Green energy that isn't.

mapj1:

Indeed but only burning the coal when the wind is  not blowing does help, and significantly.

I agree things like tidal storage are also needed to bridge the gaps once you have no fossil fuel at all.

Good point. Imagine it is mid-December around 6:00 pm. UK weather is dominated by a massive anti-cyclone; it is dark, freezing and windless.  Many are at home cooking meals and watching the news. Meanwhile shopping centres are ablaze with extended hours for Christmas shopping. National Grid Control meets this demand by starting up as many power stations as possible - yes coal ones too. Even if your energy provider is genuinely totally green, there is no way that you can claim that at that moment all your electrical power is coming from renewable sources. Energy suppliers bill you for energy, not power. When your monthly bill comes in there will have been enough wind and light during that month to match your own energy demand and credit you for being "green".


Now try to imagine this scenario some time in the future when we cannot fall back on fossil fuels. How do we meet the needs of that December evening? Well, let's hope for massive development of electricity storage methods. Tidal energy? Not easily controllable but at least predictable, though it may not deliver when we most want it. Otherwise we are looking to nuclear. Some would argue that nuclear is not totally green and it is a type of fossil fuel. On the other hand it is controllable, stabilizing and does not emit CO₂.


We have many hurdles to overcome before we can say we are totally green, as this thread is demonstrating.

mapj1:

Indeed but only burning the coal when the wind is  not blowing does help, and significantly.

I agree things like tidal storage are also needed to bridge the gaps once you have no fossil fuel at all.

Good point. Imagine it is mid-December around 6:00 pm. UK weather is dominated by a massive anti-cyclone; it is dark, freezing and windless.  Many are at home cooking meals and watching the news. Meanwhile shopping centres are ablaze with extended hours for Christmas shopping. National Grid Control meets this demand by starting up as many power stations as possible - yes coal ones too. Even if your energy provider is genuinely totally green, there is no way that you can claim that at that moment all your electrical power is coming from renewable sources. Energy suppliers bill you for energy, not power. When your monthly bill comes in there will have been enough wind and light during that month to match your own energy demand and credit you for being "green".


Now try to imagine this scenario some time in the future when we cannot fall back on fossil fuels. How do we meet the needs of that December evening? Well, let's hope for massive development of electricity storage methods. Tidal energy? Not easily controllable but at least predictable, though it may not deliver when we most want it. Otherwise we are looking to nuclear. Some would argue that nuclear is not totally green and it is a type of fossil fuel. On the other hand it is controllable, stabilizing and does not emit CO₂.


We have many hurdles to overcome before we can say we are totally green, as this thread is demonstrating.