The world we live in...

[Fryowa]

What percentage of energy does Ioway get from wind now?

Over 60%

 

[Fryowa]

Good advice. I never ended up using it. I would just run power cords outside to the gen and plug into it the necessities that I want to keep running. One can always switch appliances for some time as a freezer will be fine for some time if they want to power electronics to watch a game, or lights.

Man, that is scary with a bunch of people plugging their homes into these things and the lineman not knowing what they could be dealing with all the time. Yikes.

There are two ways to do it safely. One is cheap but inconvenient, the other is expensive but convenient.

Option A is that you plug whatever you want to keep running directly into the generator. Not convenient because your lights, water heater, and other things don't work.

Option B is that you install a panel with a disconnect for your generator. There are cheap versions that have a mechanical disconnect to your service drop (that's what comes form the pole to your meter) that only allow either the generator or your utility to be feeding your house at once, never at the same time. More expensive ones detect outages and do everything automatically.

 

[racerhawk]

I'm not saying they were used to generate electricity for anything beyond their needs on the acreage/farm. It just made me remember them and that I don't see them around like I used to in the past. That's all I'm saying.

I realize it is a completely different goal and technology over the years. I'm not sold that the power generated by windmills will be as efficient as it needs to be. There is the cost of building all of them and there is a lot of maintenance. Then, when you have a farm of them, that is a lot of space, often times commercial land, that is being used up to house them. There is a lot of overhead/resources to build them and maintain them. Just not sure if would be getting the bang for the buck.

There's a much bigger picture than current state ROI, IMHO.

I totally appreciate that emerging technologies aren't where we need them to be...yet, but we cannot bury our heads in the tar sands forever. It's not political when it ultimately affects us all.

 

[Hawkfnntn]

Do what I did once, this after losing power from the Derecho. Go to Harbor Freight and pick you up one of those portable generators and don't open it until you need it. If you don't need it, they will take it back and not gripe at all unless it was opened. When I did it, they didn't charge any restock fee. This will at least keep your refrigerator and freezer going.

I shouldn't be stating my idea.

Yeah my boss lives not far from me he's got our office and his house generators. We've had to use em a few times. Our neighbor just up the road is a semi retired like freelance electrician. He wired up both places and has us in good shape for work when it happens.

Thankfully the last few yrs when it happens it's only for a day or less. If it happened for much longer very often I'd break down and get one for myself. But so far the worst stretch of it being out was 4 days and that was a couple yrs ago now. Out of 12 yrs of being down here it's not been that bad I shouldn't complain compared to some areas.

 

[MelroseHawkins]

There's a much bigger picture than current state ROI, IMHO.

I totally appreciate that emerging technologies aren't where we need them to be...yet, but we cannot bury our heads in the tar sands forever. It's not political when it ultimately affects us all.

That's fair and I agree. I'm not opposed to renewable energy and evolving that way. I think Iowa last I knew had 55% energy from windmills and could very well be more now.

But, I wonder the effects on all the land that is needed. Take a look at a map of all the wind farms area being used in Iowa to generate a little over the 50% energy. Is this lost farmland? Is the farm increasing or decreasing the land value? I realize the farmer is prob getting a pretty good kick-back.

This is a serious question as I am curious. How close can a farmer or any individual get to a windmill? I know they can throw ice in the winter so I suspect there is a range people are not allowed to enter. Do you know?

 

[MelroseHawkins]

Yeah my boss lives not far from me he's got our office and his house generators. We've had to use em a few times. Our neighbor just up the road is a semi retired like freelance electrician. He wired up both places and has us in good shape for work when it happens.

Thankfully the last few yrs when it happens it's only for a day or less. If it happened for much longer very often I'd break down and get one for myself. But so far the worst stretch of it being out was 4 days and that was a couple yrs ago now. Out of 12 yrs of being down here it's not been that bad I shouldn't complain compared to some areas.

That's the thing. The balance of buying one, dealing with it and storing it vs just living rough for a day or two. I like the idea of a stand alone generator for a home but that is $15,000 plus.

 

[Fryowa]

I totally appreciate that emerging technologies aren't where we need them to be...yet, but we cannot bury our heads in the tar sands forever. It's not political when it ultimately affects us all.

It's too late for that. and that's not just pessimism.

There are 700,000 miles of electrical transmission lines (40kV and up) in the US, and 5.5 million miles of distribution lines in the US. Yes, that's million with an m.

