Path: csiph.com!eternal-september.org!feeder.eternal-september.org!mx02.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: jimp@specsol.spam.sux.com Newsgroups: sci.physics Subject: Re: Managing a 100-percent renewable grid, without batteries Date: Wed, 25 Nov 2015 23:41:51 -0000 Organization: A noiseless patient Spider Lines: 35 Sender: Jim Pennino Message-ID: References: Injection-Info: mx02.eternal-september.org; posting-host="db4120ef82bbc153014637d4cd15a795"; logging-data="29856"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX19YnoFGoBx03xs8nIadv1w3" User-Agent: tin/2.2.1-20140504 ("Tober an Righ") (UNIX) (SunOS/5.10 (i86pc)) Cancel-Lock: sha1:CJdZGuDsGCaZaqUhKesB4IKAJ7o= Xref: csiph.com sci.physics:535495 Sam Wormley wrote: > Managing a 100-percent renewable grid, without batteries >> http://arstechnica.com/science/2015/11/managing-a-100-percent-renewable-grid-without-batteries/ > > >> Stanford researcher Mark Jacobson likes to take current thinking >> about renewable energy and supersize it. Rather than aiming for 50 >> percent renewables, like California is, he has analyzed what it would >> take for each of the 50 states to go fully renewable. It would >> apparently involve so many offshore wind turbines that hurricanes >> headed toward the States would be suppressed. >> >> Now, he and a few collaborators are back with a more detailed look at >> how to manage the grid stability issues that come with large amounts >> of intermittent generators, like photovoltaic panes and wind >> turbines. Normally, issues of intermittency are expected to be >> handled by fossil fuel power and batteries. But the new analysis >> suggests we don't need any of that?and we don't need biofuels or >> nuclear, either. Instead, it suggests we could manage a 100-percent >> renewable grid through a combination of hydrogen production and heat >> storage. >> >> None of this is entirely new. People have been talking about >> generating hydrogen from renewable energy for years?with a fuel cell, >> it can be used to power cars or generate electricity as needed. And >> the paper cites an existing community that's already using solar >> energy to generate heat that's stored under ground. But, as with >> Jacobson's past analyses, they are taken to new scales here. What a concept; bankrupt the nation to get higher energy prices for no reason other than to satisfy some hysterical Chicken Littles. -- Jim Pennino