For years, the West has pushed "green" energy policies that seek to eliminate all reliance on fossil fuels. The problem is that wind, solar and other "renewables" are unsustainable, ironically enough, when it comes to meeting the needs of modern society.
The biggest problem is that electricity is an on-demand resource, meaning it has to be generated and used immediately, otherwise it disappears. This is problematic at times when there is no wind to spin the turbines, for instance, or no sunlight to hit the solar panels.
"No amount of incremental wind and solar power can ever provide energy independence," explains the Watts Up With That? blog. "Electricity gets consumed the instant it is generated. Electricity is consumed all the time, and therefore must be generated all the time."
"Indeed, some of the peak times for electricity consumption occur on winter evenings, when the sun has set, temperatures are very cold, the wind is often completely calm, and the need for energy for light, heat, cooking and more are high. During such times, a combined wind and solar generation system produces zero power. It doesn't matter if you build a thousand wind turbines and solar panels, or a million, or a billion or a trillion. The output will still be zero."
The "green" push is a de-industrialization push that will end modern society as we currently know it
The Ukraine conflict is highlighting not only the need for fossil fuels, no matter how much leftists hate them, but also the need to utilize as many fossil fuels domestically as possible.
Reliance on foreign countries such as Russia to provide a steady flow of natural gas and oil is unsustainable in the event of a war, which is what much of the world now faces as politicians and the corporate-controlled media push for World War III against Vladimir Putin.
The United States and North America as a whole is fully capable of generating most, if not all, of its oil and natural gas needs domestically. The problem is that left-wing extremists, including those currently occupying the White House, will not allow it.
They shut down the Keystone XL pipeline project, which has increased America's reliance on foreign fuels. That decision, coupled with the current crisis overseas, is driving up already inflated fuel and commodity prices.
Sure, the U.S. is pushing more solar and wind farms. But again, these are not reliable and will only cause long-term problems, should the country go the way of Germany in trying to eliminate all fossil fuel use in the future.
"A fully wind / solar generation system, with seemingly plenty of 'capacity' to meet peak electricity demand, will also regularly and dramatically underproduce at random critical times throughout a year: for example, on heavily overcast and cold winter days; or on calm and hot summer evenings, when the sun has just set and air conditioning demand is high," the Watts Up With That? blog adds.
"And thus it is time for a roundup of recent calls for massive building of wind and solar facilities in order to achieve energy independence."
Since combined solar and wind generation facilities regularly produce no power at times when it is needed most, this conversion to "renewable" energy spells disaster for modern society. At best, these systems will always need to rely on fossil fuel backups systems, or some kind of storage system – or both.
"If it is taken as given that the whole idea is to move away from fossil fuel backup, then everything comes down to storage. A fossil-fuel-free system based on wind and solar generation is completely useless without sufficient storage to cover all times of insufficient simultaneous generation."
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