When I was a power lineman I worked for a contractor building and upgrading existing lines. The cost per mile at that time for a mile of standard three phase construction from engineering, to materials, to construction, to stringing, to finish was $175,000 per mile, which is easily triple that now. That is as bare bones as can be and includes no transformers, switches, fuse/recloser/circuit protection...that's just poles, hardware, wire, fuel, and labor.

A 15 mile stretch of new construction will take an average number of crew several months to complete and that's if there's nothing goofy with it.

People's hubris and ignorance is fucking astounding when it comes to "green" electrical initiatives. Our electrical system was designed in the 30s and 40s and built for 1950s capacities. If someone thinks we are just able to start plugging in electric cars or able to exponentially increase the amount of wind and solar energy then I don't know what I can say other than that person is dead wrong.

The only thing that would save this country and planet from out of control emissions is moving everything to nuclear power generation. The second thing would be methane capture from livestock. As far a nuclear being an option, that's an initiative that needed to have been started 30 years ago. It's too late now.

 

[Hawkfnntn]

There are two ways to do it safely. One is cheap but inconvenient, the other is expensive but convenient.

Option A is that you plug whatever you want to keep running directly into the generator. Not convenient because your lights, water heater, and other things don't work.

Option B is that you install a panel with a disconnect for your generator. There are cheap versions that have a mechanical disconnect to your service drop (that's what comes form the pole to your meter) that only allow either the generator or your utility to be feeding your house at once, never at the same time. More expensive ones detect outages and do everything automatically.

If I was rich had a family and was going to get me a big nice place I'd do option B no doubt. But it's just little ole me I'm worried about and my future retirement house I want to build won't be 1200ish sq I bet. It'd just have to happen more often and be worse then it is for me to pony up that much for something like that which would be for peace of mind more then anything.

 

[racerhawk]

It's too late for that. and that's not just pessimism.

There are 700,000 miles of electrical transmission lines (40kV and up) in the US, and 5.5 million miles of distribution lines in the US. Yes, that's million with an m.

When I was a power lineman I worked for a contractor building and upgrading existing lines. The cost per mile at that time for a mile of standard three phase construction from engineering, to materials, to construction, to stringing, to finish was $175,000 per mile, which is easily triple that now. That is as bare bones as can be and includes no transformers, switches, fuse/recloser/circuit protection...that's just poles, hardware, wire, fuel, and labor.

A 15 mile stretch of new construction will take an average number of crew several months to complete and that's if there's nothing goofy with it.

People's hubris and ignorance is fucking astounding when it comes to "green" electrical initiatives. Our electrical system was designed in the 30s and 40s and built for 1950s capacities. If someone thinks we are just able to start plugging in electric cars or able to exponentially increase the amount of wind and solar energy then I don't know what I can say other than that person is dead wrong.

The only thing that would save this country and planet from out of control emissions is moving everything to nuclear power generation. The second thing would be methane capture from livestock. As far a nuclear being an option, that's an initiative that needed to have been started 30 years ago. It's too late now.

I hear you. I wish we could all come together and talk about building infrastructure, etc in a way that is reasonable and not completely political. But, here we are.

Wouldn't it be great if we could all be a bit more open to learning about this? I'd turn on the news every night if they talked about things like what it would actually take to build an updated grid. But, no, we're not talking about things like that because people like to be angry through negative engagement with media.

I appreciate that you, Okeefe, etc have a lot of good information about this topic. But people line up based on political views (or their own financial situation) and that's all there is to it.

Most people are, for better or worse, worried about right now and how things affect them personally. I get that, but also because of this, we won't be able to do the things we need to do. Also, the powerfully corrupting influence of $ in politics will keep us from being our best as a country.

My dream is that this issue is big enough for people from our horribly polarized political system could come together and make rational decisions and create reasonable policy. But, that likely won't happen, unfortunately.

 

[racerhawk]

That's fair and I agree. I'm not opposed to renewable energy and evolving that way. I think Iowa last I knew had 55% energy from windmills and could very well be more now.

But, I wonder the effects on all the land that is needed. Take a look at a map of all the wind farms area being used in Iowa to generate a little over the 50% energy. Is this lost farmland? Is the farm increasing or decreasing the land value? I realize the farmer is prob getting a pretty good kick-back.

This is a serious question as I am curious. How close can a farmer or any individual get to a windmill? I know they can throw ice in the winter so I suspect there is a range people are not allowed to enter. Do you know?

