Oh, Oh. It’s Another Blackout!
You may have read about the recent (April 28) 23-hour blackout affecting Spain, Portugal and a chunk of southern France. When all was said and done, the reason it happened was the volatility of sunshine and the solar panels and batteries generating a major piece (56%) of the electric power there and cascading the rest of the electrical grid when “green energy” couldn’t meet demand.
You and I don’t want this to happen to us.
At the same time we all want to see our energy come from renewable sources. But let’s be honest, solar power is too unreliable when it comes to generation and storage. There are certain countries, and for that matter regions of this country, where dependence on solar generated electricity would put people living in those areas back in the 19th century. The idea is great, but the technology to make it work does not exist.
In addition, using current knowledge and application, generating large amounts of solar electrical power would cover vast acres of land, much of which is arable. So we willingly trade solar panels for food? I don’t think that’s true for you and me.
Then we have the manufacture of solar panels. It currently requires 8 major raw materials:
- aluminum alloy
- silicone gel
- tempered glass
- ethylene vinyl acetate
- semiconductors
- photovoltaic welding tape
- layers of polymers
China produces 78% of the solar panels sold in the world.
Now let’s look at the wind. Yes, the wind can be harnessed to generate electricity. Again, it’s unreliable with the same storage problems as solar.
Here are the materials needed to build one:
- Aggregates and Crushed Stone
- Bauxite (aluminum)
- Clay and Shale
- Coal (to make steel)
- Cobalt (magnets)
- Copper
- Gypsum
- Iron ore (steel)
- Limestone
- Molybdenum (alloy in steel)
- Rare Earth Oxides
Add lithium and cobalt which are needed to manufacture of the batteries required to store the energy generated at the generation plant and for EVs.
In addition to the major amounts of energy needed to build a large wind turbine, nobody wants a big wind turbine close to where they live and play – the sound is deafening when the wind blows and the turbines are operating. And again, China is the major producer of large wind turbines.
To top off the problems with solar and wind as electrical sources, environmentalists are concerned with the 20 or so years of life for solar panels and wind turbines. In addition to piles of waste, they also contain toxic substances that could threaten water supplies.
Let’s throw ethanol into this ‘green’ energy fiasco.
It’s true that burning ethanol produces fewer greenhouse gases than burning gasoline. Because of that fact some believe, including many climate change aficionados, that it should be mixed with gasoline to reduce global warming.
The current administration’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is loosening the former restriction of no more than 10% (E10) of the gasoline mixture in the summertime to the 15% (E15) blend allowed in the fall, winter, and spring.
The E15 has been limited in the summer because it has a higher Reid Vapor Pressure. That means the concern is E15 will cause more ground vapor in the warmer months – creating fog.
Ethanol costs the seller less than gasoline, so the seller can reduce the price of a gallon of ‘gasoline.’ But like solar and wind, most projects are subsidized which brings the prices for same not reflective of the true costs of production.
94% of the ethanol made in the US is made from corn. In 2023 farmers produced 13.65B bushels of corn. Of that, 5.2B bushels were used to make ethanol. So about 40% of our corn crops are now used to make ethanol.
What alternative uses could that corn have? The obvious answers are livestock – or use of the land to produce something(s) else. Meat prices are higher because so much corn is used to produce ethanol.
Producing ethanol, in addition to requiring large amounts of water, from the planting and harvesting crops to refining them into ethanol relies heavily on lots of fossil fuels. Tractors, fertilizers, and processing plants consume significant amounts of energy, much of which comes from coal and natural gas. When these upstream emissions are accounted for, the net carbon savings of ethanol can be disappointingly small – or, in many cases, even negative. And we get fewer miles/gallon with ethanol than we do from gasoline.
So, the use of land required for solar and wind, and ethanol – with their misguided incentives to produce energy – means arable land is set aside for those uses resulting in higher food prices.
When considering the three energy sources discussed here and their small net effect on carbon emissions, if you believe the world is going to end without zero carbon emissions, you need to come up with different energy sources.
Solar, wind and ethanol as they are currently produced plus their current low percentage of efficiency makes them less attractive than fossil fuels.
The current viable alternatives to fossil fuels in generating electricity remain with nuclear, including fusion, and hydro.
Perhaps more research into hydrogen might also result in a viable alternative.
In any case, let’s stop kidding ourselves about generating electricity with ‘green’ energy, which with blinders on supposedly results in zero carbon emissions and ‘saving the planet.’
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Have a great and prosperous week.
Hug somebody.
References:
https://www.slashgear.com/1846001/epa-emergency-e15-fuel-waiver-explained-cut-driving-costs/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corn_ethanol
https://afdc.energy.gov/data/10339
https://ethanolrfa.org/policy/tax-policy
https://mineralseducationcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/mec_fact_sheet_wind_turbines_0.pdf
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