"What keeps a wind turbine turning?"................ "How do you manufacture wind turbines and solar panels?"............... "Yes, these are loaded but not trick questions"..................."Indeed(and very much so), Wind power depends on oil and gas"........."And solar panels and wind blades require oil to manufacture them"............."It takes about two-thirds of a barrel of oil to make one solar panel"............... "Wind turbines contain gears, axles, a generator - all sorts of moving, turning parts"............. "Moving parts need lubrication-and lubrication means oil".............. "500 foot Windmill blades keep getting longer and longer-the only way to make them is through resins made from petrochemicals".............."Politicians keep lying to us about doing away with fossil fuels............Our entire economy and way of life depends on them...............Lithium battery production(electric cars, etc) today accounts for about 40 percent of lithium mining and 25 percent of cobalt mining"............."In an all-battery future, global mining would have to expand by more than 200 percent for copper, by a minimum of 500 percent for lithium, graphite, and rare earths, and far more for cobalt"................Sustainable/renewable energy this most certainly is not!!!

https://www.fraserinstitute.org/article/wind-and-solar-power-the-myth-of-green-energy

https://www.wsj.com/articles/if-you-want-renewable-energy-get-ready-to-dig-11565045328


https://thebulletin.org/2011/11/the-myth-of-renewable-energy/

https://www.googleadservices.com/pagead/aclk?sa=L&ai=DChcSEwjthLbjj97lAhUWq-wKHQRWAywYABAHGgJwag&ohost=www.google.com&cid=CAASEuRo2_zan8EJAYth-osFGgRafg&sig=AOD64_0SWAJkjto4rw9acDVAYUfPvxJuYg&q&adurl&ved=2ahUKEwjv067jj97lAhVU_J4KHdtcAyU4ChDRDHoECAsQAQ

Wind and solar power—the myth of ‘green’ energy

   

Appeared in the Calgary Sun, October 9, 2019

These days, wind and solar power are constantly depicted as desirable “energy alternatives” to fossil fuels, but many Albertans and Canadians are unaware of their environmental impacts.

Sure, the blanketing of scenic coastlines with skyscraper-size wind turbines are rather obvious, but turbine construction and installation also depends on fossil fuels. There’s the diesel-powered heavy equipment, which clears sites, digs foundations, transports components and assembles them. The coal or natural-gas-fired kilns that bake the concrete, additional coal to forge steel for foundations and towers, and the hydrocarbon-based fiberglass for their blades.

Solar panels also affect the environment in similar ways, be it extracting resources for their manufacture and transportation, devoting land to their installation, and maintaining, decommissioning and ultimately disposing them.

And crucially, there’s no adequate storage technology for the electricity wind and solar produce.

As noted in a recent study published by the Fraser Institute, most renewable energy capacity in Canada comes from wind turbines, which produce very little electricity even when there’s adequate wind. Hundreds if not thousands of them (and all their concrete, steel and other materials) are required to produce as much electricity as a single coal, natural gas or nuclear-powered plant. Moreover, standalone turbines must connect by powerlines to the electricity grid, which obviously requires much more infrastructure than when electricity is generated in a single power plant. (And to preserve their “green image,” powerlines are often buried, adding considerably to the cost and environmental impact.)

Because of the need to produce electricity when the wind and the sun are not blowing or shining adequately, other power sources, often new natural gas-powered plants, must be turned on and off—and ramped up or down—when required. However, the challenges and costs of “balancing” a grid by keeping gas-powered plants idling so they can be brought online always result in the suboptimal utilization of expensive assets—in other words, greater wear-and-tear and maintenance costs, and unnecessary additional CO2 emissions.

This being said, wind and solar power has provided politicians with an excuse to dispense favours—including taxpayer-funded subsidies and tax preferences to a supposedly “green” industry—while appearing to do something for the environment. And yet, despite more than two decades of massive subsidies, tax preferences and purchasing mandates from governments, wind and solar power still represent barely more than a rounding error of global energy production. In jurisdictions where renewables enjoyed strong but ill-considered political support, consumers and taxpayers now face much higher electricity bills and less-reliable power. And despite promises to the contrary, countries such as Germany, which have significantly increased wind and solar electricity production, have seen no meaningful reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

What happens to the defunct solar panels after their 7 year life span?
Answer:--Garbage they become!

In the end, however, politicians cannot defy the laws of physics and economics. The promise of wind and solar power will always clash with the need for electricity that is low cost and reliable. That’s why voters routinely punish politicians who pursue flawed renewable energy policies across Canada and beyond. Rising electricity costs due to increased wind and solar power damage the economy by making businesses that consume significant volumes of electricity less competitive and by leaving less money in the pockets of consumers.

You would have to dig up half the earth, employing slave-type labor
to get enought windmills and solar panels to perhaps replace 1/2 of
our current energy needs

Far from being a miracle cure-all for the shortcomings of conventional power generation, wind and solar power exaggerate the symptoms they pretend to address.

BIRD AND BAT KILLS ARE FREQUENT AND LARGE IN SCOPE