| Kasz216 said: Yeah, I mean... that's not to say it isn't useful. It's just worth noting that green energy as of current is too unreliable for full on mainstream use. The truth is, I don't believe there is one green power plant that independently runs a power grid.(maybe one or two hydro plants?) They either rely on other power plants, or have traditional generators in addition to the green ones to handle times when the green energy just can't produce. Really, if you want to be throwing green energy subsidies anywhere... it shouldn't actually be at green energy.... but as research grants for battery technology. Giant industrial batteries.
The future of green power I think is only viable in the short term with a few massive government owned green power plants that collects power in places just like the Nevada desert and near full capacity all day every day. Then ships batteries out to local battery powered plants.who obviously keep extra batteries in storage for when problems happen with the power plant.
With decomissioned coal or other fossil fuel plants sitting around in waiting to fill in whenever there is a problem with the electric batter supply.
Why government owned? Largely because the lack of suitable places would be prone to a monopoly otherwise. |
If we find a cheap and effective way to store energy, we should use it to store energy from wind power plants, as they generate much more electricity than solar power plants (and hydro plants) right now, but their biggest drawback is the lack of control over their production.
Superconductivity would fix the storage and transport problems, but we don't know when that will happen. And I don't think we can find a good enough chemical-based battery.
Right now we can create light tubes and other elements required in buildings that are capable of generating electricity, but it does increase the price of the building. However, in the long run (can't remember the number of years right now) it's worth the money. With some programs it is possible to redirect that electricity to the power grid when it isn't used inside the house (less need for transport, and can reduce the electric bill of the owner even more). I think it is better (and cheaper) than putting an add-on in the roof.
However, it's obvious that electric companies won't be interested in this.
