A Problem For Engineers To Solve

Our energy future is too important to be left to people devoid of engineering skills, like Barack Obama, Michael Mann, Leonordo Di Caprio, Bette Midler and Katharine Hayhoe. Even climate hack James Hansen understands this.

“Suggesting that renewables will let us phase rapidly off fossil fuels in the United States, China, India, or the world as a whole is almost the equivalent of believing in the Easter Bunny and Tooth Fairy.”

  • James Hansen

www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/mailings/2011/20110729_BabyLauren.pdf

I’m just back from skiing with the dogs. Temperatures here were -20C last night. Looking south, the wind turbines at NREL (National Renewable Energy Lab) are motionless. They are producing  0 watts of power.

2015-12-27-10-15-40

Looking to the north, the Boulder coal fired power plant is keeping the city running. With harmless CO2 and H2O coming out of the stack, it is generating 186,000,000 watts. It generates this 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. It is not dependent on the sun shining or the wind blowing.

2015-12-27-10-16-55

Renewable energy is a farce. It fails just when you need it the most. It will never replace even one fossil fuel powered plant, because it is not reliable and requires 100% backup.

I am an engineer. I helped design essential products currently in use by hundreds of millions of people on a day to day basis. What products have Barack Obama, Michael Mann, Leonordo Di Caprio, Bette Midler and Katharine Hayhoe designed?

What right do these clowns have to question an engineer’s judgement about engineering? We need to get them out of the way, and put serious human beings in charge of the discussion. The future depends on it.

“Suggesting that renewables will let us phase rapidly off fossil fuels in the United States, China, India, or the world as a whole is almost the equivalent of believing in the Easter Bunny and Tooth Fairy.”

  • James Hansen

About Tony Heller

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44 Responses to A Problem For Engineers To Solve

  1. Andy DC says:

    Off topic, but last night it got down to -72 F in Siberia.

  2. stpaulchuck says:

    “But you don’t CARE!!!” <— the usual suspects

    This is now and always has been about Agenda 21, rent seeking, and an offshoot form of it called Pious Points where room temperature types who think they are the Kool Kids set the agenda of what constitutes "proper" lifestyle and which crusade of the moment is 'important'. If you join up with them you get Pious Points. You earn enough Pious Points you get to lord it above lesser mortals (like heretics like us, ha ha).

    [oh yeah, BTW, whatever happened to the Ozone Hole crusade??]

    • Gail Combs says:

      The Ozone Hole crusade was the trial run for CAGW. As Access to Energy pointed out many years ago, they were taking their readings down wind from an active volcano in the Antarctica and then crying LOOK AT THE CHLORINE!!! It is all MAN’S FAULT.

    • I was just looking at the Bozone Hole and it is the wame as it was before Congress saved the world by sending men with guns out to fine and regulate… http://ozonewatch.gsfc.nasa.gov/monthly/SH.html

    • Ted says:

      They fixed it. Didn’t you hear? The growth of the ozone hole was halted, by a huge, benevolent, international bureaucracy, just in time to save us all from certain and immanent destruction. It was only the heroic efforts of that all knowing bureaucracy that kept the ozone hole from expanding beyond the size it was the very first time anyone ever looked for it. It’s always been there, it hasn’t changed meaningfully since it was discovered, and is an utterly inevitable outcome of Antarctic temperature and circulation patterns. But just imagine how bad it COULD HAVE BEEN, if those selfless bureaucrats hadn’t stepped in, and stopped the hole from growing before it started.

      And that’s why we should also trust those exact same bureaucrats to fix the global warming problem, before it starts.

  3. Now you’ve done, Tony. You’ve insulted “Devine Miss M” again. That is very hurtful to Lawrence Martin and you still don’t have a safe zone for him on the blog. This will end in tears.

  4. Gail Combs says:

    Not to mention Barack Obama: The twelfth imam has returned! A good read from Jihad Watch. It explains much.

    ….The reigning authority on Twelver Shi”ism is the historian Emmanuel Sivan, who in his magisterial volume on the subject, Radical Islam: Medieval Theology and Modern Politics, warned that an integral part of Shi”a Islam’s belief and thought involves the initiating of a planetary conflagration. This belief system posits that Allah’s kingdom will be established on earth by the Twelfth or Hidden Imam, also known as the Mahdi, whose advent can be hastened by creating the right set of circumstances: friction and misunderstanding among the nations and violent upheavals in a welter of blood and fire….

    Certainly explains Obummer’s foreign policy!

    http://www.amazon.com/Radical-Islam-Medieval-Theology-Politics/dp/0300049153

  5. gregole says:

    Spot on Steven.

    With humanity’s current understanding of power generation, our best bets are coal, natural gas, and nuclear power; to a lesser extant hydro because there are only so many spots where dams really make sense.

    But windmills and solar panels? The people pushing these absolutely mindless schemes are either vested in them, or ignorant; ignorant of even the most basic principles of power generation power distribution – not to mention economics and financial analysis.

    And the saddest parts are that windmills and solar schemes hurt wildlife, damage the environment; and the higher costs for their energy hurts the poverty-stricken hardest. How killing off wildlife, wrecking the environment, and murdering and enslaving the poor is seen by celebrities, the pope, and world politicians as a kind of moral high-ground is simple testimony to the stunning success of modern propaganda and media brainwashing.

