastructure for natural gas distribution in heating could also start mixing in biogas, perhaps even replacing it completely with a renewable. Also it is probably easier to get a PEM fuel cell to work on it.
Someone had to do it.
"Burn it all down, so the Russians can't have it. "
Why WOULDN'T we want the Russians to have the Middle East? After a few generations of good old colonial exploitation, the ME will have completely forgotten about hating the US and, depending on the effectiveness of Russia's indoctrination and cultural reprogramming, could emerge as the "India" of the 23rd or 24th century.
The Koch Brothers will never permit renewables to overtake oil.
Turn on the TV and watch the news. The Kochs exercise their influence through the Republican Party establishment, which is in the process of being shredded by Donald Trump. The Republicans have thrived by building a coalition of social conservatives, who tend to be less educated middle class people, and economic conservatives that mostly do not share their interests, but control the political establishment. That coalition is collapsing. Trump doesn't give a crap about the establishment. In the general election, where he is almost certainly headed, he is going to hit Hillary from the right with social populism, and from the left with economic populism. As one pundit put it, Hillary's political machine is like a super-tanker ... that is about to be boarded by Somali pirates.
Donald may lose in November, but the Republican Party is going to be changed forever. Trump has shown that he can win without the party establishment, and that rank-and-file Republicans will vote for somebody that speaks their language and channels their anger, rather than someone that shares their ideology. Even this year, this change will have a big effect down-ballot, in house and senate races. The influence of people like the Koch brothers is fading. Their money certainly didn't do much to help Jeb Bush.
It's really bizzare that an extremely blatant liar is seen as "authentic", but that's the way it's going.
The way he is tearing into the other Republicans is more vicious than any comedy act - it's far stranger than fiction.
> So using a fission reactor to respond to day or week long variations in demand is horribly inefficient and expensive
That depends on the plant design. The US midwest does just this because they're using the Westinghouse reactors that throttle daily. France does it because they have all of their plants on a national grid and can do some really fancy load following that wouldn't be possible elsewhere.