In a Capitalist society such as the one Americans live in, the basic law of economics is paramount: Supply and Demand. I will use this as an analogy to dissect America’s energy crisis. This segment will focus on the current state of supply, more specifically the generation of electricity. Do any of you ever read those little throw-away leaflets the electric company places in your monthly bill? My guess is most of you don’t, which is perfectly understandable. These pamphlets contain information that might be surprising to those who claim to have the solution to the energy crisis. Below is an excerpt that shows a breakdown of where MY electricity comes from via Atlantic City Electric Co.
- Coal 41.9%
- Gas 8.4%
- Hydroelectric (large) 0.3%
- Nuclear 43.9%
- Oil 0.3%
- Total so far 94.8%
Now for the renewable resources:
- Captured Methane (from landfills) 1.6%
- Fuel Cells 0.0%
- Geothermal 0.0%
- Hydroelectric (small) 0.3%
- Solar 0.0%
- Solid Waste (burning garbage) 3.1%
- Wind 0.1%
- Wood or other biomass 0.1%
- Total renewable: 5.2%
The one truly laughable aspect of this breakdown is that wind and solar combined constitute only 0.1% of my electricity. So the next time you hear some politician or lunar environmentalist bark up that old tree of wind and solar this or that – ask them where they got the magic wand they plan to wave and increase 0.1% of my electricity 1000-fold in order to meet energy demands.
The only encouraging number in that disgraceful lineup is the 43.9% supplied by nuclear. But alas, New Jersey’s Democrats have chased away the nuclear industry so this number will only decrease as time goes on and demand rises. It seems that my elected officials have turned their backs on the one technology that stands to make a dent in reducing our dependence on fossil fuels and cutting greenhouse emissions. So again, ask them how they plan to take a science that currently supplies only one tenth of one percent and make it into a source as viable as nuclear which already supplies nearly half and could easily meet 100% of the demand.
To all those who sing the wind and solar song with blatant disregard for little things like math and science – I say this: Go study electrical and mechanical engineering. Pool your collective resources and intellect. Then somehow invent the photovoltaic cells and wind turbines that are 1,000% more efficient than those currently in service. If by some chance you manage to accomplish this, you will no doubt revolutionize the wind and solar generating industries. But you will still only generate 1% of my electric.
This is just a scratch on the surface. In later chapters I plan to discuss conservation, current and future demand, future generation, oil, and environmental impact.
~Man Overboard
4 Comments
Nuclear is an important technology to cultivate. I still think other sources should be sought out, and ultimately perhaps the goal should still be for demand to go down, but nuclear is an important piece of the energy puzzle. I would really like to see more efforts to migrate to a more dominantly nuclear power grid.
You know who do it right? The French . . .thats right I said it.
They are very proactive with Nuclear Energy, you have to give them that much.
Why is ‘large’ hydroelectric power not renewable?
2 Trackbacks
[...] Geek Drivel wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerpt In a Capitalist society such as the one Americans live in, the basic law of economics is paramount: Supply and Demand. I will use this as an analogy to dissect America’s energy crisis. This segment will focus on the current state of supply, more specifically the generation of electricity. Do any of you ever read those little throw-away leaflets the electric company places in your monthly bill? My guess is most of you don’t, which is perfectly understandable. These pamphlets contain information [...]
[...] The Energy Crisis Part I: The Present Generation: An eye opening summary of where my electricity currently comes from. [...]