  6. R Shearer says:

    I think 186 MW is generated by coal at Valmont station in Boulder but also 123 MW is from natural gas. XCEL plans to shut down the coal powered portion at the end of 2017.

  7. Steve Case says:

    I ran across this You Tube earlier to day, I was wondering when I might have the opportunity to paste it up here and not be off topic:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5hc8l_VPdk

    • Gail Combs says:

      Good Come back against Obama’s You Didn’t Built that.
      (That really frosted my tail)

      • Jason Calley says:

        Imagine if Glorious Leader gave an honest speech…
        “Safe workable nuclear power? You didn’t build that. (Because we wouldn’t let you.)”
        “Oil from coal? You didn’t build that. (Because we wouldn’t let you.)”
        “High mileage automobiles? You didn’t build that. (Because we wouldn’t let you.)”
        “Secure software with no back doors? You didn’t build that. (Because we wouldn’t let you.)”
        “Honest elections? You didn’t build that. (Because we wouldn’t let you.)”
        And so on, and so on, and so on…

  8. How dare you question the President!
    “You think you built that” his favorite position on economy questioned?
    Ohhhh… I get it there are “Doers” & Dew Brains….

  9. I. Lou Minotti says:

    Succinct and truthful. It’s common sense and knowledgeable posts like this that keep us coming back. Thanks.

  10. Hansen is taking chances. They are watching him. He may have plenty of street fighters behind him but no praetorian guard. Radical movement founders with inconvenient truths become expendable.

    https://coloradowellington.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/hitler-and-roehm-in-nuremberg.jpg

    • Gail Combs says:

      Paranoia is a typical trait of totalitarian leaders. They are well aware they stole leadership via stealth and guile if not out right murder so they are going on be very sensitive about possible traitors in the ranks.

      E. M. Smith — Poisoning Stalin (and FDR?)

  11. smamarver says:

    More than that, renewables are not as safe as they say. I’m speaking about solar panels, wind farms, offshore wind farms. They all seem to affect humans, animals and even climate….

  12. eliza says:

    The Australians are so smart so they do not allow you to get rid of trees ect around your
    property so about 100 to 200 houses per year get burned with consequent deaths.

  13. When I was in Boulder there was a reactor going up in Longmont. Did that thing ever go online?

  14. Marsh says:

    Excellent point Tony :” A problem for Engineers to solve “. Yes, these are the people with a more practical foundation in being grounded & accountable for their outcomes. Anyone can be idealistic with new ideas but without a “knowledge of working technology” ; it’s like an impossible dream.
    ……………….
    Generally, I find it hard to agree with James Hansen,, but on this issue of Renewable Energy, he is
    right & honest enough: as to logistics & short term outcomes. Wind & Solar is Intermittent to the point of being unreliable; it would not exist without blind faith, subsidies & plan B back-up power..!
    ………………..
    Germany is a prime example of Renewable Energy “failure”.. They wanted to follow Denmark with
    mostly Wind Energy but Germany made the mistake of closing most of their Coal Power Stations.
    Disaster struck in regularly over-drawing on the Euro Grid; so much for Green Science advisory.
    ………………….
    Wind Propaganda sells on a few successes,,, but they hide the fact : most Wind Farms “fail”.
    As we know, Germany had to reinstate the old Coal Powered Stations & even built new ones.

  15. aeroguy48 says:

    Another engineering problem I would like to be solved, is the use of food in gasoline ie. corn into ethanol. I am tired of having to rebuild my carburetor every year in my mowers. It takes more energy to produce a gallon of ethanol than the energy provided. Land that should be fallow or used more efficiently for other crops is recruited to grow corn because of the misguided and useless government subsidies.

    • Gail Combs says:

      Not to mention that corn is a ‘big feeder’ One person described corn ethanol as mining the soil.

    • Jason Calley says:

      One of the few good methods I ever saw for ethanol production was a test unit in (I think) Los Angeles. It took sewage effluent and fed it into ponds where cat-tails were grown. The cat-tails were harvested to produce ethanol. Effluent was cleaned up, and ethanol was produced at a MUCH higher rate per acre than with corn. Studies indicate as high as 2500 gallons per acre per year. I am still not a fan of adding it to gasoline but if they are going to make it, at least don’t do it out of corn.

  16. Barbara says:

    I love you all for being sources of good information, wisdom and common sense with the leaven of good humor. I totally appreciate Tony/Steve for his labors with this blog. Keep “making my days”!

  17. Martin Smith says:

    “Renewable energy is a farce. It fails just when you need it the most.”
    That’s false, Steven. In fact, Austin Texas now uses solar energy to meet its peak demand during the afternoon, because solar energy is the cheapest option for meeting peak demand there.

    • Marsh says:

      Martin: Is this your idea of a joke ? Currently there is almost zero Solar in Texas; it’s now having Blizzards with Snow covering the Solar Energy ” when they need it the most “..!
      I feel sorry for what they are going through in Texas,,, tornadoes, wild storms & now a cheap joke at their expense…

    • PeterK says:

      What a load of Horse Shit Martin!

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