How wind and solar toppled Exxon from its place as America’s top energy company

Hi Kristen

I think the value of solar and wind is exaggerated by people who don't understand electricity must be generated as it's used. Many seem to think once electricity is generated it sits in transmission wires, waiting for someone to turn on their clothes dryer, or flatscreen TV.

Electricity supply must be generated in real time to precisely meet demand - an extremely complicated process. That the sun and wind don't generate the right amount of electricity exactly when it's needed creates a host of problems: when they generate too much, the electricity must be curtailed, or turned off (otherwise transmission wires would melt from their towers - literally). When they don't generate enough, it must be augmented by electricity from natural gas power plants. Otherwise, your lights would dim; your electronic devices would start to behave erratically.

Due to nighttime and cloud cover, solar panels in the U.S. generate, on average, 20% of their maximum capacity. That means 80% of the time, natural gas must be burned to generate the missing electricity. Until customers are willing to only use their appliances when the sun is shining it will be that way.

Recently, researchers have discovered 2.3% of natural gas (methane) is leaked into the atmosphere during production. Because natural gas is 80x worse than CO2 as a greenhouse gas, and natural gas is required to provide 80% of the power needed to back up solar, the combination ends up being worse than burning coal to generate electricity. Not all the time; sometimes it's better, sometimes it's worse. But that's the average.

Hydropower is a different story. By closing gates that let water flow to turbines. operators at hydroelectric plants can adjust electrical output as necessary to meet demand. But unfortunately, hydropower is not considered renewable in many states. Why? Because it would diminish sales of solar panels, wind turbines, and natural gas. Unfortunately, it all comes down to money.