solar

Roger Letsch, unbesorgt.de: Das Projekt Desertec wurde 2009 voller Euphorie gestartet. Es sollte die Energieversorgung mit Solarstrom für Europa sichern helfen und dem Erzeugerland hohe Einnahmen sichern. Wie fast immer bei Energiewendeprojekten hat man auch hier versucht politische, öknonomische und Naturgesetze auszuhebeln. Und ist erwartungsgemäß gescheitert. Roger Letsch fasst den Iststand zusammen.

Scott Bean, Business Development Representative, Steenkampskraal Holdings Limited/Steenkampskraal Rare Earths: Germany's energy policies often get good press highlighting fleeting moments of significant output, negative prices, capacity installation, and more. Rarely does news coverage add context to these stories that allows us to comprehend what the consequences of these events are for consumers, the grid, the environment, the economy, and Earth as a whole.

Friedrich Wagner: Germany decided to go nuclear-free by 2022. A CO2-emission-free electricity supply system based on intermittent sources, such as wind and solar - or photovoltaic (PV) - power could replace nuclear power. Intermittent sources are, by definition, unsteady. Therefore, a back-up system capable of providing power at a level of 89% of peak load would be needed. This requires creating an oversised power system to produce large amounts of surplus energy. A day storage to handle surplus is ineffective because of the day-night correlation of surplus power in the winter.

D.K., a German citizen, speaks out against long standing, unsound energy and immigrant policies that are tearing apart the Wirtschaftswunder or Miracle on the Rhine that German citizens worked so hard for since the 1950s.

Because of unbelievably bad energy planning for decades by extreme green zealots and allowing themselves to become seriously dependent on a totalitarian state and former enemy, Much of Europe is now experiencing near fatal energy chaos. The cost of natural gas and other forms of energy have risen far beyond affordable levels for most people and businesses. Total chaos and worse lie ahead. The need for plentiful energy from fossil fuels was a key reason for Germany and Japan to initiate WWII. How can European and North American military defend their countries with only intermittent, unreliable wind and solar energy?

The author is a German energy expert.

“A Green Minister for Economics and Climate Protection, of all people, has to ramp up additional German coal-fired power plants. Of course only for a short time, in 2030 coal should finally come to an end. Whoever believes it will be saved."

"No major industrialized country has followed us on the wrong path of hasty phasing out of nuclear power."

notrickszone.com, P. Gosselin: Germany’s once highly promoted “Energiewende” (transition to green energies) and the country’s feed-in act have been given a grade of “F” by one of the country’s top economists, Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Hans-Werner Sinn. Top German economist Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Hans-Werner Sinn says supplying Germany’s energy needs with wind and sun is “disillusionment”.

Der Gedanke der Nutzung von freier Energie aus der Umwelt hat etwas verführerisches, zumal sicher jede Einsparung von fossilen Brennstoffen sinnvoll ist und zu begrüßen wäre. In der Vergangenheit wurde ja auch mit Segelschiffen gereist und mit Wind Getreide gemahlen.

Wir leben jedoch in einer empfindlichen und winzigen, besonders aber Energie-armen Zone des Universums. Die Entstehung des Lebens und die Evolution ist außerhalb dieser Zone undenkbar. In dieser Zone über relevante Mengen an Energie verfügen zu können ist daher nur mit dem Zugriff auf akkumulierte und neutralisierte Energiespeicher möglich. Das sind die üblichen bekannten Substanzen wie Holz, Kohle, Öl und instabile Materie wie Uran etc.

Jon Boone, naturalist, environmentalist, bird expert and artist, wind energy expert and John Shanahan, civil engineer advocate for sound energy planning worldwide: In many countries, energy planning for generation of electricity is a mixed process consisting of No-Truths and Half-Truths promoted by special interest groups of all kinds. For the world to advance as best as possible it would be good to deal simply with Whole-Truths about fossil fuels, hydro-electric and nuclear energy. Similar issues apply to energy for all uses besides electricity. That will be discussed in a separate essay.

