Tag Archives: solar power

environmental news

Green energy saves the day?

Well, I’ll be swathed in sunshine and whipped by the wind! Reports now indicate that green energy sources have kept Texans’ electricity running during the recent heat wave that blanketed the state.

According to ABCNews.com: The perfect meteorological conditions have allowed renewable energy generated by wind turbines and solar panels to supply the grids with enough power to meet demand, experts told ABC News.

This is heartening news to this armchair environmentalist.

ABC News reports: While natural gas is still the primary power source for the state’s grid, wind and solar energy are heavily contributing to the supply, data from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas shows. On Thursday afternoon, solar produced 10,757 megawatts, while wind produced 7,433 megawatts, representing about 26% of the grid’s power.

At the same time, natural gas produced 33,514 megawatts – nearly 50% of the grid’s power – while coal and lignite produced 11,357 megawatts – about 17% – the ERCOT data showed.

I get that fossil fuels still provide most of the energy to run our power plants, but it does make me smile to learn that environmentally friendly sources are taking a larger bite out of the demand for electricity.

I just returned from a two-day jaunt to the Texas Panhandle, where I drove through many miles of wind farms. I watched the turbines turning furiously as the wind ripped across the Caprock. I always think consciously of the power being generated by those turbines and long for the day when we can wean ourselves of the finite fossil fuel sources that eventually — albeit over a lengthy period of time — will run out.

Check out ABC News’s story here:

Solar, wind energy keeping Texas power grids running amid weekslong heat wave – ABC News (ampproject.org)

Another item from ABC News: Wind and solar are also the fastest-growing electricity sources in the country, with solar power accounting for 43% of the capacity added in 2020 and wind power amounting to 38%, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association.

I get that the sun will expire in — what? — in a million or two million years from now. Who knows what’ll happen to the wind source when the sun burns itself out?

For those who are worried about the here and now, the news about sun and wind playing increasing role in keeping the lights and conditioners running is good news, indeed.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Is she for real … or what?

The quotation you see with this very brief blog post comes from the House of Reps’ QAnon queen herself, Marjorie Taylor Greene of the 14th Congressional District of Georgia.

Yes, she’s a Republican.

I don’t know quite how to respond to this comment. I have been advised by those on social media that it’s the real thing. It ain’t made up. She actually said this.

Oh, my.

Just think that his nitwit is actually voting on federal laws that we all have to obey. Just read the attached message and ask yourself: Did the people of this congressional district really buy into this when they put her into office?

Wow!

Johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

environmental news

Alternative energy deserves props, too, Gov. Abbott

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is proud of the role his state plays in achieving national energy independence.

He wrote via Twitter: Because of Texas, America is now energy independent. Because of TEXAS, we will NEVER AGAIN depend on Foreign Oil Cartels for energy.

Boy, howdy, governor.

Except that his tweet and the accompanying hashtags suggest to me that he is ignoring another key element of this nation’s quest to free itself from foreign energy sources.

Alternative energy.

Wind power. Hydro power. Solar power. Nuclear power. C’mon, Gov. Abbott. Offer a word as well to those energy sources that received some federal government assistance during the previous administration … yes, the one led by Barack H. Obama.

President Obama gave way to Donald J. Trump in January 2017 and the new president began dismantling some of the rules and regulations that gave energy producers incentive to search for alternative sources of energy.

Trump said he wanted to restore the fossil fuel industry. Oil, natural gas and coal have been pushed to the front, while he has all but ignored any public discussion about those alternative sources.

Clean air? Clean water? The president and his Environmental Protection Agency director, Scott Pruitt, have stripped away those regulations, too. Trump and Pruitt call them “job killers.”

The nation achieved its energy independence in the years immediately preceding Trump’s election as president.

Sure, we still need oil. West Texas oil fields are pulling a lot of it out of the ground. Let us remember, though: Those fuel sources won’t last forever.

The wind will be around for long after we pump the final barrel of oil. So will the sun. Both of those sources are, shall we say, a whole lot cleaner and a whole lot more sustainable.

environmental news, political news, State news

Nuclear power … time for a return

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Many Americans long have feared nuclear energy.

To be honest, I was one of them. I no longer fear it.

An essay in the New York Times makes a compelling argument that the time to bring nuclear energy back into the discussion of clean alternatives to coal has arrived. Why not now, while 150 or so world leaders are meeting in Paris to talk about climate change?

Technological improvements have greatly improved nuclear power’s safety record. Peter Thiel’s essay in the New York Times makes a most interesting point.

Remember the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan in 2011? Thousands of people died in the earthquake and tsunami that ravaged Japan and destroyed the Fukushima nuclear plant, Thiel writes. Not one person died of radiation poisoning, he adds.

Time for a “new atomic age.”

Yes, there have been disasters, notably the Chernobyl event in Russia in 1986; Three Mile Island before that.

But in the intervening years, nuclear power has become many times safer.

I’m all in on efforts to harvest the wind — which is being done in places like the Texas Panhandle, where my wife, one of our sons and I live. I want there to be more exploration of natural gas, which also is in abundance throughout West Texas. With the abundant sunshine we have in this part of the world, it’s high time we invested far than we do in solar energy.

These all are viable alternative energy sources that must become part of the nation’s wide-ranging effort to wean ourselves of fossil fuel and coal.

We’re neglecting any serious discussion, though, of nuclear energy.

It’s interesting that a climate change conference is being held in a country, France, that relies heavily on nuclear power to keep the lights on.

Roughly 75 percent of France’s energy needs are met by nuclear power plants. It’s ironic, to my way of thinking, that nuclear energy isn’t being discussed as openly as it should, given the location of this climate change conference.

President Obama can seize the moment as he enters the final year of his presidency, according to Thiel.

As Thiel writes: “Both the right’s fear of government and the left’s fear of technology have jointly stunted our nuclear energy policy, but on this issue liberals hold the balance of power. Speaking about climate change in 2013, President Obama said that our grandchildren will ask whether we did ‘all that we could when we had the chance to deal with this problem.’

“So far, the answer would have to be no — unless he seizes this moment. Supporting nuclear power with more than words is the litmus test for seriousness about climate change. Like Nixon’s going to China, this is something only Mr. Obama can do. If this president clears the path for a new atomic age, American scientists are ready to build it.”