Have you seen the environmental science education video, “Can We Rely on Wind and Solar?” It’s popular on the social media scene, with more than 644,000 views in the last few weeks. The video asks the question, “Why do solar and wind combined provide less than 2% of the world’s energy?” The video presents a case for using fossil fuels as are energy supply resource contrary to popular beliefs promoting wind and solar energy.

In the video, Alex Epstein of the Center for Industrial Progress, says, “The only way for solar and wind to be truly useful would be if we could store them so that they would be available when we need them.” But, there is no realistic way to do so.

wind-turbine
Epstein points out that the process of generating energy for mass consumption from renewable sources is expensive. He also notes that wind energy and solar energy are “unreliable” and “intermittent,” saying, “Yes, the sun is free. Yes, wind is free. But the process of turning sunlight and wind into useable energy on a mass scale is far from free.” Epstein adds, “Compared to other sources of energy – fossil fuels, nuclear power, and hydroelectric power – solar and wind power are very expensive.”

There are other issues, too. According to Epstein, the unreliability or “intermittency problem” of wind and solar energy is the main reason why there aren’t any freestanding solar or wind power plants in the world. He says, “In the entire world, there is not one real or proposed independent, freestanding solar or wind power plant. All of them require backup. And guess what the go-to backup is: fossil fuel.”

Whether or not you’re wondering if “green” energy, specifically wind and solar energy, are the solution to our world’s climate and energy problems, you might want to take a few minutes (less than five minutes) to watch the video. Or if you’d like to explore the types of turbines and related industrial products the energy industry is using to produce power for global mass consumption, check out the Central Metal Fabricators website.

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