Opponents of New Jersey wind farms say whale deaths should put project on pause for further studies

[hunter]

16. What is the answer?

California has many gigawatt scale solar, wind, and energy storage projects. You can take real world data from all of these projects to model any sort of renewable energy utopia you like. All you have to do is subtract out the fossil fuel inputs.

I've done this math right-side up, up-side down, and side-ways, and I can't make any of these utopian renewable energy fantasies work. I used to be an anti-nuclear activist but I'm not any more.

You can start your own explorations here:

http://www.caiso.com/TodaysOutlook/Pages/supply.html

As I write this 33% of my electric power is coming from natural gas and my downstairs gas wall furnace is on, heating this room I'm in to a toasty 66 degrees Fahrenheit. The sun is not shining, the wind is not blowing.

About half the protein in the food I eat today will ultimately have been derived from natural gas, carbon dioxide dumped recklessly into the atmosphere.

I'm not driving anywhere today but I will tomorrow, to visit my elderly parents. Our little car, that consistently gets around 45 miles per gallon, will be spewing toxic chemicals and greenhouse gasses across California, a Fukishima accident in miniature.