Renewable Electricity

Science exaggerates
renewable electricity
 
 

Facts on renewables
 
 
 
 
 

We concede: 
0.13% is less than 2%

"For now the spotlight is shining brightest on wind and solar power, which contribute less than 2% of the nation’s total energy," says Kathryn Brown, writing in the 30 July, 1999 issue of Science; in truth, the spotlight isn't even as bright as Brown pretends.

Renewable sources account for 12% of our electricity.   Eighty-three percent of the renewable energy comes from hydroelectric plants.  (We note that the EPA is busy reclassifying hydro as non-renewable, because dams inevitably cause flooding of land upstream, an environmental no-no).  Some 13% of the renewable energy comes from biomass.  (Most of that is waste sawdust from sawmills.)

Geothermal (which isn’t solar energy and isn’t renewable) accounts for 3% of the "renewable" energy.

Finally, wind and solar (PV and solar-thermal engines) combined account for less than 1.1% of our renewable electricity.  That’s less than 0.13% of all our electricity.  Scholar-scientist Brown correctly concludes that 0.13% is less than 2%.  How could she do otherwise?

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