The Password is...Innovation

All of the articles I've recommended so far have been ones that I agree with, and to some that will make me seem biased. First off we're all biased, we just need to be open-minded. Beyond that I do need to write about articles I disagree with rather than just ones I agree with. Addressing problems I see in other writings is just as important as praising the ones I agree with. So the following article from the Washington Post titled Wind Power Won't Cool the Planet seemed like the perfect candidate to start addressing some statements from "the other side."

To start I will let the article do some talking and explain what problem it sees with wind energy:

"Because wind blows intermittently, electric utilities must either keep their conventional power plants running all the time to make sure the lights don't go dark, or continually ramp up and down the output from conventional coal- or gas-fired generators (called "cycling"). But coal-fired and gas-fired generators are designed to run continuously, and if they don't, fuel consumption and emissions generally increase. A car analogy helps explain: An automobile that operates at a constant speed—say, 55 miles per hour—will have better fuel efficiency, and emit less pollution per mile traveled, than one that is stuck in stop-and-go traffic."

Would it be hypocritical for me to say I agree with this? No, it's good to accept that this is actually a valid point. Doing this allows us to begin to address the issue because we've all established that it is a problem. And thankfully this has gotten some much needed attention. So what is being done you ask? Well you could read a previous blog of mine that will explain in good detail or you can read some clips from the article I discussed in my previous blog below:

1) In the Midwest, a utility is demonstrating storage technology that can go from charge to discharge and back several times a minute, or even within a second, bracing the grid against the vicissitudes of wind and sun and transmission failure.

2)And in Texas, companies are looking at ways of stabilizing voltage through battery storage in places served by just one transmission line.

3)In Stephentown, N.Y., near Albany, a Massachusetts company, Beacon Power, is building a bank of 200 one-ton flywheels that will store energy from the grid on a moment-to-moment basis to keep the alternating current system at a strict 60 cycles. Atop each flywheel is a device that can be a motor at one moment and a generator the next, either taking energy and storing it in the flywheel or vice versa.

Bottom Line: Innovation is happening

The article also quotes reputable sources such as the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), Department of Energy, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. These sources have made estimates about wind energy's influence on reducing carbon emissions and some are not as promising as some proponents have made it out to be. This again is a point I have to agree with. I will not try and claim the many statistics from the article were done wrong, or done with an agenda, or misconstrued results; I would just like to point out that something is happening to address the apparent problem conveyed in this article.

Bottom Line: Innovation is happening.