I could ask my brother and report back. He writes grants for wind and solar farms. He knows a ton about this, and I admittedly know very little.

 

[gillnh2o]

Until the country/world goes to nuclear power the carbon footprint (which is a stupid, euphemistic term) of an electric vehicle is the exact same. So climate change is in no way going to be affected by EVs like people claim. They are not green. It takes the same amount of energy to move a 2,000 lb car one mile whether it's by electricity or gas/diesel. One might say...yes, but 49% of electricity in the US comes from "renewable" sources...

They may be technically correct, but those people stop there because stopping there suits their arguments. They don't look at the MASSIVE "carbon footprint" of lithium production, or the net negative of windmill and solar construction. It takes way more energy and emissions to design, manufacture, install, and operate a windmill than it will ever generate in it's lifetime. But it makes the vegan squad happy so the lie just keeps on going.

Climate change is real. But as a society we've been duped by both sides of the argument into thinking it's more complex than it is. The scientists need to feel validated about their smartness and need to get retweets on the news, and make climate change an enigma that can never really be pinned down. Like ancient bishops who made religion confusing to keep the peasants tuned in, they do the same with whatever topic is at hand. Right now it's climate change

The other side denies climate change so they can get interviews and votes from the bearded AR-15, Dodge Ram community. Two sides of the exact same coin.

Climate change is fucking simple. Being able to fix it...my opinion is that we're too far gone and we're going to land somewhere between a miracle solution and Mad Max. I won't be alive to see how it turns out. Here's what you need to do to stop making the problem worse.

1) Nuclear power. It's the only way. The formula is solved, we know how to generate nuclear power but the vegan squad doesn't like it, and even if they did we can't put plants up fast enough to help so no one even tries. We screwed the pooch.

2) Upgrade the country's electrical capacity. Not feasible. Would take several decades and cost trillions, and we don't have several decades or trillions. The hemp heroes spent too much time getting their masters in Creative Studies instead of taking engineering courses, so they don't understand that our electrical grid, infrastructure, and generation capacity are still the same as they were in the 40s and 50s. And this isn't a problem of generating more electricity. It's about getting it to your garage outlet. You need more power plants (of the nuclear variety that no one wants to build), more transmission lines, bigger substations, heavier distribution lines, bigger transformers outside your house, and different wiring in every single house or business. Now imagine the millions of miles of electrical poles and wires in every back alley and country road and suburban neighborhood in America, and you can see we're screwed. I'm waiting gleefully for the day when Greta Thunberg gets her wish and all the hippies try to plug their cars in at once. HOW DARE YOU!

3) Solve the methane problem. This is the only one I think we can do. There's a ton of money to be made and plenty of nerds...they just need something to kickstart them. The whole, "we need to stop raising livestock" is stupid., First of all people won't go for it no matter how much you persuade them. Second, there aren't enough food and protein sources to feed everyone. Even if you found enough food and protein, people ain't gonna quit eating animals so you're just pissing up a rope.

So there you go, folks. Solve three problems and we'd have a fighter's chance. Me personally, I ain't got a shred of faith in a population where people are rioting in the streets because they can't buy a $22,000 Taylor Swift ticket. Sorry 'bout your luck with those hurricanes coming soon to you folks in Florida.

 

[gillnh2o]

Here's what I think. From the mind of the smartest human being to ever roam the planet, George Carlin. I cannot describe the way I feel about the planet and the future of humans any better than the following.

See, I’m not one of these people who’s worried about everything. You got people like this around you? Countries full of them now: people walking around all day long, every minute of the day, worried… about everything! Worried about the air; worried about the water; worried about the soil; worried about insecticides, pesticides, food additives, carcinogens; worried about radon gas; worried about asbestos; worried about saving endangered species.

Let me tell you about endangered species all right? Saving endangered species is just one more arrogant attempt by humans to control nature. It’s arrogant meddling; it’s what got us in trouble in the first place. Doesn’t anybody understand that? Interfering with nature. Over 90% – over, way over – 90% of all the species that have ever lived on this planet, ever lived, are gone! They’re extinct! We didn’t kill them all; they just disappeared. That’s what nature does. They disappear these days at the rate of 25 a day; and I mean regardless of our behavior. Irrespective of how we act on this planet, 25 species that were here today will be gone tomorrow. Let them go gracefully. Leave nature alone. Haven’t we done enough?

