A CNN story indicates that the United States is making significant progress in transforming our energy sector to renewables.
My kids' college choices have come in two basic flavors: urban Catholic and land grant public. The latter, as most readers probably know, are colleges, including many large state universities, whose original funding was provided for by 19th century federal legislation (the Morrill Acts) that ceded federal land to states, which would use the land to raise money to found institutions of higher education in agriculture, engineering and other worthy fields.
At least in the upper Midwest, these large state institutions tend not to be located in major urban areas (Champaign, IL, anyone?). If one lives in a major urban area and one's children go to college at land grant universities, then one spends quite a bit of time driving on interstate highways to drop kids off, pick them up, visit them, bail them out of jail (well, not really, at least not so far) and so on.
Since I began these cross-country, minivan-sagging-with-college-kid-gear jaunts some 8 or 9 years ago, I've noticed that the landscape of rural America has been changing pretty dramatically. If one starts from the Chicago area and drives for a couple of hours on virtually any of the interstate spokes that radiate from the metropolis hub, one is likely to encounter vistas like that shown in the photograph at the top of this post. Wind farms have been sprouting all over the Midwest grain belt.
The farmers seem to realize some financial gain from the arrangement. And it seems that the rest of us are starting to benefit, too. According to CNN:
America's coal industry has already been left in the dust by natural gas. Now it's under immense pressure from the renewable energy boom.The renewable energy sector had slightly more installed capacity than coal in April, according to a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission report.
That means US power plants can produce more energy from clean sources than coal for the first time in history, according to the SUN DAY Campaign, a nonprofit research group supporting sustainable energy. The breakthrough reflects the plunging cost of solar and wind as well as heightened environmental concern about coal.
Here are some details:
In April, the total available installed generating capacity of coal stood at 257.48 gigawatts, according to the FERC report.
Renewable energy -- including not just solar and wind but also water, biomass and geothermal steam -- narrowly overtook coal by climbing to 257.53 gigawatts of installed capacity, FERC said.
Not surprisingly, the shift was driven by the rise of solar and wind.
While no new coal-fired power plants were added this year, the FERC report showed solar units increased by 102 units, or 1,473 megawatts. Wind also grew by 18 units, or 1,545 megawatts.
The article cautions that this is a capacity milestone, not a production milestone; coal-fired plants still generated more actual power during this period than renewable-energy plants did. But experts expect that the renewables generation also will outstrip that of coal in the next few years.
The article also notes that this development has come against the headwind of Trump administration policies that are not supportive of the clean-energy revolution:
The milestones come despite President Donald Trump's promise to prop up the coal industry by cutting environmental rules. Analysts say that's because the shift toward renewables is being driven more by economics than regulation.
"The government can tap on the brakes or accelerate this movement -- but this progress will continue moving forward," said Matthew Hoza, senior energy analyst at consulting firm BTU Analytics. "For the most part, the public is calling for renewables."
As someone who generally supports the free market, I cheer this development. But that is not to say that government policy hasn't played a role - it's just that, during the Trump era, it's not the federal government:
Power companies are increasingly relenting to pressure from customers and states to adopt cleaner energy.
Public energy utilities are heavily regulated by the states, and states can lean on utilities to adopt best practices.
Lots of wind farms in our rural area, and lots of wind farm haters: "too big, too close, too loud."
ReplyDeleteMixed bag: They do make jobs, increase farm income, loom over the landscape, disrupt avian migratory patterns, and irritate people who think the turbines are ugly.
My brother in Oklahoma likes to send me storm chaser footage of tornados. Many show turbines taking a direct from a tornado, but as storms increase in intensity, I understand the concerns some citizens might have about the damage a 116-foot blade might do if it came loose.
I support them, generally, if they get us away from fossils.
I think Trump might be a factor in the rise of renewables. Hooking up to solar, wind, or water might be a way to protest a president who believes he can control global warming by denying it exists.
I don't think "ugly" quite gets to how visually jarring they are. There is actually something kind of pleasant about those enormous blades when they're lazily turning - it's as if they have all the time in the world.
DeleteBut the thing about them is, they're so massively out of proportion to everything around them, at least in the flat or rolling prairie lands around here - they sit in the midst of fields of cornstalks or soybean plants, and the next-tallest structures in the vicinity are houses or barns. The windmills tower over them - it's kind of threatening.
They also break up the well-ordered symmetry of the farms - the patchwork of rectangular fields. They're like giant weeds.
Yeah, well, smog isn't that aesthetically pleasing either. Neither is seeing your grandchildren using asthma meds.
DeleteMy grandparents used to have a "windcharger". It was not in active use in my memory; the REA had strung power lines even in their remote sandhill location. The windcharger looked similar to the new ones, except a lot smaller. Was more the size of a regular windmill. It delivered DC power; everything now is AC in the US. My mom said they used to wait for a windy day to iron the laundry. Apparently an iron drew a lot of juice.
DeleteMine had one, too! Last time I drove by the farm, the base was still out by the barn with vines growing on it, but the blades were gone.
DeleteThat's good news for the environment, Jim. It is encouraging to note that we're not totally at the mercy of whoever is president. States and businesses can take the initiative when it makes sense for them to do so.
ReplyDeleteEven with intense renewables, we are wired in for at least another 0.5°C of warming. CO2 denial comes with another severe financial effect. We have to start preparing for drought and flood, wind and heat waves, forest fires and sea level rise. Otherwise we expose ourselves to continuous disruption and destruction of the works of man. Where and what do you build when you have a coastline that may keep moving for centuries? How do you construct houses to withstand extremes of temperature and fire? Will highways and bridges built with contemporary methods stand up to never before experienced floods? States which accept scientific projections will do better than states that wish away reality.
ReplyDelete"I believe that there's a change in weather and I think it changes both ways," Mr Trump told Piers Morgan in an interview that aired (in Britain during his visit).
ReplyDeleteMr Trump said he shared the prince's (Charles's) desire for a "good climate" but blamed other nations for increasing pollution.
..."Don't forget, it used to be called global warming, that wasn't working, then it was called climate change, now it's actually called extreme weather because with extreme weather you can't miss," the president said.
The rest of the disgusting blabber:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-48531019
On the other hands, Florida developers now openly admit that many of their projects won't last for the length of a long mortgage. The game is to be the last one out by selling it to the guy who gets stuck with it. With that kind of thinking, it is amazing the Trump Corporation isn't heavily involved in the pre-flood scramble to make money on Florida real estate before it becomes coastal waters.
Pfft. It was Frank Luntz, GOP spinner par excellence, who came up with the euphemistic "climate change."
DeleteWhy does Florida continue to allow shoreline development? Oh, right, for the same reason Michigan does. $$$
Well, I have future shorefront property in the future Pocono Islands. A round of Margaritas and Painkillers on me at Stan's Tiki Bar. Listen to those steel drums.
DeleteWe don't even get the weather benefits of global warming - seems we get the Arctic cold fronts dropping in from October through May. So I'll stand a round of hot chocolate at Jim's Ski Chalet.
DeleteIt is warmer in Anchorage, Yellow Knife, and Reykjavik, Iceland, than it is in my home in Michigan today. 55 and steady drizzle alternating with downpours. Which we don't need. The rain is like a plague!
Delete