I noticed that it has been nearly 7 years since OOI and OOII but the problems haven't changed much: wind power is a little better off in the percentage of the world’s energy that it provides, i.e. to the nearest whole number, it isn't zero any more. However, even ex environmental 'zealots' (Michael Shellenberger is a Time Magazine 'Hero of the Environment' no less) understand "Why Renewables Can’t Save the Planet" [LINK to the article on Quillette].
"In order to produce significant amounts of electricity from weak energy flows, you just have to spread them over enormous areas. In other words, the trouble with renewables isn’t fundamentally technical—it’s natural." My emphasis; a veritable environmental disaster...
Earlier this year I happened across the image above; what interested me most was the massive imbalance in the European Union's nuclear power plants: France accounts for
45% of all of the EU's operational reactors.
The image isn't 100% up-to-date but things haven't changed much.
The France/Germany nuclear thing had grasped Michael's attention:
"I used to think that dealing with climate change was going to be expensive. But I could no longer believe this after looking at Germany and France.
Germany’s carbon emissions have been flat since 2009, despite an investment of $580 billion by 2025 in a renewables-heavy electrical grid, a 50 percent rise in electricity cost.
Meanwhile, France produces one-tenth the carbon emissions per unit of electricity as Germany and pays little more than half for its electricity. How? Through nuclear power.
Then, under pressure from Germany, France spent $33 billion on renewables, over the last decade. What was the result? A rise in the carbon intensity of its electricity supply, and higher electricity prices, too."
The whole article is a very interesting and balanced read, well worth the time...and the links he provides too.