We’re so self-important, so self-important. Everybody’s gonna save something now: “Save the trees! Save the bees! Save the whales! Save those snails!” And the greatest arrogance of all: “Save the planet!” What?! Are these fucking people kidding me?! Save the planet? We don’t even know how to take care of ourselves yet! We haven’t learned how to care for one another and we’re gonna save the fucking planet?! I’m getting tired of that shit! I’m getting tired of that shit!

I’m tired of fucking Earth Day! I’m tired of these self-righteous environmentalists; these White, bourgeois liberals who think the only thing wrong with this country is there aren’t enough bicycle paths. People trying to make the world safe for their Volvo’s! Besides, environmentalists don’t give a shit about the planet. They don’t care about the planet; not in the abstract they don’t. You know what they’re interested in? A clean place to live; their own habitat. They’re worried that someday in the future, they might be personally inconvenienced. Narrow, unenlightened self-interest doesn’t impress me.

Besides, there is nothing wrong with the planet, nothing wrong with the planet. The planet is fine; the people are fucked! Difference! The planet is fine! Compared to the people, The planet is doing great: been here four and a half billion years! Do you ever think about the arithmetic? The planet has been here four and a half billion years. We’ve been here what? 100,000? Maybe 200,000? And we’ve only been engaged in heavy industry for a little over 200 years. 200 years versus four and a half billion. And we have the conceit to think that somehow, we’re a threat? That somehow, we’re going to put in jeopardy this beautiful little blue-green ball that’s just a-floatin’ around the sun? The planet has been through a lot worse than us. Been through all kinds of things worse than us: been through earthquakes, volcanoes, plate tectonics, continental drifts, solar flares, sunspots, magnetic storms, the magnetic reversal of the poles, hundreds of thousands of years of bombardment by comets and asteroids and meteors, worldwide floods, tidal waves, worldwide fires, erosion, cosmic rays, recurring ice ages... and we think some plastic bags and some aluminum cans are going to make a difference?

The planet isn’t going anywhere; we are! We’re going away! Pack your shit, folks! We’re going away and we won’t leave much of a trace either, thank God for that. Maybe a little Styrofoam, maybe. Little Styrofoam. The planet will be here, we’ll be long gone; just another failed mutation; just another closed-end biological mistake; an evolutionary cul-de-sac. The planet will shake us off like a bad case of fleas, a surface nuisance.

You wanna know how the planet’s doing? Ask those people in Pompeii who are frozen into position from volcanic ash how the planet’s doing. Wanna know if the planet’s all right? Ask those people in Mexico City or Armenia or a hundred other places buried under thousands of tons of earthquake rubble if they feel like a threat to the planet this week. How about those people in Kilauea, Hawaii who build their homes right next to an active volcano and then wonder why they have lava in the living room?

The planet will be here for a long, long, long time after we’re gone and it will heal itself, it will cleanse itself ’cause that’s what it does. It’s a self-correcting system. The air and the water will recover, the earth will be renewed, and if it’s true that plastic is not degradable, well, the planet will simply incorporate plastic into a new paradigm: the Earth plus Plastic. The Earth doesn’t share our prejudice towards plastic. Plastic came out of the Earth; the Earth probably sees plastic as just another one of its children. Could be the only reason the Earth allowed us to be spawned from it in the first place: it wanted plastic for itself, didn’t know how to make it, needed us. Could be the answer to our age-old philosophical question: “Why are we here?” Plastic, assholes!

So the plastic is here, our job is done, we can be phased out now. And I think that’s really started already, don’t you? I mean, to be fair, the planet probably sees us as a mild threat; something to be dealt with, and I’m sure the planet will defend itself in the manner of a large organism. Like a beehive or an ant colony can muster a defense, I’m sure the planet will think of something. What would you do if you were the planet trying to defend against this pesky, troublesome species? Let’s see, what might... hmm... viruses! Viruses might be good. They seem vulnerable to viruses. And viruses are tricky; always mutating and forming new strains whenever a vaccine is developed. Perhaps this first virus could be one that-that compromises the immune system of these creatures. Perhaps a human immunodeficiency virus making them vulnerable to all sorts of other diseases and infections that might come along and maybe it could be spread sexually, making them a little reluctant to engage in the act of reproduction.

Well, that’s a poetic note. And it’s a start and I can dream can I? See, I don’t worry about the little things: bees, trees, whales, snails. I think we’re part of a greater wisdom that we won’t ever understand, a higher order. Call it what you want. You know what I call it? The big electron, the big electron. [Imitates electronic hum] It doesn’t punish, it doesn’t reward, it doesn’t judge at all. It just is and so are we... for a little while.

