Role of renewable energy in the near future

[ray245]

We all know that one of the best way to resolve the energy crisis is to ensure we can switch to nuclear energy.

However, even if we adopt Nuclear energy as a whole, what role can other renewable energy play in this equation?

Are they going to be sidelined. so to speak? And assuming we are able to switch to nuclear energy in time, will the government continue to push for the advancement of renewable energy at a decent rate, and grant them enough funding so to speak?

[Junghalli]

Well, solar would be good for remote areas, because the infrastructure requirements are fairly light. You just ship a solar panel out there, stick it in the sun, and you've got electricity. In fact, as I remember, that was what it was originally developed for.

Geothermal would be decent for areas that have a lot of geothermal energy. Iceland as I remember gets most of its electricity that way.

[Sky Captain]

I think it all boils down to $/kwh. If relatively cheap, fast to build and foolproof nuclear reactors are developed then it would be very difficult for renewable energy to compete with nuclear energy. If cheap solar panels and cheap large capacity batteries are developed first then solar could be more cost effective in sunny locations.

However in northern climate like here in Baltic states nuclear power + cogeneration from waste biomass for baseload generation and existing hydro power for peak loads seems to be only sensible solution if we are going to phase out fossil fuels.

[Rye]

I want to see small-scale renewables to ease off the consumption direct from the big producers. What I mean by that is things like windmills and solar on houses and other buildings. Generating electricity whenever there's wind blowing over your house would be great, your house would generate power all the time, even when you're not there. Perhaps it could feed it back into the system or store it up in capacitors or something. It obviously won't make the nukes redundant or replace anything wholesale, but on a nationwide scale, it would be a far from insignificant amount being supplied to the system.

[Sky Captain]

I want to see small-scale renewables to ease off the consumption direct from the big producers. What I mean by that is things like windmills and solar on houses and other buildings. Generating electricity whenever there's wind blowing over your house would be great, your house would generate power all the time, even when you're not there. Perhaps it could feed it back into the system or store it up in capacitors or something. It obviously won't make the nukes redundant or replace anything wholesale, but on a nationwide scale, it would be a far from insignificant amount being supplied to the system.

Wind is very location dependent, 5 years ago I had small 700W wind turbine hooked to car battery which I built from plans I found on the Internet. It does not worked very well, because of too little wind. On average there were 1 - 2 days a week when there were enough wind to generate some power and something like 2 - 3 days a month when my turbine produced full power. It was probably because of nearby buildings and trees which created turbulence ( my turbine was mounted on a 12 m high wooden mast) so I can imagine if it was mounted in an open field or near sea results would be better. For people who live in a open windy area like in a farms wind turbine could be quite useful.

[Razna]

I hope to see more wind energy. Yes, there is an obvious problem with location. However, I seriously fail to understand it when people say that wind farms are "eyesores." I was lucky enough to travel overseas a year or so back, and saw several wind farms in my travels. I thought they were quite attractive as well as practical.

[Vendetta]

I want to see small-scale renewables to ease off the consumption direct from the big producers. What I mean by that is things like windmills and solar on houses and other buildings.

Some supermarkets are doing this. Needs to expand, of course, but if they can run things like store lighting from local generation it will reduce some load on the national grid, especially since they have to run lighting almost all the time, even if the store isn't 24 hour due to staff presence for restocking and deliveries etc.

Works well for them because they tend to have a lot of flat roof space available due to the size of the store.

[Rye]

Wind is very location dependent, 5 years ago I had small 700W wind turbine hooked to car battery which I built from plans I found on the Internet. It does not worked very well, because of too little wind. On average there were 1 - 2 days a week when there were enough wind to generate some power and something like 2 - 3 days a month when my turbine produced full power. It was probably because of nearby buildings and trees which created turbulence ( my turbine was mounted on a 12 m high wooden mast) so I can imagine if it was mounted in an open field or near sea results would be better. For people who live in a open windy area like in a farms wind turbine could be quite useful.

Well, IIRC Britain is one of the consistently windy places around, being as it's right next to the Atlantic. If you had 10 million buildings generating power while people were out at work, that's going to be a fair bit of net energy supplied back into the system, certainly a lot more than a couple of hundred or none at all.

[Sky Captain]

Wind is very location dependent, 5 years ago I had small 700W wind turbine hooked to car battery which I built from plans I found on the Internet. It does not worked very well, because of too little wind. On average there were 1 - 2 days a week when there were enough wind to generate some power and something like 2 - 3 days a month when my turbine produced full power. It was probably because of nearby buildings and trees which created turbulence ( my turbine was mounted on a 12 m high wooden mast) so I can imagine if it was mounted in an open field or near sea results would be better. For people who live in a open windy area like in a farms wind turbine could be quite useful.

Well, IIRC Britain is one of the consistently windy places around, being as it's right next to the Atlantic. If you had 10 million buildings generating power while people were out at work, that's going to be a fair bit of net energy supplied back into the system, certainly a lot more than a couple of hundred or none at all.

I think it might be better to develop offshore wind farms since they are far more efficient than your average backyard wind turbine most likely being obstructed by trees and other buildings not to mention angry neighbors who might not like the screaming sound of fast spinning turbine.

Also improperly constructed turbine can be very dangerous which I find out the hard way when my homemade turbine exploded during windstorm sending high velocity pieces of wood all over the place. Some parts of the blades flew approximately 250 m. Wind at that time was gusting up to 35 m/s. The whole thing was screaming like jet engine, mast was bending, I guess blade tips when turbine failed might have hit speed of 200 - 250 m/s. Piece of wood going at that speed could have easily gone trough the man.

[tezunegari]

We have a few small wind farms close to the town where I live and don't really understand people who say they are bad.

None of them are close enough to inhabited places that their shadows can reach houses there.

In 2000 we even had a school excursion there to (insert tree-hugger babble here) but it was impressive. Especially because it was in the final stage of assembly and a few men were just entering the tower so we got a look into that thing.
I suffer from Acrophobia but normally as long as my feet are on sturdy ground I can take alot but just seeing the flimsy metal ladder inside got me spinning...

There even is a factory for photovoltaic cells in this region. And several houses in my hometown have installed photovoltaic cells on their roofs now. It might not be enough to replace nuclear power or other sources of energy but I can reduce the amount of energy required from them.

P.S.: I do like people who try to save earth and the enviroment... but please there are things I just do not WANT to abandon. I know some of them can be considered vices but I like them. We are at first name basis after all.
People who chain themselves to the railroads to stop the Castor transport or claim I should abandon all amenities of civilization just to live like nature wanted me to... [insert a long rant about pointy things being shoved up places they might cause severe displeasure] ...they can stay in their corner of the world.