I do like alternatives like wind and solar but have always thought they were a fun hobby for rich people and not really a solution for being able to live a business-as-usual life style. I, of course, have had PVs for 23 years including 13 of those off grid so I do have some background.
Recently, another blogger posted this picture as a way making a point but he didn't add any metrics to confirm what most of us would suspect. I don't really l think there is a need for that because the irony of it all is obvious. First off, the big turbines are much bigger than the truck, that is in height. Interestingly, I suspect the truck is actually powered by an electric motor but the juice comes form a monstrous diesel engine that burns a gallon of fuel every thirty seconds. Certainly, it would take a number of these turbines to power one truck and there would be no way to store the electric energy. Maybe hydrogen produced by electrolysis. In any case, the level of technology required would be immense, Most importantly, to actually manufacturer the beast of a machine it would require most of the turbines in the country. Just a perspective thing.
Then I began hearing about how wind turbines actually have a huge fossil fuel foot print, and this is after hearing for years this was the way to have a truly sustainable sources of energy. Well, I knew it took a certain amount to produce one of those huge devices, you know, the blades of plastic, the fiber stands and the very sophisticated engine itself. So, an article comes out with the attached photo and it almost leaves no doubt that the fossil fuels used in production is profound. In this case, the individual does provide the metrics at his site. Very unsettling. It has been stated that a single turbine will never produce enough energy to reproduce itself. Think of the steel and cement, both requiring unimaginable amounts of fossil fuels.
Then today, Mr.Musk comes out and makes a statement that they now have a battery capable of powering a single house. Yes, the power will have to come from alternatives, like wind and solar, or I suppose, hydroelectric. So I go on the interweb and try to find the price for one capable of running my enter house and learn that ones like it, but made by other, and the Tesla battery are priced a comfortable $12-14K and that doesn't include the $25K of soar panels needed to fire up the batteries.
So what we have here is some misleading information, some information that might be useful going ahead. Just what is real? The worst part is there is very little talk about consuming less which is as near as I can tell is the best way to be slightly sustainable. There is a group out there now called Downshifters trying to encourage just that. Me, I putter along trying to keep my electric consumption between 3-5 KWH per day of grid power. I will be trying to off grid this summer--it will require in one of my hit and miss engines, however---but that is at least fun to watch.
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