One of my all time great George Carlin's presentations... no better words were ever spoken. Wake up folks we are not all that. Thank you Fryowa.

 

[okeefe4prez]

Do what I did once, this after losing power from the Derecho. Go to Harbor Freight and pick you up one of those portable generators and don't open it until you need it. If you don't need it, they will take it back and not gripe at all unless it was opened. When I did it, they didn't charge any restock fee. This will at least keep your refrigerator and freezer going.

I shouldn't be stating my idea.

In a true shit hits the fan scenario you need a big stockpile to guard that generator. Be careful.

 

[MelroseHawkins]

I could ask my brother and report back. He writes grants for wind and solar farms. He knows a ton about this, and I admittedly know very little.

I'm sure you know more than I do. I am intrigued by it all. But, I have the same concern for solar farms which is the mere square acres that is needed for the farms. Too bad they can't use less space and maybe build them up at a certain angle that is optimized to soak the the sun for performance instead of being all flat on the ground taking space. One would think there would be a specific angle they could stack them but still get the sunlight needed to perform.

 

[MelroseHawkins]

In a true shit hits the fan scenario you need a big stockpile to guard that generator. Be careful.

No shit, and it's not like they won't fine it in the back yard rumbling away. Ha.

 

[Fryowa]

I hear you. I wish we could all come together and talk about building infrastructure, etc in a way that is reasonable and not completely political. But, here we are.

Wouldn't it be great if we could all be a bit more open to learning about this? I'd turn on the news every night if they talked about things like what it would actually take to build an updated grid. But, no, we're not talking about things like that because people like to be angry through negative engagement with media.

I appreciate that you, Okeefe, etc have a lot of good information about this topic. But people line up based on political views (or their own financial situation) and that's all there is to it.

Most people are, for better or worse, worried about right now and how things affect them personally. I get that, but also because of this, we won't be able to do the things we need to do. Also, the powerfully corrupting influence of $ in politics will keep us from being our best as a country.

My dream is that this issue is big enough for people from our horribly polarized political system could come together and make rational decisions and create reasonable policy. But, that likely won't happen, unfortunately.

I'd be 100% open to the idea of fixing infrastructure if it was feasible and a viable option. It has nothing to do with politics. There's 80 years of work to do and it'd cost more money than has ever existed in our economy. Sometimes hope isn't enough and you have to admit when something isn't a fix to the problem. The problem, per se, is that people created a vehicle that runs on electricity instead of gas, and were able to sell that idea to people who've now turned it into a religion. Those people just bought the idea that electric cars are "clean" without doing any research or critical thinking about it. They don't realize that EVs aren't cleaner, and their widespread use is impossible with the infrastructure we have in this country. Additionally, they don't seem to grasp the magnitude of improving that infrastructure. It is not physically, financially, or socially possible to do what needs to be done in the time that it needs to be done. Yet it makes hippies feel like they're doing their part by driving their Bolt down the 405 on the way to LAX to fly in an airplane that burns 9 tons of kerosene per hour (Boeing 777) into the atmosphere at 40,000' That 777 doesn't have a catalytic converter, btw. But it's all good as long as they're flying to a conference on solar panels and get some sweet shots for Instagram, though. By the way, their Bolt was charged with electricity that came from several hundred pounds of coal brought to LA across the country from Missouri on on trains powered by engines that are even dirtier than the oil burning jet we just mentioned. And how do you think the Chevy Bolt was manufactured? In a plant powered by that coal. An EV isn't the solution. It isn't even the start to a solution. It's like pissing in Kilauea, man. It's literally nothing.

What makes the problem worse is that the solution is staring us in the face and has been for decades. If this country and others had started converting to nuclear power years ago, we wouldn't be in this mess.

 

[okeefe4prez]

Your newest rhetorical device is "LMAO." Your troll game is getting soft, bro.

Weren't you one of these clean coal advocates years ago? Now it's clean gasoline? At least you're advancing.

I'd love to go back a decade and see what some of you were saying about climate change back then. I remember, but I don't know if some of you do. I particularly enjoyed the comments about windmills back then (in addition to "clean" coal). Also remember Al Gore being skewered for his predictions. Now, it's just "we have to keep petrol the way it is...there is no other choice" *okeefe checks petrol investment portfolio. Yes, that's it! Things are fine.

