DooKey
[H]F Junkie
- Joined
- Apr 25, 2001
- Messages
- 13,554
According to a study conducted by the University of California, Irvine; the California Institute of Technology; and the Carnegie Institution for Science, solar and wind power could reliably meet 80% of the elecricity demand in the US. Of course this comes with some caveats like the need for additional transmission lines or the construction of storage facilities. Furthermore, none of this comes cheap and the cost of renewable energy isn't trivial either. In my opinion it's just not feasible to do this now, but once costs come down I'm all for it. The study abstract is here.
The researchers said that such expansion of transmission or storage capabilities would mean very substantial – but not inconceivable – investments. They estimated that the cost of the new transmission lines required, for example, could be hundreds of billions of dollars. In comparison, storing that much electricity with today’s cheapest batteries would likely cost more than a trillion dollars, although prices are falling.
The researchers said that such expansion of transmission or storage capabilities would mean very substantial – but not inconceivable – investments. They estimated that the cost of the new transmission lines required, for example, could be hundreds of billions of dollars. In comparison, storing that much electricity with today’s cheapest batteries would likely cost more than a trillion dollars, although prices are falling.