Watts Up With That (the best climate site on the web) reports that China is moving ahead with thorium nuclear reactors, which have a more plentiful fuel supply than conventional nuclear reactors, among other advantages. This, along with copious coal production and purchases by China, points to the fact that they are developing a reliable base load of electricity, rather than hoping to run their economy from wind power.
Speaking of wind power, it's in the doldrums. Iowa, which had positioned itself to be the renewable energy center, between wind and ethanol, expects a slow recovery in wind turbine orders. (Ethanol has problems of its own, as far as driving up food prices and using almost as much energy to make as is produced.) I suspect it's not just due to the economy, but less demand for renewable energy in the face of abundant and cheap natural gas.
Wind is unpredictable and unreliable. It has a place, and we can hope that work will proceed on solving wind power storage issues, which would greatly increase its usefulness. But until then, America needs to get serious about developing the next generation of reliable power sources.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment