Dissecting Al Gore's $5 Trillion Energy Plan

AL GORES ENERGY PLAN

It is ridiculous to even think of such a plan that costs so much and defaces this beautiful planet. Better energy technology is on the way in the use of the natural electric force fields. Want to help? Everybody protest to the federal government and turn it loose, From the United States Court of Federal Claims. The Cost? Only 6.3 billion dollars to install into automotive

William Hyde of ID @ Dec 03, 2008 17:07:35 PM

Ok, nobody said it was going to be easy, only that it would be worth it. Why are people so upset about the INITIAL COSTS of CLEAN RENEWABLE ENERGY? Do they not realize that everything on this planet has energy and we as people must harness that energy. We can do this by investing for the future and building what needs to be built to harness that energy (oh by the way the sun comes out all the time, if not the wind is blowing, oh and earth is 70% water, with alot of hydrogen inside) All the energy sources Al Gore is talking about, is renewable every day!!!!!!! It is stupid to dig a hole in the ground and suck out nasty black tree remains then burn it and send smoke flying everywhere..its expensive, its dirty, and its affecting the planet..don't you get that??? Or are all people interested in is money and more of it? What about your grandchildren and their children? Do you want them to live like they already do in China? The olympics had to make a fuss about the air quality so people could run and compete...my god people.

Jeremiah of AK @ Nov 13, 2008 15:30:38 PM

maybe you should question political motives ....

I know it's practically treason to question the myth of global warming being caused by humans, but maybe we should consider that the climate alarmists might have something to gain. Yes i belive that we should have alternative sources of power and we should never go back to the pre-green days but people you are buying Al Gore's "findings" without even doing our own research?? Before we cripple ourselves by signing the Kyoto treaty maybe we should do some unbiased research....for starters here is a link to a bbc documentary http://www.garagetv.be/video-galerij/blancostemrecht/The_Great_Global_Warming_Swindle_Documentary_Film.aspx

Kay of VA @ Nov 11, 2008 15:06:32 PM

I recently attempted to calculate how much 24 hour a day, 365 days a year renewable electricity would cost in texas. Dr. Ben Sovacool, a renewables advocate, recently offered the figure of $1700 per nameplate KW of wind generated electricity in discussions with me. That figure is probably low. I have reason to believe that the cost of a fully installed windmill in November 2008 is perhaps closer to $2500 per name plate KW, but the lower figure will serve to illustrate my point. If we assume that our project to replace Texas fossil fuel generating plants with renewables by 2030, as the Gore and Google plan would require, how much is it going to cost in Texas? Lets assume that we decide to go with a all renewables system, with wind base power. Assume that the same rate of inflation for electrical generating facilities that we have seen during the last 5 years. That would bring our wind facilities capital costs to $3400 per nameplate KW by the middle of the next decade, and lets assume the system is built then. A stanford study found that only 21% of wind nameplate capacity can be counted as base load electricity. In order to figure the cost of building base load electricity we have to divide the cost of a KW of of wind generating capacity by 21%. That gives a figure of something over $16,000 per KW. But hay, that is not the end of our cost, since the Electrical Reliability Council of Texas says that wind generated electricity cannot be relied on during summer days. So we are going to have to build some solar facilities in West Texas to provide day time solar back up to our wind facilities. Solar thermal facilities are now costing $4000 pre name plate KW in the Southwest. Assuming inflation the same inflation that will impact the cost of wind and nuclear facilities that cost will probably go up to $8000 per KW during the next decade. That gives us a cost of $24,000 per KW of semi-reliable wind and solar generated electricity. Semi-reliable because we know that there will be after dark hours of high electrical demand when our wind system will not be able to supply all the electrical Texas Air Conditioners demand on summer nights. So we have a system that is not 24 hours a day reliable. How much will it cost to give us some assurance that we can keep those Texas air conditioners running 24 hours a day? We could use sodium-sulfur batteries @ $350 per KWh capacity. 4 hours of battery back up brings out price to $25,400 for each 24 hour a day KW provided to Texas by a renewable system. Needless to say renewables advocates have not and will not perform this exercise.

Stanford researchers say that by linking 17 selected wind sites in Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Kansas, bases power equal to 20% of name plate power at those sites is possible 80% of the time. ThAt means that you will need 5 windmills in order to reliably produce the name plate capacity of one. In the Southwest right now. With Inflation that goes up to $8000 in 2015.

Charles Barton of TX @ Nov 09, 2008 21:54:43 PM

Gore's a Goob (and lives differently than he preaches)

First off, global warming isn't as scientific as he says it is. The earth was pretty warm within the last 1200 years and C02 wasn't responsible.

What would I do:

Nuclear

Coal

Synthetic oil

More drilling

Not elect Obama.

Charles the Hammer

Tours, France

Charles Martel of AL @ Oct 20, 2008 21:16:50 PM

dissecting Al Gore

Blah! Blah! Blah!!!

Fern Elliott of WA @ Sep 25, 2008 22:45:27 PM

LOoK HOw much we Are spending on the Miitary

Explaination If you feel we spending too much mney Lok how much we spendin Today's & tomorows Military It's unmentionable number in the trillion dollars and Corporations are getting paid already for making these changes. It does n't seemm fair We must do something Now or wil be more costly later I agree with Mr. Pickens plan I also agree with Mr. Al Gore's plan butbecoming completely carbon free that is the most difficult What about the poor working indiviluals, myself is one of them. To those who make less than 12k per year. If we do not something if wil costs usmore than you think The government Must work with soceity not against. Peple are crying for lower gasoline prices & the ones who whine the most have those BIG SUVS. I told one of friens SUV's wil be phased out over the next five years They will be replaced by the old station wagon which gets almost 30 to 40 miles per gallon It will be you old wagon back in 1960's or 1970's anymore.

John Ensslen of NJ @ Sep 11, 2008 04:30:37 AM

Gore's $5 Trillion Energy Plan

If we could get some intensive research going with windpower the costs should come down. My understanding is that there have even some significant breakthroughs already in uses, elsewhere, and that there are many more designs that could improve efficiency. For example, in the Great Lakes area there is a fine combinations of: wind resources, supportive machine industries, adequately sized market, and skilled tradesmen needing jobs. If the cost for adding windpower were cut in half, the maintenance costs reduced and the longevity increased would it be worth it then, I think so.

Out here on the West Coast we have a scheme for wave-power generation from buoys tied to the ocean floor. Someday soon, I would like to see something like a floating boat harbor with wind turbines, shoppes, hotels---heck maybe even a fish cannery for authenticity's sake.

But I agree that government expenditures need to be reined in. We have a tough enough time finding jobs for citizens and legal residents--we don't need to put non-citizens and illegal aliens

into the mix and have to find employment for them,--plus increase our infrastructure costs, too.

Ron Swaren of @ Sep 09, 2008 13:50:33 PM