Do you really believe the production of all that steel, and hauling it to the site, and erecting it, plus the manufacturing of the generator and storage batteries doesn't create pollution?? What happens to the batteries when they expire?? What about the dollars (and resources) spent on maintenance?? And... how long will those wind turbines last before replacement is necessary?? The "green" factor of wind energy is questionable... not resolved... but questionable.
If you buy into the "global climate change" thing... it ain't questionable (to the ideology). But in reality, the "global climate change" thing is... well... extremely questionable.
The fact remains, all the wind and solar energy this country has put in place just barely equals the average (potential) output of just one single average oil well... and wind and solar comes at much greater expense. Wind and solar is not the answer for us and it's ridiculous to pursue it. Nuclear is our best option as we sit... something better may arise, but nuclear is as good as it is for now.
Denying that is not being realistic... period.
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Solar PV is pretty spiffy man. It got so ridiculous cheap by last year they threw extra tariffs on the chinese imports, and it's still cheap. And it is nuclear power, fusion power from the sun, much cleaner and less dangerous than fission power. Does it work everywhere, nope! Can it work a lot of places, have an actual ROI that is less than ten years (in a lot, but not all situations) and get you independent of being grid tied, yep! I lived with such a system, took care of it for four years and change, worked great. Whole house (well, around 90%) system on a whopper mansion, three stories, depending on how you wanted to scale it, 4-6 thou square feet. Every dang modern electrical do dad you can get, big screen TVS, computers, everything, regular millionaires house. It ran everything but one resistance element stove and an ancient heat pump air conditioner thing, which was stupid anyway, it wasn't a ground loop setup. The other circuits all were tied to it. Maintenance was stupid easy, and it could be monitored and controlled remotely via a computer interface. Total complete price for the whole shebang was 29 grand 15 years ago, and all of that stuff is cheaper now, and that price included installation. (I had to ask) The main deal with those folks was peace of mind, to run medical equipment for the lady of the house. they also had a diesel genset, which I ran once a month, but we never needed it, full battery banks would work for a couple three days even with overcast conditions, and on sunny days, they were slap full before noon.
That's two things I will argue with anyone, the benefits of superinsulation, and solar PV, because I been there, done that, seen the results. It isn't theoretical with me.
PV started out at ten grand a panel, now down to..well, cheap, depends on what size panels of course. And it keeps getting better. Thousands of people have gone to it as primary or decent backup or partial use. Much moreso overseas.
The USA doesn't really have an energy problem, we have an energy wasted problem due to crappy houses and buildings with ancient non insulated construction, etc. Heating and cooling are the big kahunas with buildings in most cases, a HUGE amount of energy is used, from any source, to just go to heat or cool the outside world within minutes, because it leaks out.
Anywho, if I was getting a mortgage today, building or buying and retrofiting, here in the area I live (not gonna happen, just sayin), that's two things would be tied in with it, much better than normal superinsiulation, and at least a good quality secondary solar pv system, tied to the "must have" circuits. Well, and a woodheater, too, duh. Probably just a kitchen cookstove if the house was superinsulated.
As to uranium nukes, nope, I think they are a fraud, sure they make heat and then electricity, but...the downsides, potential, are just too profoundly disastrous, especially with dozens of them wearing out. Now more research on thorium nukes, sure, go for it. but until then, the only practical nukes, fusion powered solar PV and firewood..
