Can Renewable Energy Scale To Meet Society’s Needs?

A reader sent me this just now:

I’m a member of Citizens for Green Nuclear Power on the mid California coast. 

My wife and I lived on our sailboat, Gaia, for about 18 years (average time out at sea – 6 months traveling from port to port in Central America, the Caribbean and Bahamas)

We had three 75 watt solar panels and a powerful wind generator. In the windy section of the Caribbean we did fine. The Trade Winds are reliable. But we had a tiny need for electric power (refrigerator, water maker, a few lights, GPS, etc.) 

The wind generator did 2/3 of the work and solar the rest. I liked the fact solar needed no TLC. The KISS wind generator did need some. 

Wind and solar just won’t cut it to run mega factories, New York City, and so much more in America. The sooner we face that and educate about that, the better. Wind and solar are a “boutique” power source, fine for our sailboat, but not for a large modern nation. 

That’s my feeling after living on wind and solar for a long time. If we hadn’t been in a reliably windy zone, not sure we could have survived on these alternatives. 

Best regards (where do you reside? Silicon Valley? I lived for 30 years in San Jose and now live in Santa Maria) 

I happen to be in Santa Ynez, just south of you!  What a coincidence.  Wow, I envy you; you must have seen some incredible beauty.

Re: your comments on energy, you may be aware that wind power constituted 4.18% of the U.S. grid mix last year.  True, that’s not huge, but it’s not nothing either. 160 billion kilowatt hours in the U.S. alone.  Based on the needs you describe here, that’s enough to power at least 400 million such sailboats six months of the year, probably closer to 700 or 800 million.  (Yes, I know this is a rather pointless comparison, but I bring it up to show that we’re talking about an enormous amount of power.)  I’m always amazed when people say that renewable energy is a hobby/boutique enterprise; it’s not.

If you want to get together for a beer sometime, I’d like that very much.