Weekly Climate and Energy News Roundup #421
Guest Blogger / 2 days ago August 31, 2020
The Week That Was: 2020-08-29 (August 29, 2020)
Quote of the Week: “In so far as a scientific statement speaks about reality, it must be falsifiable: and in so far as it is not falsifiable, it does not speak about reality.†– Karl Popper
Number of the Week: 50%
THIS WEEK:
By Ken Haapala, President, Science and Environmental Policy Project (SEPP)
Popular Delusions: Last week, TWTW discussed the problem of the California Blackouts (also called greenouts) and the failure of California politicians to properly prepare for the simple fact that as the sun goes down Photoelectric Power declines and other means of electric power generation must be increased significantly (ramped-up). The state constitution places the ultimate responsibility on the legislature.
The TWTW discussed a lecture “The Energy Storage Delusion†given by physics Professor emeritus Howard Hayden at the annual meeting of the Doctors for Disaster Preparedness (DDP). The only storage system proven on a utility scale is pumped-hydro storage. There is no proof of concept that wind and solar can replenish pumped-hydro or any other utility scale storage system in a timely manner. The largest pumped-hydro system in the world, Bath County (Virginia) Pumped Storage Station is replenished by nuclear and coal-fired power plants and is used for peak shaving (producing power at the time of day it is needed the most). It can run at peak capacity for only three hours, then declines to zero in eleven hours.
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2020/08/31/weekly-climate-and-energy-news-roundup-421/
