Our Future Under Green Power

Most people don't know it but, Texas is one of the "greenest" states in the Union. That's because, long ago, a then-Governor, George W. Bush, signed legislation that would move Texas into the realm of Wind Power as its energy requirements grew. But, what a lot people also don't know, it was Texas' dependence on Wind Power and a serious lack of wind on a stormy February day in 2008 that caused massive power outages across that state (Click to See Wall Street Journal Story: "No Breeze: The Day the Wind Died in Texas").

Now, that very windy and then windless day in Texas might just be an omen for the United Kingdom with its push toward green power. According to this article, "Britain facing blackouts for first time since 1970s", the future demands for electrical energy are not being met due to the United Kingdom's push toward wind and solar.

A while back I wrote the blog entry, "Can You Stick It Where The Sun Don't Shine?", where I talked about the fact that wind and solar is too dependent on nature being cooperative. For that reason, wind and solar power must be excessively overbuilt with an extremely expensive upgrade of our national grid system in order to overcome the whims of nature and in order to provide constant energy. This is especially true at dusk when the wind dies down and the sun doesn't shine.

The real folly in all the green power mumbo-jumbo is that we will need to keep a lot of conventional fossil fuel energy production facilities in either partial or complete standby operation to overcome those non-productive days and hours of green power. This can also be true during very windy conditions. That's because wind turbines must be idle during high winds to keep from flying apart. That, in itself, will be very expensive because staff and stockpiles of fuel will have to be maintained on top of the very high cost of wind and solar equipment that will also have to be maintained.

Wind and solar are fine choices as a supplemental power source; but only on a limited basis and where their high costs make sense. But, by no means, should this or any other country become totally dependent on such systems. If we did,we might have serious power problems in the future. Problems that the United Kingdom may see sooner than later.