Some additional thoughts about Wednesday’s post on the superiority of hydroelectric power. All renewable power sources are ways to harness the sun’s power to generate electricity. With direct solar power systems the link is obvious, but no power is generated during hours of darkness, heavy cloud cover, or with snow on the solar panels.
Sunshine powers the wind, and much of the time it blows either too hard or not hard enough for wind turbines to function. Renewables like wood, biodiesel and ethanol are likewise sun-dependent, but put carbon in the air when burned - thus are not clean.
The only clean and reliable sun-powered energy source is hydroelectric because sun-evaporated water falls as rain or snow in the mountains, is trapped there by reservoirs where it waits, and generates power on demand when we let it fall through turbines on its way to lower elevations to be used for various things like drinking, bathing, and irrigation.
Why all the above isn’t obvious to decision-makers is unclear. Some blame the Sierra Club and their green fellow travelers. A conspiracy theorist would believe some sort of “fix” is in place to prevent it happening.
