Comments REM has made

  • Why not to subsidize inefficient wind farms

    One more time. Your wind farms are backed up for 75% of the delivered energy by coal, gas or oil. Texas's capacity value for wind is 2.5% so you have to back up every wind MW with a fossil fuel MW.  To cut 10% of the 4 trillion kWh in conventional electricity production  will cost $400 billion in capital. I know that's now object as long s China keeps buying the debt. $400 billion would go a long way cleaning up the old coal plants. $400 billion would go a long towards conservation, demand management and on-site generation. All the other options have a higher payback considering financial, social and environmental costs including GHG savings vs. inefficient industrial wind plants.

    A small fraction of your electricity use comes from oil.  The reason America is a war has nothing  to do with energy security and cost of oil. Other nations don't sacrifice their young so that their corporations can plunder the resources of others.
    If you are worried about oil consumption park the gas guzzlers and make the homes more energy efficient. On Carbon offsets make for strange bedfellows posted 2 years, 8 months ago 6 Responses

  • The Cost of Wind

    North of the US border they are paying 8 cents on RFPs and another 1 cent for production incentives with no charges for use of transmission lines. Wind developers also hope to cash in on the offset market and are lobbying to that end although at 9 cents per kw-hr   they should be able to make a decent return on investment when we keep getting told by wind fans that the cost of wind is around 3 cents.  What are offsets worth per kw-hr?   $10 tonne? Or another 10% into the pockets of the developers from consumers?  Why should taxpayers/consumers be paying 10 cents for wind energy when cost of conservation, efficiency and demand management runs at 4 cents keeping in mind that 70% of the delivered energy in a wind mix will be from some fossil fuel burner anyway? We are paying a hefty premium for a marginal reduction in GHGs from wind. Meanwhile old coal plants keep spewing out their toxic brew.  Good luck trying to retire a mere 5% of old coal with wind.  

    " Whereas the promotion of renewables in Germany was definitely effective in the sense of increasing capacity and production it was certainly not cost effective in the sense of getting the highest effect per Euro in terms of
    greenhouse gas reduction or production from renewable sources."

    Renewable Energy Foundation- SUBMISSION TO THE STERN REVIEW ON THE ECONOMICS OF CLIMATE CHANGE
    http://www.nkpw.nl/images/stories/REF%20Submission%20on%2 ...
    On Carbon offsets make for strange bedfellows posted 2 years, 8 months ago 6 Responses