Get used to the high prices of all forms of energy. Huge sums of money are being dumped in windmill schemes
I understand what you are saying, but no one is being forced to do this, right? Let the market take care of it. We would be foolish to not even try. For the record, I don't think there is anyway that wind could ever supply all our needs, but it could make a nice supplement. Last time I checked, hydro was running around 8% and wind was getting close to 2%. I think it might be reasonable for it to equal hydro or even more.
Utilities are conning people into paying extra on their electric bills
True, but if people want to donate to "green energy" let them. I don't!
(the end dates for all nukes are written in stone and cannot be extended and the majority in this country are already into the 20 yr extension granted by the NRC).
I have not looked into this recently, but I have read in the past that many current plants could make it all the way to 2050. There was some movement towards granting new licenses that was killed by the recent Japanese mess, but I expect that to fade in a couple of years and momentum to resume. Of course, the problem with nukes is that they produce mass amounts of waste.
'Smart Grid' tech is rapidly being rolled out under the guise of more efficient energy transfer (current transfer rates are between 97 and 98% efficient right now so how much can be gained?).
I'm not sure I buy this completely. I can see other advantages of the smart grid. For instance, if you had a smart grid in your house it could zero out all the parasitic draws from things being left plugged in, turn off uneeded lights, etc.
The secret about 'Smart Grid' tech is that it will allow the utilities to turn off your power at the source without your consent. This allows the utility to shave peaks whenever they need to...
Really? This sounds pretty strange. Have you heard of this actually happening, or is this something someone with a tinfoil hat told you?
AEP has announced the closure of 5 coal plants (they are the largest coal burning utility in the country). TVA and the rest will follow suit.
I have already heard that TVA is closing Widow's Creek coal plant. They also want to finally open Bellefonte, a nuclear reactor near Scottsboro AL. I don't know if the two are related or not.
I would suggest you get used to the steady drumbeat of 5 - 10% annual price increases because they are coming.
Given how many utilities are in my portfolio, I would make money on that.
And I have to say that since I am in the TVA area, I pay one of the lowest rates in the country already. This will not bother me. I am also unsure if it's even true, but not a concern for me.
Why??? In the name of greenhouse gasses of course. Global warming...Environmental reasons...
I have a healthy dose of skepticism about global warming, but what I know for sure is that CO2 in the atmosphere is the highest it has been in at least 250,000 years and that it is directly correlated to industrial activity and transport. Is it wise to just let it keep building up?
Renewable energy in the form of General Electric wind turbines made in Germany(and you wonder if there is some corruption between Obama and Immelt...CEO of G.E. and chief energy advisor to the pres.)
Just FYI, the cheapest generating units are the nukes followed by the large coal units. Large combine-cycle gas CT's are next followed by small coal units. Then come the simple cycle gas units followed by the large oil burners.
In operating costs yes, but it costs a lot to bring a nuke online to begin with due to all the regulations. And then there is that pesky nuclear waste. The French pay a lot extra to clean it up, but we have yet to commit to that approach. Coal is very cheap. So cheap that I think the market could figure out a way to dispose of the CO2 or at least a lot of it and keep coal a viable option. We have very deep coal reserves.
Wind turbines are absent from the list since nobody has figure out how to price them yet.
I priced them myself last year. They are advertised as about $0.5-1 per KW to install. Whether they are viable of course depends on the wind capacity of the area of the country you live in. Most Eastern states are worthless, although TVA did install a whole bunch of wind turbines in the Cumberland Plateau last year.