“The US may not need to build any new coal or nuclear plants” the chairman of Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said. “We may not need any ever,” said Jon Wellinghoff at the forum of the US Energy Association.
The technology of storing the energy better then we have now, will give us a great advantage. If we will be able to retain the energy that we can create by solar, wind or any other sources, the entire world will be better off. This technology is called smart grid. Right now the storage capacity is only 15 hours. If this technology will develop will meet the US demand for electricity with only the energy that we produce right now. We may need the coal and nuclear energy as a back up from wind energy (the government experts are saying.) If wind does not work, we need the energy we have right now.
Those experts does not take under consideration that there are some other sources of energy that we can rely on, like Geothermal. The “Enhanced Geothermal System” I think will play a significant role on the nation’s wide energy share, once the experts will realize that there are some other energy that can be used besides solar, wind, nuclear and coal. The answer was there since the beginning of the earth. The “heat under our feet” energy can be capture and surfaced with the help of water. The water is in a close circuit and is getting the heat from the hot rocks deep under the surface of the earth. The water is turning into steam because the heat, and then we use that steam to create electricity.
The reliability of this source is great. There are not any ups and downs from the source. The whole world has access to this source. All the nations will benefit from the technology, which is not sophisticated to apply and use. We realize that the grid technology improvement will benefit all the energy technologies up there. The storage of energy plays an important role into energy technology. We have a great responsibility to let the world know that there are some other energy sources that need a better consideration besides the solar, wind, nuclear and coal. Yes, we may not need coal or neither nuclear power plants to build any more, but we have a moral responsibility to shift our nation’s actual energy usage toward a free C02 environment. Go for it.
My father is vice president for a wind power company and alternative energy research is something that is not new to me. I thing EGS is an excellent resource to use. However, the other energy sources do not have as many downfalls as you say they do. Nuclear power for example is not unsafe. Hollywood movies and media has persuaded the public to think so. Really, the biggest accident was in Chernobyl and that was because of poor safety standards and a corrupt government. Safety standards in the U.S. are much more intense and the only big accident that occurred was Three Mile Island, in which, no one was hurt. Also, nuclear waste is not as abundant as people think it is. Even Ronald Reagan said “All the waste in a year from a nuclear power plant can be stored under a desk". Which is true. The problem with nuclear waste is they need a common place to put it. Nuclear power plant waste storage facilities are running out of room and had a site prepared in the Yucca Mountain's in Nevada, however, President Obama has recently refused this proposal. Maybe this pays homage to the fact of, really how much does the government want us to "stay green" and why are they making it so difficult?
ReplyDeleteWind power and solar is another story. I know that wind and solar are only available in some places in the U.S. with the right resources. The big problem with wind and solar is that they need power lines from the plants to the city. I know that my dad and his boss have tried to have wind farms in Idaho and Idaho Power makes this rather ridiculous and will not let them use their power lines. In addition, the ever green Californians always make my dad and his boss go to a meeting over the killing of birds by wind farms.
Again, how much do people really want the problem fixed if they find downfalls in all the alternatives? The hard part is not finding the alternatives. It is having people and government accept them and accept the costs.
First off I think it would be great if we didn’t need any more coal or power plants. From what I understand they aren’t good for the environment and in this day and age we have enough pollution as it is. I’m kind of curious to know how they plan on storing more electricity and why it can only be stored for 15 hours right now. Hopefully they come up with a solution for storing electricity from solar and wind because that would be much better for the environment. I really like the idea of geothermal technology. It seems like it would work anywhere and from conversations I’ve had with you it sounds like it wouldn’t be too difficult or expensive to create sources. I wonder why not many experts think about geothermal technology. Do you think that there are some hazards to it? Another question I have is if everyone in the world began using geothermal technology would the earth suffer from some kind of damage?
ReplyDeleteI appreciate that you find some time to make comments on my blog. I understand that all of this back offs from not implementing new green technologies are political. I think that our government it serving big companies not the individuals. as long as they do not come up with a profit solution we are stuck. I really think that we still have to fight for what we belive. We need to do our part. The EGS technology is as safe as oil technology is. The drilling technology is the same. There is nothing new under the sun.
ReplyDeleteElena, I think you are totally right about the government still being influenced by big companies. Big companies are big because they ahve been successful in doing something in a way that has already proven to be profitable. Why should they change their ways in a manner that might hurt their own company and stockholders?
ReplyDeleteAnd like Yana mentioned, there will always be different groups pushing for their own agendas, prhaps without understanding the wole situation. I think it's great that Yana's dad has to go to some meetings; it means that there are people looking out for all kinds of abuses of the environment. Regrettably, some of them are nut-cases, and regrettably, some people have to waste time on things they really don't need to go to as a result of this system of checks and balances.