Wind and solar aren’t viable energy alternatives — and will never be
The Baltimore Sun | August 05, 2013 | www.baltimoresun.com
The Baltimore Sun | August 05, 2013 | www.baltimoresun.com
The letters in support of Gov. Martin O’Malley’s greenhouse gas reduction plan show an amazing ignorance of the facts (“O’Malley says state has ‘moral obligation’ to avert climate change,” July 25).
The U.S. uses 4,000 billion kilowatt hours per year. In 2011, 1.8 billion kWh – or 0.05 percent – was produced from solar energy and just 120 billion kWh – or 3 percent – from wind. This after hundreds of billions of dollars in federal subsidies, including ($24 billion in 2011 alone).
The math indicates several trillion dollars of additional subsidies are needed before we get solar and wind to meet even 10 percent of our electricity needs.
For those countries that pursued solar and wind aggressively, the results have been disastrous. Germans now pay 34 cents per kWh of electricity, while Marylanders pay only about 11 cents. And because wind power is so unreliable, Germany is now building more new coal-fired plants than ever.
One economist has estimated the $110 billion that the German government has spent to date in solar and wind subsidies may postpone global warming this century by 37 hours. But the Green advocates are never interested in the facts.
Steve Williams, Towson
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2013/08/05/wind-and-solar-arent-viable-energy-alternatives-and-will-never-be/