4 Responses to Repower America

1. Jules Gordon says:

   December 8, 2008 at 7:29 am

   Your Honor,

   Can you provide me with a list of technologies ready to go on line that will meet our electric power needs?

   Thes Repower America group is typical of advocacy groups, all critism and no solutions.

   Where’s the beef, your honor.

   Jules

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2. Bill Manzi says:

   December 8, 2008 at 8:53 pm

   From Repower America. Good subject, and I recognize some weakness in their position, but ultimately this can be done.

   Wind Power: The United States added enough wind power in 2007 alone to provide electricity to more than a million homes. Texas is the fastest-growing wind power state and about 15% of the country has excellent wind, especially the Great Plains. Today’s efficient wind turbines are sleek and powerful, and can be taller than the Statue of Liberty with blades longer than the wings of a Boeing 737. When connected together through a national grid, wind power could provide at least one-third of our total electricity needs.
   Solar Thermal: Solar thermal power — which uses solar energy to drive turbines — already produces enough electricity in the United States for about 100,000 homes, but several utilities have announced projects to provide enough power for 10 times that many homes in the next several years. And, because solar thermal power plants can store energy to produce electricity at night, they can be installed in place of new coal power plants. Just a small area of solar thermal in the Southwest could supply all of the US electricity needs.
   Solar Photovoltaics: States like California and New Jersey are already implementing programs to encourage communities to install solar panels in new homes, buildings, and even on parking lot roofs. Solar photovoltaics, which can now be integrated into roof tiles, have no moving parts and can even produce electricity on cloudy days. It will become more common as global installations of photovoltaics grow by an expected 800% in the next 10 years. If these systems were installed on all sunny buildings in the US, we could supply at least one-quarter of our electricity needs.
   Geothermal Power: Today, the United States is the leading producer of geothermal power, producing enough electricity from underground hot rocks for more than 2 million homes. Experts say that we could have 15-30 times as much power over the next few decades thanks to recent advances in geothermal technology.

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3. Jules Gordon says:

   December 10, 2008 at 7:23 am

   Your Honor,

   Sounds like it’s a long way off.
   (How does this fit locally, when TED Kennedy fights these windmills because it impinges on his sensibilities?)

   A million here a million there, it’s going to be a long time before these mini-solutions can impact coal generated electicity.

   We may be quicker if we change to natural gas.

   Jules

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4. Fred Mertz says:

   December 10, 2008 at 7:47 am

   Speaker Gordon,

   What would you suggest we do as a nation to solve our energy supply problems?

   -FM

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