Bruh, they're cranking more coal out of the Dakotas today than they ever have in the past. It's all going to Asia. Global coal usage goes up every year, just like global oil usage. For every coal power plant they close in the US ten new ones spring up in China and India.

Global coal use may flatline this year with the Japanese abandoning their plan to shut down all of their nuclear plants so I wouldn't go too deep into coal investments if I were you. Wait for the next crash.

 

[okeefe4prez]

I'm sure you know more than I do. I am intrigued by it all. But, I have the same concern for solar farms which is the mere square acres that is needed for the farms. Too bad they can't use less space and maybe build them up at a certain angle that is optimized to soak the the sun for performance instead of being all flat on the ground taking space. One would think there would be a specific angle they could stack them but still get the sunlight needed to perform.

I've done some solar deals. The newer arrays are all engineered to subtly tilt throughout the day and over the seasons to get the best angle of light. Solar is probably a bit of a scam. If people actually cared about carbon emissions they'd be protesting to ensure that all these nuke facilities that are on their last legs get upgraded and can get another 50 years of life. Those reactors in Georgia are the first ones built in the US in decades. It's insanity. Once those nukes go offline all around the country the base load is gonna get really jacked up.

Here we run off a beautiful nuke power plant out in Oconee County. There are two lakes and they use the higher elevation lake as a battery in the summer and generate hydroelectricity during the day (pump water to the high lake at night, let it flow down during the day when peak demand hits in summer). They are already out of their lifespan, but they have some special dispensation to run another few years. I wish they'd build a few modern reactors there. The modern ones are about a million times safer than the old Westinghouse designs. But for a place like this, solar makes absolutely no sense unless you are using it for your house or on site generation and have a backup battery that replaces a generator. It just makes absolutely no sense to build solar in a place overflowing with zero emission electricity because the solar crap entails significant mining and transportation emissions that offer zero benefit.

 

[okeefe4prez]

I'd be 100% open to the idea of fixing infrastructure if it was feasible and a viable option. It has nothing to do with politics. There's 80 years of work to do and it'd cost more money than has ever existed in our economy. Sometimes hope isn't enough and you have to admit when something isn't a fix to the problem. The problem, per se, is that people created a vehicle that runs on electricity instead of gas, and were able to sell that idea to people who've now turned it into a religion. Those people just bought the idea that electric cars are "clean" without doing any research or critical thinking about it. They don't realize that EVs aren't cleaner, and their widespread use is impossible with the infrastructure we have in this country. Additionally, they don't seem to grasp the magnitude of improving that infrastructure. It is not physically, financially, or socially possible to do what needs to be done in the time that it needs to be done. Yet it makes hippies feel like they're doing their part by driving their Bolt down the 405 on the way to LAX to fly in an airplane that burns 9 tons of kerosene per hour (Boeing 777) into the atmosphere at 40,000' That 777 doesn't have a catalytic converter, btw. But it's all good as long as they're flying to a conference on solar panels and get some sweet shots for Instagram, though. By the way, their Bolt was charged with electricity that came from several hundred pounds of coal brought to LA across the country from Missouri on on trains powered by engines that are even dirtier than the oil burning jet we just mentioned. And how do you think the Chevy Bolt was manufactured? In a plant powered by that coal. An EV isn't the solution. It isn't even the start to a solution. It's like pissing in Kilauea, man. It's literally nothing.

What makes the problem worse is that the solution is staring us in the face and has been for decades. If this country and others had started converting to nuclear power years ago, we wouldn't be in this mess.

The other unstated point is that gasoline is a byproduct of the oil refining process. The entire industrial economy runs off the refining tower and gasoline is gonna come out of the tower no matter what. It is a specific temperature in the tower. I guess we could just burn the gasoline in an incinerator while we drive our electric cars. If gasoline demand is squashed too much, diesel prices and jet fuel prices will go completely ballistic.

The problem with nuclear is that the grift you can dole out from it is very limited because of the sheer scale needed to stand up a project. With wind or solar you can dole out pork to all sorts of constituents in your jurisdiction, not so with nuclear. Our economy has devolved to the point where you either gotta create a new app that skims 20% off a transaction or engage in pure rent seeking behavior to make any real money. Many take the rent seeking path because it's much easier and lower risk.

 

[HuckFinn]

The windmills are the same right? The ones now vs the old farm ones? What percentage of energy does Ioway get from wind now? Do you know?

Google it. Near 50% I think. And plans for more.

I stand corrected. Fry says 60%. I am not surprised.