News Intel concerned about Irish energy costs says report — wants gov to subsidize renewables

[helper800]

For Cali it didn't look that bad to me. I figure we will all be paying for upgrades to a power system that can either survive high winds and storm or at least fail without causing a fire. Smart grid ect...

Almost 3/4ths of the bill was delivery charges before adding the baseline credits for delivery. That means I am being charged more for the infrastructure than the actual power usage. Of the amount charged, excluding tax, but with the "baseline discount" included, about two thirds of my bill was for the "delivery" of the power... The power I was charged to generate was 44.74 total.

 

[Pyranna87]

Energy prices are high in Europe because we signed up and followed the green treaties etc and has cost us , while the rest of the world couldn't give a rats backside and continue to pump of pollution at a fraction of the price. Do you believe China will go green if it will help destroy their economy like it has in the UK, from a bunch of green zealot amateur crackpot affluent elitist Liebour politicians !

High energy prices in Europe are a bit more complex than that. For one, the fact that our unit prices are tied to the most expensive source. So even on a day when 100% of power is provided by wind/solar we still pay the gas price. It isn't green politics to blame there, that's the fossil fuel/energy lobbyists.

Then you have Russia's war in Ukraine and the disruption to gas supplies because of sanctions. So gas prices have risen and even though more of our power is provided from sustainable sources than ever, we are still paying higher prices because every unit of power is sold as if it was made using expensive gas.

 

[helper800]

High energy prices in Europe are a bit more complex than that. For one, the fact that our unit prices are tied to the most expensive source. So even on a day when 100% of power is provided by wind/solar we still pay the gas price. It isn't green politics to blame there, that's the fossil fuel/energy lobbyists.

Then you have Russia's war in Ukraine and the disruption to gas supplies because of sanctions. So gas prices have risen and even though more of our power is provided from sustainable sources than ever, we are still paying higher prices because every unit of power is sold as if it was made using expensive gas.

In Germany specifically, they closed all or most of their nuclear power plants as well which was a mistake. We need nuclear power proliferation, not the dismantling of the entire industry...

 

[Pyranna87]

In Germany specifically, they closed all or most of their nuclear power plants as well which was a mistake. We need nuclear power proliferation, not the dismantling of the entire industry...

Germany started to shut down their nuclear reactors as a knee jerk reaction to Fukishima, they decided the risks of nuclear were too great. They replaced em with gas generators and pipelines from Russia, it had nothing to do with going green... quite the opposite.

Maybe if Germany leaned hard into renewables instead of building gas pipelines to Russia they might not be in the situation they're in right now.

 

[helper800]

Germany started to shut down their nuclear reactors as a knee jerk reaction to Fukishima, they decided the risks of nuclear were too great. They replaced em with gas generators and pipelines from Russia, it had nothing to do with going green... quite the opposite.

Maybe if Germany leaned hard into renewables instead of building gas pipelines to Russia they might not be in the situation they're in right now.

Renewables alone cannot power a country unless you consider nuclear a renewable. There are not enough waves, geothermal, wind, solar, or batteries that will get a country through multiple 24 hour power cycles currently. Germany certainly did decommission their nuclear reactors in part because of the Fukushima disaster, however, many of the rationalizations given alongside that disaster were that nuclear was not renewable or green, which are both misconceptions.

 

[The Historical Fidelity]

Germany started to shut down their nuclear reactors as a knee jerk reaction to Fukishima, they decided the risks of nuclear were too great. They replaced em with gas generators and pipelines from Russia, it had nothing to do with going green... quite the opposite.

Maybe if Germany leaned hard into renewables instead of building gas pipelines to Russia they might not be in the situation they're in right now.

Germany started to shut down their reactors in the 80’s after Chernobyl, Fukushima was just the last nail in the coffin.

 

[bit_user]

Renewables alone cannot power a country alone unless you consider nuclear a renewable. There are not enough waves, geothermal, wind, solar, or batteries that will get a country through multiple 24 hour power cycles currently.

That's highly-dependent on the country. Ecuador has been almost totally powered by renewables, when they're not experiencing droughts, due to harnessing their normally abundant rainfall and mountainous terrain via hydroelectric power.

Off-shore wind is another power source that's nearly 24/7, if you aggregate it over a large enough region. There are even certain locations where the wind is pretty much always blowing at a decent strength.

In near equatorial regions with lots of sunlight, it's possible to be entirely solar powered. Germany actually has lots of solar power, but it's not the most sunny place and it's located pretty far north. I've heard a much higher proportion of their power is from renewables than the US. I'm pretty sure they were even one of the leading users of renewables in Europe, at one point.

 

[helper800]

That's highly-dependent on the country. Ecuador has been almost totally powered by renewables, when they're not experiencing droughts, due to harnessing their normally abundant rainfall and mountainous terrain via hydroelectric power.

Off-shore wind is another power source that's nearly 24/7, if you aggregate it over a large enough region. There are even certain locations where the wind is pretty much always blowing at a decent strength.

In near equatorial regions with lots of sunlight, it's possible to be entirely solar powered. Germany actually has lots of solar power, but it's not the most sunny place and it's located pretty far north. I've heard a much higher proportion of their power is from renewables than the US. I'm pretty sure they were even one of the leading users of renewables in Europe, at one point.

I should rephrase my claim. There are very few countries that have have achieved this, and none of them are in countries that are first world in the sense of power usage. I do not believe there is enough area in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans that get these sustained winds such that all countries could place wind turbines to keep up with their current power needs, let alone if they consumed power at a rate of the average 1st world country. I also completely forgot to add hydroelectric dams. I don't know how that skipped my mind. if transmission of power were 100% efficient and we used the best solar panels available we would have to place an amount of them that covers the entire area of New Mexico and have a 24h sun cycle...

 

[The Historical Fidelity]

I should rephrase my claim. There are very few countries that have have achieved this, and none of them are in countries that are first world in the sense of power usage. I do not believe there is enough area in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans that get these sustained winds such that all countries could place wind turbines to keep up with their current power needs, let alone if they consumed power at a rate of the average 1st world country. I also completely forgot to add hydroelectric dams. I don't know how that skipped my mind. if transmission of power were 100% efficient and we used the best solar panels available we would have to place an amount of them that covers the entire area of New Mexico and have a 24h sun cycle...

The problem with off-shore wind turbines is that they transfer low frequency noise into the water that drives whales mad to the point that they beach themselves to get away from the sound. Whale beachings are up from 10 a year on average in New Jersey to over 30 in 2023. And given the increased boat traffic to construct and service these off-shore wind farms, the number of whale deaths due to accidental boat ramming incidents is up 48%.
https://static1.squarespace.com/sta...5609463637/EP_SRW_report_FINAL+2023-11-30.pdf