Abstract

The need tomake wind and solar energy numbers right

Author(s): A.Parker

The latest comment by G. Wagner, T. Kåberger, S. Olai, M. Oppenheimer, K. Rittenhouse & T. Sterner of title “Energy policy: Push renewables to spur carbon pricing” published on Nature September 3, 2015 (Ref.[1]) reveals once more the lack of any understanding of the actual limitations and opportunities of the “fancy” renewable energy sources to reduce the use of carbon and hydrocarbon fuels. This lack of understanding is very well exemplified by the caption “Solar energy provides 50% of electricity in Germany when the sun is out and demand is low” below the image of a residential installation of photovoltaic solar panels, in a paperexclusively focused on wind and solar, that are wrongly claimed to be effective and cheap as these are not now and will never be. The paper show the need to make the renewable energy number correct, as it may be understood by taking into account basic energy availability and conversion principles plus having a look at the energy statistic without covering both eyes.