John Shanahan, civil engineer, Environmentalists for Nuclear - USA: Strong and lasting economies need fossil fuels and nuclear. Only if government is well intended and stable, will there be sound energy programs. We should not kid ourselves that stopping use of fossil fuels and nuclear power is good. Competitors like an energy weak USA. We can't let that happen. We must eliminate frivolous lawsuits that demand stopping use of fossil fuels and nuclear power, cap and trade or carbon sequestration. To do otherwise is playing into the hands of those who would like to destroy North America and Europe.

Atul Loke - Developing countries that already have a high share of renewable energy in their power mix are unlikely to grow this share further due to skyrocketing demand for cheap electricity.

John Hinderaker, POWERLINE blog: Minnesota is a poor place for solar power, so its renewable policies have focused on wind. Minnesota has gone whole hog for wind energy, to the tune of approximately $15 billion. It is noteworthy that demand for electricity in Minnesota has been flat for quite a few years, so that $15 billion wasn’t spent to meet demand. Rather, it replaced electricity that already was being produced by coal, nuclear and natural gas plants. Wind energy is intermittent and unreliable; it can only be produced when the wind is blowing within certain parameters, and cannot be stored at scale. It is expensive and inefficient, and therefore patently inferior to nuclear, coal and natural gas-powered electricity, except in one respect–its “greenness.”

Peter Westmore, writer for News Weekly: The increase in renewable energy (solar and wind) has pushed up electricity prices and, inevitably, increased the number of disconnections of poor families who cannot afford the rising price of electricity. In Western Australia, a recent report by the state’s Economic Regulation Authority revealed that almost 20,000 West Australians had their power disconnected in 2017–18, a rise of about 20 per cent over the previous 12 months.

Viv Forbes, Executive Director of the Saltbush Club which opposes the war on carbon energy, opposes real pollution, and promotes the rational and sustainable use of carbon energy and carbon food: Rarely has the dire future of the free world been so succinctly and precisely described. The world must not allow Green Extremists to impose wind and solar energy on those who want reliable energy from well managed fossil fuels and hydro-electric power.

Are we returning to the 1970s, as several commentators have recently claimed? There are surprising similarities.

The humiliating withdrawal from Afghanistan echoes the U.S. defeat in Vietnam. Prices are rising even as economic growth is stalling. Back then, the rising economic power challenging American superiority was Japan; now it’s China.

On closer examination, most of these analogies turn out to be superficial. But there is one where the parallels are striking, and that should worry the Biden administration greatly. We are headed for a global energy crisis.

Clean-energy technologies are more minerals-intensive to build than their fossil-fuel counterparts.

The growth of clean energy will rapidly raise demand for a set of key minerals.

Mining and processing of those minerals are geographically concentrated, often in countries with weak labor and environmental protections.

Mineral mines and processing facilities often pollute water, scar landscapes and impoverish communities.

Production may not be able to expand fast enough to keep up with demand, which could cause supply constrictions and price fluctuations and slow the transition away from fossil fuels.

Robert Endlich, Weather officer for the US Air Force for 21 years and meteorologist for the U.S. Army for 17 years, Michel Gay, member Environmentalists for Nuclear - International, John Shanahan, member Environmentalists for Nuclear - USA: Historical records do not support claims of man-made catastrophic global warming and sea level change. We elect leaders based on man-made global warming alarmism that the media spreads across the free world. Many accept it without question, quoting 97% consensus about climate change. Countries, like China and Russia, that don't embrace this man-made climate alarmism will end up having the strongest energy programs.

Roger Bezdek, President of Management Information Services, Inc. brought this Nuclear Energy Institute report to our attention: The federal government has spent hundreds of billions of dollars since WW II supporting energy technologies with large shares going to fossil fuels. Energy subsidies are drawing intense attention as policymakers grapple with a variety of incentives that are straining competitive electricity markets and driving baseload generation off the grid.