There’s a reason why wind and solar energy supplies only two percent of all global energy. It’s physics, says Mark Mills, writing in City Journal.
There’s a reason why wind and solar energy supplies only two percent of all global energy. It’s physics, says Mark Mills, writing in City Journal.
Just as transistor chips became more efficient by getting smaller and smaller (following “Moore’s law”), many people believe the ability to produce energy will get easier and easier. But, although information can be compressed into smaller and smaller pieces, producing energy requires mass and follows such rules of physics as thermodynamics and friction, he explains. “In the world of humans and objects with mass, comparable ‘compression’ options exist only in Star Trek.”
In addition, wind and solar require energy storage. Mills notes that Florida Power and Light just announced it would build the world’s largest battery “farm.” This farm “will be able to store just two minutes of Florida’s electricity needs.”