Renewable Energy FAQs
Q: What is the best renewable source of energy?
A: In the US, the answer is energy efficiency! We waste more than half the energy we produce, and we use the most energy per person of any country in the world. We have a lot of room for improvement.
Q: Do we need large scale storage to deal with renewable energy’s intermittency?
A: No. Everyone knows the sun doesn’t shine at night and the wind doesn’t always blow. So doesn’t that mean we need large scale energy storage to get to 100% renewable energy? There are at least two alternatives:
Q: Do we need nuclear power and is it a low carbon energy source?
A: No and Yes. While nuclear power (fission) is a low carbon energy source, it has significant safety challenges and is declining in the US, parts ofEurope, and now Japan. Thanks to the rapidly declining costs of wind and solar, we don’t need nuclear in the US. China, however, is better off adopting nuclear power instead of coal (and that benefits us all). Advanced nuclear power may make nuclear more attractive again in the US in the future.Fusion is considered the holy grail, but remains decades away from reality.
Q: Do we need innovation in order to “get there” wherever there is?
A: Yes. Innovation drives down cost, which drives up adoption. So even as we deploy existing renewable energy technology as far and wide as we can, we need to keep inventing the next generation that can spread even further. Consider mainframe computers, invented over half a century ago, and still in use by big institutions, and smartphones, now in use by most people on the planet only a few short years after their invention. So it needs to be withrenewable energy.
Q: Do batteries in electric cars, work less well in the cold?
A: Yes. Room temperature is generally best for batteries as it is for humans. So keep your electric car comfortable in a garage at around 68 F while charging it up if you can. While driving in the cold, the battery’s capacity will be less, so you may have to charge more frequently. Given the rapid, widespread adoption of electric cars in Norway, clearly this issue is not a show stopper.
A: In the US, the answer is energy efficiency! We waste more than half the energy we produce, and we use the most energy per person of any country in the world. We have a lot of room for improvement.
Q: Do we need large scale storage to deal with renewable energy’s intermittency?
A: No. Everyone knows the sun doesn’t shine at night and the wind doesn’t always blow. So doesn’t that mean we need large scale energy storage to get to 100% renewable energy? There are at least two alternatives:
- Distributed generation - For example, solar panels on the roof, an electric car or stationary battery in the garage.
- Long distance transmission - For example, wind farms in the midwest connected to the same grid as offshore wind and large-scale solar arrays in New England.
Q: Do we need nuclear power and is it a low carbon energy source?
A: No and Yes. While nuclear power (fission) is a low carbon energy source, it has significant safety challenges and is declining in the US, parts ofEurope, and now Japan. Thanks to the rapidly declining costs of wind and solar, we don’t need nuclear in the US. China, however, is better off adopting nuclear power instead of coal (and that benefits us all). Advanced nuclear power may make nuclear more attractive again in the US in the future.Fusion is considered the holy grail, but remains decades away from reality.
Q: Do we need innovation in order to “get there” wherever there is?
A: Yes. Innovation drives down cost, which drives up adoption. So even as we deploy existing renewable energy technology as far and wide as we can, we need to keep inventing the next generation that can spread even further. Consider mainframe computers, invented over half a century ago, and still in use by big institutions, and smartphones, now in use by most people on the planet only a few short years after their invention. So it needs to be withrenewable energy.
Q: Do batteries in electric cars, work less well in the cold?
A: Yes. Room temperature is generally best for batteries as it is for humans. So keep your electric car comfortable in a garage at around 68 F while charging it up if you can. While driving in the cold, the battery’s capacity will be less, so you may have to charge more frequently. Given the rapid, widespread adoption of electric cars in Norway, clearly this issue is not a show stopper.
